01/05/2026
“Although the press reports on torture, r**e, and deportations, most political leaders avoid addressing them publicly. There are two reasons for this. The first is psychological. The scale of the crimes is so enormous that it brings us back to the darkest chapters of our shared history — to N**i crimes. The second reason is political. If they openly acknowledged these crimes, they would have a legal and moral duty to act.”
While Western governments discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, French political analyst Nicolas Tenzer warns, in an interview with Ukraïner International, that neither the US nor Europe can be fully trusted when it comes to protecting Ukraine’s security.
“So can Ukrainians truly trust that Europeans would act decisively in the future, when they are not prepared to act decisively today?”
Nicolas Tenzer was one of the few voices in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and attacked Donbas, saying that Europe should intervene and defend Ukraine.
“We had the air capabilities, the missiles, the fighter jets to strike Russian tanks in Ukraine without deploying ground troops. We could have done it. We should have done it. We certainly could have protected Ukrainian lives by doing something. The fact that European leaders refused to openly intervene in this armed conflict is, to me, a kind of historical shame that will haunt us for the rest of our lives.”
He is clear-eyed about Russia’s intentions: it does not plan to end the war and will not stop if Ukraine agrees to give up territory. It will regroup, mobilise people from occupied territories, and move further.
“You are witnessing a war on truth. A war on truth waged by Russia, and also by China. This war on truth has many dimensions. It is also a war against scientific truth — on vaccines, on climate change, and of course on the current war.
The key problem is that if people cannot trust civic institutions — schools, universities, governments, civil society organizations — to tell the truth, then the world collapses. One of the Russian propaganda methods, which is well documented, is not necessarily to tell one lie, but to flood the public space with multiple versions of lies.”
Watch the full interview with Nicolas Tenzer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T61CkAt2etQ&t
