Dear Price of Moral Victory

When Finnish President Kyösti Kallio was compelled to sign the harsh Moscow Peace Treaty in March 1940, he quoted from the Book of Zechariah: "May my hand, which is forced to sign such a paper, wither.” That summer, his right arm became paralysed, and he died following a stroke in December 1940. After the Moscow Armistice in 1944, Finland lost about 11% of its territory, over 1% of its population was killed, and 15% were relocated.

After almost 11 years of resistance to the Russian invasion and 3 years of full-scale aggression, Ukraine has survived and is holding on. The sharp turn in US policy by Donald Trump's Republican administration could offer a chance to suspend military action. But it will come with a bitter taste for Ukraine as Washington pushes to accept sacrifices prioritising renewed relations with Russia.

According to the Ukrainian magazine Forbes, since 2022, Ukraine has lost:

• 22% of its economy and 11% of the territory (19% since 2014);

• 20% of agri-production and 65% of metallurgical facilities;

• 45% of electricity generation and 19% of IT exports (in real terms) and

• 15% of the Ukrainian population, which has relocated abroad.

It is widely believed that the grit and courage of Finland’s resistance convinced Stalin that incorporating Finland into the Soviet Union or transforming it into a Communist client state would be more trouble than it was worth. This led to Stalin’s eventual agreement to sign a peace treaty with Finland in 1944 in exchange for additional territory and a commitment from Helsinki to remain neutral. Thus, Finland became the only part of the former Russian Empire that was not reinstalled into the Soviet Union.

Finland developed as a prosperous Western democracy and was able to join the European Union and then NATO. It has long had one of the world’s highest per capita GDPs, scoring 100% on Freedom House’s Democracy Index (the US scores 84).

Ukraine’s future after the war will be in the hands of its people. It would be for them to prove that the heroism and sacrifices of heroes who stopped Russian troops with the price of their lives weren't in vain.