“The first days were really difficult, emotionally, for the entire embassy staff and for me too,” said Ukraine’s ambassador Maksym Kononenko (42), looking back on the beginning of the large-scale invasion of his country six months ago. We speak in his office at the embassy, on Zeestraat in The Hague – a stone’s throw from the Russian consulate. “I’d be lying if I told you we were prepared for this. We felt in our bones that something bad was about to happen.’
Kononenko, who only started in The Hague shortly before the war, is from Kropyvnytskyi in Central Ukraine, but his family has lived in Kyiv since he was 6 years old. ‘My father got a job there because he was one of the people who rescued civilians in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. My mother and sister spent the first weeks of the war in Kyiv. In March I managed to get them here, now they are back. My father has always stayed in Kyiv.’
The ambassador is full of praise for the collaboration with the Netherlands. ‘Our cooperation is really very good. We are in constant contact about how the Netherlands can help us more in this situation.’ His foreign minister, Dmytro Koeleba, mentioned the Netherlands as one of the three surprises during a visit to The Hague this spring, Kononenko says. The other two? “Germany and Australia.”
Because the relationships weren’t always so flourishing. Two years after Russia started its aggression against Ukraine, the Netherlands rejected an EU association agreement after an advisory referendum. And in the run-up to the war, the Netherlands and Germany blocked arms supplies to Ukraine in NATO context. Now, according to Kononenko, The Hague is ‘in the top 10’ of Western countries that support Ukraine with weapons, financial and humanitarian aid.
When asked about the reason for that sudden change, he says ‘I was wondering that too!’ and picks up an old book from his desk that he recently bought from a nearby antique dealer: The Rape of the Netherlands (London, September 1940), written by the then foreign minister Eelco van Kleffens, who had emigrated to London.
“Now I may know why. Van Kleffens writes: ‘A characteristic part of the Dutch character is the curious sympathy for the underdog. Anyone who is rightly or wrongly a victim of superior power can be sure of Dutch sympathy.’ You have suffered a lot of oppression in your history and you are very attached to your freedom and your European values. It seems that your leaders realized very quickly what was at stake.’
What stage is the war at?
“We are quite optimistic now. We see that the strategic initiative is in our hands. Russian troops are stranded. They cannot move forward and are forced to react to our actions. They have brought their best units to the Kherson region to block our counter-offensive. There they are now in a sort of trap because all three main bridges over the Dnipro have been destroyed or reachable for our artillery. So now we can gradually destroy them. Of course they have a great advantage in numbers, but that has been compensated by the bravery of our soldiers and by modern and effective Western weapons. We see that the Russian soldiers are exhausted and demotivated. They don’t know what they’re fighting for. We do: for our continued existence as a Ukrainian state and as a Ukrainian people.’
So no negotiations for now?
“We realize we cannot afford another frozen conflict. That is impossible. If we agree to negotiations, or any agreement, today, it will go nowhere. Russia is a big country, it will reorganize its troops and attack again. The only solution for us is to beat Russia on the battlefield this year. Then Russia will withdraw from Ukrainian territory and we can negotiate. Russians are now eager to negotiate. They’re trying to avoid military defeat, but we won’t give them this gift.’
At the same time, energy prices are soaring, as is inflation. Will Western pressure increase on Kyiv to seek a deal with Putin?
“The cause of these developments is not the Ukrainian desire to exist. The cause is Russian aggression – and it is directed against all of Europe. Ukrainians are fighting at the front, but you are also fighting: for your values and your way of life. So unfortunately you too have to pay this price to defend yourself. And that price will be much higher if Ukraine fails.’
Putin doesn’t seem like the type to deal with loss well. Will he escalate it?
This is not Putin’s war, but Russia’s war against Ukraine. Putin is not in the tanks, those are Russian soldiers. More than 70 percent of the Russian people support this war. Our aim is not to defeat Putin, or to humiliate or take revenge on Russia, but to destroy Russia’s capacity to continue this war against Ukraine and Europe.
“Russia initially threatened very aggressively with the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons: ‘If…’ But the West gave modern weapons, instructors, in Crimea things are going wrong – all their red lines have already been crossed and nothing happened. And I think Putin and the Russian leadership love the good life too much, including their families, to risk using such a weapon. And besides nuclear and chemical weapons, they have already used every conceivable weapon against Ukraine.’
In a recent Amnesty report, Ukraine is accused of violating the laws of war in its defense of cities. The local Amnesty staff resigned, partly because no serious attempt had been made to get Kyiv to respond. Has there ever been an official response?
“Our president has said something about it, as has our secretary of state. Short, because we respect the activities of all NGOs and journalists on our territory. Now we see that Amnesty has not followed its own rules and procedures. For example, Ukrainians have been interviewed in Russian filtration camps – people who are under pressure and unable to give honest, independent judgment. Just look at how our prisoners of war are tortured to make false statements.
‘But what is most striking is the lack of attention to context in the report. There is a war of aggression going on where cities are being conquered by completely destroying them, including civilians. So what can you expect from the Ukrainian Armed Forces? That they leave these cities to Russia to destroy, kill and torture? Sometimes situations such as those described by Amnesty cannot be avoided. There is a military necessity to protect civilians.’
Ukraine also showed talks with Russian prisoners of war at the beginning of the war. That is not in line with the law of war.
“It may not have been in line with the Geneva Conventions, but we did it in an attempt to wake up the Russian people, who are in a sort of propaganda lethargy. Mothers, sisters, women – do something! We didn’t show the POWs in inhumane conditions or after torture like the Russians do, but we were criticized and stopped.’
When will the war end? A Ukrainian refugee friend says: We need an uprising in Russia.
“The end of the war will mean for us the liberation of our occupied territories and the recognition by the Russians of their responsibility for all this destruction, murder and other war crimes on our territory. I don’t know if we can achieve the second, but I think we can achieve the first.
‘Why was your friend talking about an uprising? It’s like trying to wake them up. When Russians awaken from their propagandistic lethargy and realize the scale of the crimes they have committed, they will be deeply shocked. That will mean the end of the war. But even if we oust them and sign a ceasefire, it will take five to 10 years for them to realize the magnitude of their crimes. And recognize their collective responsibility.’
“This war is illegal, completely immoral. They say that they want to demilitarize us and that they are coming to liberate Ukraine from neo-Nazis and then destroy the main Russian-speaking cities. The biggest problem is the complete Russian denial of their responsibility for all these crimes. Aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity, murders, rapes. The destruction of our cities. They deny everything!’
Is that behind Ukraine’s plea to end tourist visas for Russians?
‘Yes. We don’t see it as revenge or punishment, we see it as an effective tool to make Russians realize that their quiet support for Putin’s rule and this war plays a very important role. If they decide not to support the war, the war will be over. Then the Kremlin has no tools to go through with it. Of course there must be humanitarian exceptions and Russians must be able to apply for asylum. But we want to pressure those Russians who travel, who enjoy western luxuries but are not politically active, to realize what is happening. And we think this puts extra pressure on the Russian leaders.’