02/26/2026 The Russian invasion, meant as a swift coup, has devolved into a four-year war of attrition with a massive death toll. The front is almost at a stalemate, and the Russian army continues to perpetrate war crimes. 2025 was the deadliest year for the civilian population, with 3,218 deaths and 8,901 injuries, a 37% increase compared to 2024. And now Moscow has the support of Trump’s United States, which is demanding the handover of Ukrainian territory to the invader. Trump has emboldened Putin and cut military aid to Ukraine by more than 90% to subdue it. Despite exhaustion, the people continue to resist.
Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure are making this winter exceptionally harsh, cutting off power and heat to cause demoralisation. In the occupied territories to the east, the population suffers under a regime of police terror and forced Russification. On the front line, the line has become blurred by current warfare tactics. Drone warfare has imposed new conditions of terror, and we can no longer speak of a front line, but a 20-kilometre-wide strip on either side.
Trump wants to impose a peace plan on Zelensky tailored to Putin’s needs. The agreement aims to legitimise the occupation by freezing the current front line. It amounts to rewarding Russian aggression and ceding 20% of Ukrainian territory (Crimea and Donbas). Russia is delaying negotiations, hoping for significant progress on the front line, which has yet to materialise. Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, claimed that the “main cause” of the war was that Ukraine was a “fake country,” echoing the Kremlin’s rhetoric. The American magnate exchanges favours with Putin, anticipating reciprocal support on strategic matters in Washington. This has been demonstrated through Russia’s abstention on Trump’s Gaza colonisation plans at the UN Security Council and its silence regarding the US attack on Venezuela. For Trump, Ukraine is merely a bargaining chip.
By relying on imperialist aid, Zelensky’s government is now dependent on and constrained by these powers, particularly shifts in US leadership. Ukraine’s government is heavily in debt and favours wealthy oligarchs with anti-worker laws. Rare earth exploitation is being transferred to the US, threatening Ukraine’s economic future. These policies weaken the Ukrainian working people’s efforts to resist the Russian invasion.
But the prolonged war is taking its toll on the Kremlin. It is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit soldiers for the front. Military commanders are requesting 400,000 more and are being forced to resort to mercenaries. Skyrocketing salaries and death benefits, coupled with war costs, have forced the Kremlin to propose a budget with tax hikes and reduced social spending on healthcare, education, and social services. Inflation has risen, and initial support for the invasion is waning, while the systematic repression of all criticism of Putin continues.
Trump’s strategy also attempts to weaken European imperialism, as seen in proposals to turn Europe into a police officer through a demilitarised zone patrolled by European troops. This involves exploiting the weakness of European imperialism and is another way to collect the debt that the Trump administration demands as payment for its services in NATO. The EU’s impotence is evident, as is the division with governments like Orbán’s in Hungary, which openly support Russian aggression.
NATO’s 5% military spending hike doesn’t affect Ukraine arms supplies, which are less than half of the EU’s military spending rise in three years. EU hypocrisy: sanctions for Russia, silence on Palestinian suffering. They maintain Israel as a preferential partner, with arms trade and participation in sporting events and competitions. The Sánchez-Díaz government is doing the same: despite the fanfare and pronouncements, it continues to buy and sell weapons to Israel and collaborate in the genocide.
We endorse the call of the Russian platform “Left for Peace Without Annexations”: “The Russians with the conscientious left, the anti-war movement, must seize the current situation to disseminate information about Russia’s inhumane crimes in Ukraine. Empathy for the heating cuts is possible considering that Russian capitalism has often left Russian workers without heat. (…) the Russian state is not bringing liberation to Ukraine, but darkness, cold, death, dictatorship … and that is why we must resist.”
Trump’s alliance with Putin leaves the supposed left without a strategy, as they see the world as two opposing blocs: US/NATO and Russia/China. Inter-imperialist collaboration, despite the tensions over dividing the spoils, is also demonstrated by Russia’s support for Israel, with up to a 70% increase in the wheat it receives and up to a 50% increase in petroleum products. Russia merely makes gestures in the face of US imperialism’s attack on Venezuela or the blockade of Cuba. Russia is also a capitalist imperialism that exploits and oppresses.
Imperialism and dictatorial governments are irreconcilable enemies of workers and peoples. We are against all imperialist oppression. We stand with the Ukrainian resistance against the Russian invasion. Likewise, we stand with the Palestinian resistance against Zionist imperialism. The only just peace will come from the defeat of the Russian invasion. The Ukrainian people have the right to arm themselves to defend against aggression. It is necessary to reaffirm international solidarity with the struggle of the Ukrainian people, with their trade unions and left-wing organisations. We reject any agreement made behind the backs of the popular will.
Russian troops out of Ukraine! Immediate withdrawal of the invaders.
No to Trump’s surrender plan! We reject any secret pact between powers that decides on the sovereignty of peoples.
Solidarity against the repression of Russian and Belarusian activists against the invasion.
For an independent Ukraine, at the service of the workers!
Solidarity with the resistance in Ukraine and Palestine! Against the peace of the graveyard.
Internationalist Fight February 2026
