By Giampiero Massolo (*)
ROMA (ITALPRESS) – Today, 24 February 2026, we remember the day when Russia has violated international law, territorial integrity and sovereignty of a European state: Ukraine. That act was not only a military aggression: it was the most dramatic signal of the return of pure power policy. In these four years, Ukraine has demonstrated an extraordinary resilience. His people and his armed forces resisted an invasion that many, at first, believed to end in a few weeks.
Europe owes a debt of gratitude to Kiev: without that resistance the entire continental security system would be questioned. But precisely because realists – and realpolitik is not cynicism, it is responsibility for their citizens – you need to look at reality in the face. The invasion has become a war of friction: Moscow pursues the tactic of shaping the opponent on the field and on the moral, aiming to consolidate the most advanced positions possible.
The West, for its part, cannot and does not want to transform the conflict into a direct NATO-Russia confrontation: the goal is therefore not to win militarily against Moscow, but to guarantee Ukraine lasting security and dissuade future aggressions. This is why I do not see a “right mouth” on the horizon in the full sense of the term. We can rather hope for a negotiated truce, with credible security guarantees for Kiev and avoid the aggressor being rewarded for violating the rules without even achieving a decisive military victory. In the European and Italian perspective, deterrence must first be restored to Moscow. To this end, in addition to increasing European investments in defence and improving the coordination of military supplies of the Member States, it is necessary that the United States remain engaged on our continent.
Four years after that February 24, Italy and Europe must continue to support Ukraine with determination, but also with clarity: history does not reward neither the maxima nor illusions. Only a combination of firmness and pragmatism can lead to a truce that no one humbles and that, above all, does not contain the seeds of a new conflict.
(*) Ambassador
– photo Italpress –
(ITALPRESS).
