Pope Francis is Right. Ukraine Should Fly the White Flag. Here's Why.

In a recent interview, Pope Francis seemingly called on Ukraine to show “the courage of the white flag” and negotiate an end to its conflict with Russia.

Pope Francis is absolutely right.

As a teacher who regularly fields questions from students concerned about a third world war and nuclear armageddon, it becomes more and more difficult for me to dispel their concerns. Truth be told, we come closer to world annihilation with each and every day that the fighting continues in Ukraine.

There are many practical reasons why it’s time for Ukraine to seek peace.

The first reason, the problem of escalatory dominance, was not unforeseen. Almost a decade ago, President Obama warned against war in Ukraine given the fact that Russia will always maintain “escalatory dominance” – which means in short that Russia’s proximity to Ukraine, combined with its vast military, economic, and troop assets, makes it all but impossible for Ukraine to defeat its larger neighbor. NATO weapons and supplies could only drag out the fighting, but we’ve known for many, many years that Ukraine’s ultimate defeat was inevitable.

Speaking of NATO aid, much ink and airtime has recently been dedicated to call for more material support to Ukraine. Indeed, a core argument of the Democrats this election cycle is that Ukraine’s defeat will not be at the hands of Russia’s escalatory dominance but rather at the irresponsible lack of support from Donald Trump and the Republicans. Yet what is not said is that Ukraine cannot buy its way out of defeat. Another $61 billion will not magically create tanks, shells, and bullets out of thin air. The fact is that the military industrial complex of NATO is unable to match Russia’s military production. Ukraine says it needs 6,000 artillery shells a day if it wants to keep fighting, yet the combined military factories of NATO countries can barely produce 1,400 shells a day. Meanwhile Russia each day churns out around 7,500 artillery shells. In a World War I style battle of trenches and fixed positions, this war is all about artillery. Ukraine is running out of ammo and even a trillion-dollar spending bill won’t fix that.

Some have argued that Russia is losing the fight because its special military operation has lingered on for more than two years. Russia, however, is waging a war of attrition. What this means is that Russia is using its artillery, missiles, and drones to wear down and destroy Ukraine’s military while preserving its own. This doesn’t mean that Russia isn’t taking losses, but it does mean that the losses are in Russia’s favor. Forensic audits conducted by pro-NATO media outfits have only been able to verify around 40,000 Russian deaths while the numbers of Ukrainian losses number in the hundreds of thousands. There’s a reason why Ukraine made it illegal to make videos of new cemeteries. Ukraine is now in the process of mobilizing up to 100,000 people from its prisons. If it’s really come to that, it’s time to negotiate an end to the war.

Another critical problem facing Ukraine is the destruction of its air defenses. In one 24-hour period this week, Russia destroyed 11% of Ukraine’s air defense systems. Ukraine will very soon have problems shooting down Russia’s fighters, bombers, missiles, and drones – and once Russia secures air dominance, it’s only a matter of time before Ukraine’s defensive lines collapse and Ukraine loses all it’s bargaining chips.

What happens when Ukraine begins to collapse? We can’t be sure, but the answer looks more and more like World War III and nuclear catastrophe.

France has all but declared it would openly enter the war against Russia when Ukrainian forces begin to collapse. French president Macron is sending an army to Moldova, just miles away from Ukraine’s major port city of Odessa. Olaf Scholz, Germany’s chancellor, recently let slip that France already has military forces (albeit limited) on the ground in eastern Ukraine near Russia’s border. It is not all that unlikely that we’ll soon see a French army marching to Odessa’s defense, and we should all shudder to think what will follow when Russia begins the wholesale slaughter of the French army inside Ukraine. What's more, it appears that British and American troops are operating missile systems within Ukraine and helping attack targets within Russia itself. More troop deployments to Ukraine are being discussed. And while they tell us these deployments are intended only as non-combat, Ukraine training-related deployments, the only rational purpose of such deployments is to draw NATO into an open war with Russia - especially when such Ukrainian troop training could be conducted just inside the Romanian or Polish borders out of reach of Russian arms. In short, NATO is preparing for war.

This brings us back to the wise words of Pope Francis.

“When you are defeated… it is necessary to have the courage to negotiate.” The Holy Father urged Ukraine “not to be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse,” and that negotiation “is the courage not to carry a country to suicide.” In many ways, leaders like Zelensky, Macron, Sunak, and Biden hold the fate of mankind in their hands. Will they plunge the world into a nuclear winter, or admit defeat and pave the path to peace?

Let us pray – and pray hard – for peace… before it’s too late.