The admission by the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, on 7th December, that the Minsk Protocol (Agreement) brokered by Germany and France 'was an attempt to give Ukraine time to become stronger', came as no surprise to most people across the globe because what she said was not different from what her successor, Olaf Scholz, said shortly after returning from his ill-fated trip to Africa where he displayed his ignorance of what 'True Democracy' really was.

Scholz was not the 'first' to break the news about this shameful act by the west. In fact, it was Petro Poroshenko, then the Ukrainian president and also a privy to the Minsk Agreement, who, in the last summer, let the cat out of the bag by claiming that they (Ukraine and the West) deliberately delayed the Minsk Agreement to allow Ukraine to be armed.

That, indeed, was a very smart talk, but when he was being armed by the Western powers to commit genocide against the Russians and Russian speaking people in both the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, did it occur to him that one day the tide would turn against his own people?

When he was forcing innocent elderly Russians to sleep in cold basements, did it occur to him that after eight years his own people would be enjoying very long freezing nights without electricity?

As a signatory to the Minsk Treaty, Poroshenko was supposed to have ensured its implementation, but his refusal to do so, coupled with other reckless actions by his 'comedian' successor, Volodymyr Zelensky, has left Ukraine in a state of devastation that no other country has suffered in (the) recent past.

Now, Poroshenko should answer these questions:

Is he happy that millions of Ukrainians are still living without electricity, water and other basic amenities?

Is he happy that about eight million Ukrainians have fled the country and left behind 'all that they have worked for in their entire lifetime', and some of them may not even return to Ukraine, their beautiful country?

What about millions who have been displaced inside Ukraine itself and those who live in fear that bombs could at anytime drop on them and send them prematurely to their graves?

Was he happy that during his presidency, not less than 13,000 Ukrainians perished as a result of his own actions?

Was he happy when on the 17th of July 2014, the Malaysian passenger jet No. MH17 was shot down in Eastern Ukraine, killing everyone on board?

Is he happy that in the last one year, hundreds of buildings in Ukraine have been flattened and/or completely destroyed by the 4Ps - Putin's Precision Pounding Power?

On the 15th of this month, it emerged that the total damage caused by Russian attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure had reached $500bn, but some analysts put the figure even higher. Also the World Health Organisation recently revealed that up to 25 percent of Ukrainians might soon experience mental challenges as a result of the war. Yesterday, Ukraine's Environmental Minister, Ruslan Strilets, told Aljazeera from Kiev that Russian offensive had caused an environmental damage of $52bn to the country. All these could have been avoided if the Minsk agreement had been adhered to.

If it is true, which we all know it really is that the Minsk Agreement was signed deliberately to deceive Moscow, arm Ukraine to the teeth, and attack Russia at a later date, then they are reaping the fruits of the very seeds which they sowed. "

'Violence,' they say, 'begets violence.' 'They wished for war, and now they have it.' And in the face of heavy bombardment and imminent humiliating defeat, they are now "wishing for" assassination of Putin or a coup d'etat to overthrow him.

They are also going round threatening everyone against aiding Russia despite clear evidence that their so-called America's Unipolar World and the US-led Rules-based World Order are already crumbling before their very eyes, and are about to be replaced by a Multipolar World and a Fairer World Order respectively.

We don't know how long this war is going to last, but regardless of who wins, one thing is certain, it is Ukraine's own innocent civilians who are bearing the brunt period.

The confession by Poroshenko, Merkel and Scholz has exposed the treacherous acts of betrayal exhibited by these very European leaders in whom Putin put his trust for eight good years during which the people of the Donbas region were subjected to torture and genocide by the Western-backed Ukrainian authorities.

The Western powers, we know, are always bent on using lies and deceptions to justify their illegal actions, military or otherwise.

In order to achieve their objectives, these countries, which are mostly like-minded former colonial powers, use their 'very powerful' propaganda machinery through their mainstream media, and other forms of influence to lure world organisations and other unsuspecting countries to their side in order to attack innocent and defenceless countries which they (the West) deem to be threats to their greedy and exploitative interests. They did it to Serbia (former Yugoslavia). They used lies to attack Iraq. They used lies to get the backing of the UN, Africa Union and the Arab League to attack Libya. In 2019 a former Norwegian statesman admitted that his country was misled into the Libyan invasion.

Is there any surprise that they are doing the same thing to Russia? Are they not showing their true colours? Fifty nations (made up of 30 NATO countries and twenty allies) that met in Germany in January this year are now fighting Russia.

When global criticisms and condemnations started pouring (in) in response to Merkel's confession, it was thought that the west, for once, would be remorseful and learn some lessons, but that never happened.

During his recent trip to the EU summit this month, Ukrainian president, Zelensky shamelessly claimed that he had taken credit for the sabotage of the Minsk agreement. That is another smart talk indeed, but shouldn't he have also taken the responsibility for the heavy bombardments and pounding which have kept him hiding in sunless abode for nearly one year? Is 'sabotage' the word he should happily be proud of? One wonders why Ukrainian leaders are so smart in destroying their own country.

Does he also know that, in the course of taking credit for sabotaging the Minsk agreement, he succeeded in taking credit for sabotaging Ukraine's claim to the Donbas and two other regions?

Is the present state of Ukraine what Mr. Zelensky and his western backers really want? A whole wasted year that could otherwise have been used more profitably? A wasted generation that could adversely affect the country's own future demograpy? A senseless war that has so far produced no winners? An untold economic hardship that has impacted almost every single life on earth? Is he not ashamed that he had made the entire world more dangerous than ever before?

Ukraine is almost entirely unrecognisable as compared to the state in which it was prior to the Maidan Revolution that ousted President Victor Yanukovich in February 2014. In the last one year the country has suffered powerful airstrikes which many of us have not witnessed before.

As (it) has been said earlier, hundreds of buildings have been flattened while many others have been completely destroyed. In addition, Ukraine has lost 4 regions (nearly 20 percent of Ukraine's territory) to Russia, and its NATO backers' counter-offensive, launched on 4th July, 2022 to reclaim the lost territory, is costing Ukraine more civilian lives in addition to the heavy casualties its own military has suffered.

Soldiers (or are they mere fighters?) from NATO countries are also dying or being captured by the day, a clear evidence that NATO countries are actively involved in the war. In August 2022, there was an admission that Ukraine was losing about 1,000 soldiers a day.

Many Ukrainians have been displaced while some of the 8 million citizens who fled the country mainly women and children are unlikely to return to ukraine.

Biden's aggressive ambition to return Crimea and the Donbas Republics to Ukraine by the use of force has gone catastrophically wrong, and this could potentially bring America's own unipolar world to an end, if it hasn't ended already. He did not heed to warnings to abort his plan of starting a conflict with Russia, and not even the warning from his predecessor Donald Trump, who insisted that such a conflict with Russia wouldn't have erupted under his presidency.

Meanwhile, shortly after the 'Merkellan" confession', Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic made a rare statement that his 'country was going to learn a great lesson from it'.

Next was the former chancellor of Austria who accused European policymakers of "turning blind eye on the deadly fighting in the Donbas which, he said, served as a prelude to the current conflict for many years in Ukraine". So do we agree now that there was a deadly fighting in the Donbas that led Russia to move troops to Ukraine?

Yet, the western powers still insist that Russia's actions in Ukraine were unprovoked. Many other world leaders followed suit with the latest criticism coming from the "unyielding Ottoman Emperor", Turkiye's President Erdogan, who criticised the west for provoking Russia. Yet, and yet again, the Western powers still claim that the war was unprovoked.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin did his best for eight good years for Kiev to adhere to the Minsk Agreement in order to allow both Donetsk and Luhansk Regions to remain in Ukraine, and that was the more reason why he refused their request to recognise them or absorb them into the Russian Federation, the greatest mistake he will never forget in his entire life.

He thought he was working in fidelity, in utmost good faith and with all honesty with the west, but they turned round and stabbed him in the back. Unfortunately however, their own treacherous acts have caused Ukraine more harm than anyone can imagine.

Putin became Russia's Prime Minister in 1999 before he assumed the caretaker Presidency later in the same year. In 2000 he won the presidential elections and served for two terms and left.

In 2012 he won the elections again followed by another victory in 2018. Until February February 24th 2022 Russia had not gone to war with any other country under his presidency. He has ruled his country so quietly that it was only in 2018 that many people around the world got to know the geographical location of Russia, even if they knew of its very existence in the first place.

Russians and Ukrainians lived as happy neighbours until the abomination that causes desolation set its feet on the Ukrainian soil, let the reader understand.

As the first anniversary of Russia's Special Military Operations is approaching, it is imperative for the NATO and the West to take stock of all their actions as regards to the war, appraise and evaluate them, and ask themselves this question: "Would Ukraine have suffered this much if we had allowed Kiev to implement the Minsk Agreement?"

The world need peace at the moment, so the west should not hesitate to sit down and talk with Russia and find a lasting solution to the 'logjam' so as to create a happy world and avert further bloodshed.