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Prime Minister Andy Burnham returned from Ukraine this week with big news: as part of a deal struck with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Britain would be the first foreign country to get access to the Avengers AI Labs database, Ukrainian battlefield data captured over the course of the war that can be used to train AI systems for military purposes. The deal was struck at the end of a trip where Burnham vowed to “continue our support” for the country and announced he would hand over classified information to help it produce its own long-range missiles.
On the face of it, this all seems encouraging, especially given the public lack of enthusiasm in Washington for backing Ukraine. Unfortunately, the episode also sums up the tragic dynamic that governs this war: one in which Ukraine’s value is defined by its military benefit for Europe, in which “support” for the country almost entirely means feeding it weapons and other military aid, and where we are given permission to continue ignoring the only course of action that will actually end the country’s gradual destruction, which is to urgently pursue a painful but necessary negotiated end to the war.
It should go without saying that it is Russia and its president Vladimir Putin that bear ultimate responsibility for the suffering in Ukraine, thanks to his monstrous and disastrous decision four years ago to launch an illegal invasion of the country. In a just world, an end to the war wouldn’t require any concessions from the victim in this scenario. But the realistic set of choices facing Ukraine is not between just and unjust, but between an unfair, even distasteful peace and the country’s ongoing physical and social destruction.