Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman was a young man to hold such a position of great power in Ukraine. He had been helped in part by the connections his family had within the unspoken oligarchy of the nation, but he was also an incredibly charismatic speaker in his own right. His message had resonated with the people of Ukraine, who were mostly enticed by the idea of a modern European existence. It wasn’t long before he had risen to the top of the opposition party that ousted Yanukovych.
When he originally took power, PM Groysman had hoped to approach Eastern Ukraine calmly and bring them back into the fold through diplomatic means. He certainly heard often enough from his EU partners that they wanted him to handle the issue peacefully. At first, he agreed with their reasoning, but after a while, he began to feel bitter that he was constantly being told how to run the country, as if the heads of state in the European Union thought he were a child.
After four long years of conflict, Volodymyr was losing patience. The constant protests were undermining his legitimacy as the true leader of Ukraine. He began to work with his Public Information Officer to make sure that stories that were favorable to his administration were the dominant voice in the public information sphere.
When President Gates was sworn into office in the United States in January of 2017, Groysman was initially unsure of the new leader’s intentions towards Russia. He worried that he would have another man in office who would try to convince him that he should win over the separatists with simple kindness. However, within a matter of months, Gates had changed the US policy towards Ukraine and had started providing the country with military aid. “Perhaps I have misjudged this man,” thought Volodymyr. “Gates seems to be someone who is not afraid to stand up to the Russian dictator.”
The Prime Minister was very pleased with the assistance that began to pour in from the US. In addition to equipment and manpower, the Special Forces soldiers began to train the Ukrainian military fighters, introducing a lot of new tactics. Unknown to him, Ambassador Rice was behind the scenes, trying to slow things down.
On more than one occasion, Duncan picked up the phone and tried to talk some sense into his direct superior, the Secretary of State, Travis Johnson. “Sir, I serve at the pleasure of the President, but this place is a giant powder keg waiting to explode,” he asserted. “We need to cool things down here, not send additional weapons to the area. Why don’t we defuse the situation by providing substantial economic aid to the affected areas? We could try to get people focused on rebuilding the economy here and healing the wounds of conflict,” he pleaded.
The Ambassador’s appeals fell on deaf ears. “Rice, while I respect your opinion, I recently spoke to your new Senior Defense Officer (SDO), George Luka, and he has a different assessment. He views this Ukrainian conflict as a counterinsurgency fight, and feels confident that with the right training, military advisors and equipment, we can win.”
“Mr. Secretary, I value my colleague, but George was just promoted to Brigadier General very recently. He hasn’t been on the ground here that long. I feel that his experiences in the Special Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan may have impacted how he sees things here,” explained Ambassador Rice.
“Well Ambassador, you may have a point,” agreed Secretary Johnson. “However, the Secretary of Defense also shares the same views. He wants to take a hard line against Russia, and he feels that the Ukraine is the perfect place to do it.”
“Sir, I agree that something needs to be done to counter the separatists, but I feel strongly that applying economic pressure on the Russian government is a better approach. If we make the sanctions arduous enough, the Kremlin will stop supporting the rebels in Eastern Ukraine,” claimed Ambassador Duncan.
The Secretary of State didn’t budge. “I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one, Rice,” he countered.
Duncan was frustrated. The Secretary of State and his SDO were not the only people to disagree with him. The CIA Station Chief, a man by the name of John Williams, also sided with General Luka. He despised the Russians and blamed them for meddling in the American election. Agent Williams didn’t waste any time. Soon he had convinced the President’s National Security Advisor to allow “The Agency” to deploy a Special Activities Division (SAD) unit to help counter the separatist movement.
Once Ambassador Rice learned of this plan, he definitely had reservations. “Nothing good can come of a SAD team operating here. They are killers, nothing more,” he thought. Still, despite the challenges and divergent agendas and personalities, Duncan began to feel that real progress was taking place in Ukraine.
Several months went by. Prime Minister Groysman knew that Ambassador Rice preferred a diplomatic solution, but he was unaware of the conversations that were taking place in the background. All he knew was that the support from the United States continued to ramp up, which he appreciated more and more as the situation in Eastern Ukraine continued to escalate.
One day, Marko Tereshchenko, one of the Prime Minister’s senior military advisors, showed up at Groysman’s office unexpectedly, sweating as if he had just run a mile to get there as quickly as possible.
“Prime Minister,” he began, “I apologize for my unannounced visit, but I must speak with you very urgently.”
Groysman waved him in. “What is it, Marko?”
“Sir, Oleksandr Prasolov is going to be speaking at the protests in Kharkiv,” he announced, out of breath.
“The former deputy minister from the Yanukovych administration?” Groysman asked.
“Yes, Prime Minister,” Marko responded. “Oleksandr has been a problem. He will try to rally the people of Eastern Ukraine to join the other separatist regions, and our intelligence on the ground shows that he is a very effective voice for the opposition.”
“Enough is enough,” asserted Groysman. He stood up and began to pace the room. “I am so tired of these constant protests and attacks against our government. The soft touchy-feely European approach isn’t working any more. We have to get serious about shutting this down! I want you to give me some options for how we can use the military to support the local police there.” He smacked the desk. “I want to see the proposals here by the end of the day, do you understand?”
“Yes, Sir,” Marko replied. He dashed off to get the plans in order.
Volodymyr had a tendency to be rash sometimes. He didn’t have the patience that many men develop with age and life experience. However, even though he ordered 1,500 soldiers to Kharkiv to put down the insurrection, he had not intended for things to go sideways the way that they did.
Things had been going smoothly until one of the soldiers, a sniper, shot Oleksandr in the head, killing him instantly. Once Oleksandr was dead, the security guards surrounding the other speakers began to shoot at the soldiers and police officers, who in turn began firing into the crowd of protestors. By the time the sun rose the following day, 28 protestors had been killed and another 112 had been taken to the hospital. Nearly 200 others had been arrested, along with several protest leaders who had survived the bloody evening. The separatist provinces began calling the tragedy the Freedom Square Massacre and took to the airways to proclaim, “This is proof that the fascist government in Kiev is never going to negotiate in good faith with us about the reforms that they promised. The time to act is now!”
Groysman read every report that came in regarding the activities in Kharkiv. His partners in the EU and the US kept calling him and telling him how poorly this was all being received in the West. He stopped answering his phone. “They do not know what they are talking about,” he thought. “From the outside things look differently, but I know my men were ultimately successful in stabilizing the city. That multi-day protest has finally ended, and those who are loyal to the government will no longer feel that they have been left to fend for themselves behind enemy lines.”