Ukraine's resistance isn't futile; West must supply it
An immensely brave Ukrainian army, aided by civilians equipped with Molotov cocktails and small arms, is vastly outmatched by Russian armed forces. NATO countries are trying to help by providing more weapons: rifles and machine guns from the Czechs, missile-launchers from the Dutch, antitank missiles from the Estonians, munitions and more antitank weapons from the United States. Even Germany, which had shied away from direct military actions since World War II, is sending Stinger surface-to-air missiles and other shoulder-launched rockets.
At best, this will prolong the carnage of the Russian invasion. While Ukrainians have fought tenaciously, they almost certainly cannot win a conventional military conflict against Russia. (An extended guerilla war is a different matter.) The longer the fighting goes on, the more people will die, including many civilians. Much of Ukraine’s great cities could end up as rubble. It’s fair to ask, then, what is the point of providing more arms for a war that cannot be won, at least in the short term?
The same question arose during the last great war in Europe, too. During World War II, people in several countries, some better organized than others, tried to resist their Nazi occupiers with violence. German soldiers and local collaborators were assassinated. Railway lines were blown up. Military convoys were ambushed.
The mostly young men and women in these “shadow armies” took enormous risks for all kinds of reasons, patriotism being one of them. Many of them paid the ultimate price: death by torture or execution.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-ukraines-resistance-isnt-futile-west-must-supply-it/