Zelenskyy says 'horrors' of Russian invasion could have been avoided if world leaders had punished Putin's annexation of Crimea in 2014

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said if world leaders "punished" Russia for annexing Crimea then Russia's war could have been avoided.
• "If the world had punished Russia for what it did in 2014, there would be none of the horrors of this invasion of Ukraine in 2022," Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that the "horrors" of Russia's current invasion of Ukraine could have been prevented had the rest of the world "punished" Russia for its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine eight years ago.

"It is often said that unpunished evil returns," Zelenskyy said in a virtual address to Australia's parliament. "I would add — unpunished evil returns winged, with a sense of omnipotence."

"If the world had punished Russia for what it did in 2014, there would be none of the horrors of this invasion of Ukraine in 2022," Zelenskyy added. "We need to fix these terrible mistakes now."

Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 with the help of Moscow-backed separatists.

That annexation led to international condemnation and economic sanctions against Russia by the West.

It also triggered Russia's expulsion from the G8 group of world leaders, making it the G7.

After Putin launched Russia's war against Ukraine late last month, the US, UK, European Union, Canada, and Switzerland swiftly moved to impose harsh sanctions on Russia, including on a number of individual oligarchs, as well as Putin himself.

"After 36 days of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, it is safe to say that there is no other way in the world to guarantee global security than to force Russia into silence, into peace," Zelenskyy said in his address to the Australian parliament on Thursday.

Zelenskyy continued, "The worst thing is that if Russia is not stopped now, if Russia is not brought to justice, some other countries in the world that dream of a similar war against their neighbors will decide that this is possible for them as well."

The Ukrainian president is not alone in contending that the world's response to Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea was not strong enough to help prevent future aggression.

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in early February said that the response by the US and West more generally to Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008 and annexation of Crimea in 2014 "was too weak to send a very clear message to Putin that there would be real consequences and don't do it again."

"If anything, Putin took away from that experience, that it is possible for me to try to change the map of Europe," Menendez, who was speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper at the time, added. "I think people have awoken to the reality that, in fact, he will continue to march on unless he has real serious consequences, not only to devastating Russia's economy, but how many body bags he wants to take back of Russia's sons."

Fiona Hill, who served as the top Russia advisor on the National Security Council under the Trump administration, expressed similar sentiments in a New York Times op-ed in late January.

"The West's muted reactions to both the 2008 and 2014 invasions emboldened Mr. Putin," said Hill, who also served as a key witness in the first impeachment of President Donald Trump over his Ukraine dealings.

The US strengthened ties with both Georgia and Ukraine following the 2008 and 2014 invasions, providing military assistance and training in the years since.

It also slapped sanctions on Russia over these events, but none that went as far as the economic penalties the US has employed since Putin launched an unprovoked, full-scale war against Ukraine in late February.

The most recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia has also seen the US ramp up security assistance to Kyiv, including lethal aid.

The Biden administration has still been calculated about the steps it's taken to support Ukraine to avoid escalating the situation, but still far less cautious than the US has been in the past. The Obama administration, for example, refused to send weapons to Ukraine in order to avoid provoking Russia.

Latvian President Egils Levits, a NATO leader, in a conversation with the Washington Post last week said if the reaction from the West to Russia's invasions of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 had been "stronger" then "we would not have this war [in Ukraine] today."

"This is a failure of Western alliance eight years ago, 14 years ago, and we should not repeat this failure," Levits said, adding, "Appeasement politics towards aggressive imperialistic, autocratic states are not fruitful."

The Latvian leader said that in the past there was "a certain naivety on the part of Western societies and on the part of Western politicians concerning the character of Putin's Russia."

He went on to say the "good news" is that this naivete disappeared in recent weeks "because the whole world see the real nature of Putin's Russia and we have reacted very quickly."