Op-ed: We must stop Putin in Ukraine before the rule-of-law is replaced by the rule-of-the-jungle

It's up toUkraine to win. Russia needs to lose. It is that easy.

Everyone from US President Joe Biden to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agree with that end goal.

To embrace anything less would be immoral, set a precedent with catastrophic costs, and undermine what remains of our international order of rules and institutions.

The argument was laid out by President Biden in a New York Times article. His words should be read by all members of his administration and NATO allies who are still acting too cautiously in providing weaponry and the freedom of action to ensure the victory of the Ukrainians.

President Biden wrote that it was not the right thing to stand byUkraine. Ensuring a peaceful and stable Europe is in our national interests and we need to make sure that doesn't happen. If Russia does not pay a heavy price for its actions, it will send a signal to other would-be aggressors that they too can seize territory and subjugate countries.

We need to stop the rule-of-the-jungle from replacing the rule-of-law in Russia.

It is because Putin is showing gains after shifting tactics in response to the surprise victories and resilience of the Ukrainian people.

Putin is going to use stand-off weapons to destroy the population centers in eastern and southern Ukraine with less risk to his troops than he used in Syria. His troops can liberate the rubble, seize the territory, and position Russia for a peace deal if these cities and towns are drained of their humanity.

Putin has been striking at Ukraine economically by blocking its grain exports and stealing its supplies. Though Putin continues to choke on tough sanctions against him, he is willing to risk starvation elsewhere while wagering that he can survive upcoming election cycles and other democratic distraction, such as the recent U.S. school gun shootings.

It is possible to counter Putin's new tactics. It will require the newly unified West and its Asian partners to grow even more determined, creative, and proactive through a combined military, economic and public relations offensive that would put Putin on his back feet.

The aim should not be to ensure a stalemate, which has allowed Putin to take 20% of Ukrainian territory, nor to pressure Ukraine into a peace agreement, but rather to give them the means to regain territory.

Not to lose sight of the barbarity of Putin's atrocities and the moral responsibility to oppose them is the most important thing for Ukraine's potentially fatigued supporters.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary general, told Tom McTague that it's important that we don't forget the brutality. It's emotional. It is about people being killed, it is about atrocities, and it is about children being killed.

It is wrong for the U.S. to limit Ukrainian fire to hitting only Russian targets. Biden wrote that we are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike outside its borders. We don't want to prolong the war in order to hurt Russia.

If someone is killing your family members by shooting across a fence from your neighbor's yard, what is the best weapon to use? The killing will continue if you don't take out the shooter. Putin is so confident in his ability to win through attrition that he is self-destructive.

To address a Putin-generated global food crisis and enable Ukraine to sell 28 million tons of grain it has in storage, the West needs to open Ukraine's Black Sea ports.

The Montreux Convention of 1936 regulates traffic through the Black Sea and guarantees complete freedom of passage for civilians.

The failure to open those ports will be a declaration of war on global food security.

Historians point to the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939-1940 as proof that a smaller but more determined country can beat Moscow.

The invasion of Moscow in November 1939, three months after the start of World War II, resulted in a lot of losses and little gains.

After holding off the Soviets for more than two months, Finland was defeated by the Soviets in February. In 1940, the Soviet Union ceded 9% of its territory to the Finns. Moscow was removed from the League of Nations, but it came away with more territory than it wanted.

Putin shares Stalin's indifference to casualties and human suffering and is as determined as Stalin.

The positive side is that Ukraine is getting more support from the outside than it did in the past.

Without more Western determination, Putin can still win. Putin needs to be shown a dead end and not an off- ramp.

Frederick Kempe is the CEO of the Atlantic Council.