February 24, 2026, marked four years since the start of Russia’s large-scale aggression against Ukraine. The world’s second-largest army, belonging to a nuclear power with a population of 140 million, launched a treacherous attack against a weak, dependent, and non-nuclear state with a population of 30 million. Every analyst in the world believed that Putin could achieve his military objectives in one to two weeks. However, what transpired proved to be an absolutely unprecedented event in world history. The Ukrainian people, not thanks to, but often in spite of, their corrupt bourgeois leadership, managed not only to defend their right to self-determination, their right to an existence independent of Russia, but also to inflict a series of significant defeats on the Russian occupiers.

From the very first days of the large-scale aggression, Putin dropped the mask of “defender of the Russian and Russian-speaking population of Ukraine” against the “Ukrainian Nazis,” destroying the cities of Donbas to the ground and using its entire male population through total forced conscription into the Russian army. Millions of Russians and Russian speakers in Donbas were forced to abandon their homes and move to unoccupied territories of Ukraine that had escaped this kind of “liberation” by the Russian army.

The tens and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed will forever remain a profound sorrow for the Ukrainian people and an indelible stain and crime of Russian imperialist militarism. From the very first days and months of the Russian imperialist aggression against Ukraine, a fundamental rupture occurred within the international left regarding the analysis of this aggression. It is not surprising that many of its sectors, which for years and decades proclaimed their “anti-imperialism,” expressed full or critical support for Russian imperialism in its aggression against the Ukrainian people and their state. At the same time, these same “campists” resolutely and justifiably condemn US imperialism in its aggressions against Venezuela and Iran. What is this but a cynical policy of “double standards”? A policy that divides the world’s imperialisms into “good” and “bad,” with Russia and China playing the role of “good imperialisms,” while the US and the European Union are traditionally relegated to the role of “bad imperialisms.”

The qualitative transformation and increasing complexity of the imperialist world, the emergence of new, young, and aggressive imperialisms—Russia and China—have unfortunately not been properly understood or analyzed by a significant portion of the left. Traditional and largely obsolete forms and clichés of analysis have been applied to the drastically changed world situation and the intensified inter-imperialist conflicts.

It is clear that this kind of double-standard, “campist” politics causes irreparable damage to the reputation and authority of the revolutionary left-wing movement worldwide.

In the current situation, any manifestation of “campist” analysis within the left takes on truly threatening characteristics for the development of an independent policy of the global working class. De facto support for Russian or Chinese imperialism under the formula “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” or within the framework of the traditional “anti-Americanism” of many sectors of the left, is not only categorically unacceptable to us and our analysis, but is also extremely detrimental to the prospects of the left in general.

But, as we say in Ukraine, “every cloud has a silver lining.” Putin’s imperialist aggression against Ukraine not only acted as a kind of litmus test to identify the true anti-imperialist Marxists and decisively separate them from the “fan club” of Russian and Chinese imperialism, but it also allowed for the start of a global reconfiguration of revolutionary sectors and proletarian vanguards.

It is encouraging that at the heart of this process of unifying authentic internationalist Marxists is our ISL. The ISL has stated clearly and unequivocally that it will fight resolutely and uncompromisingly against all imperialist attacks anywhere in the world, regardless of who carries them out. There are no “good” and “bad” imperialisms. All imperialisms are bad! All imperialisms are enemies of the international working class! The ISL firmly supported the right to self-determination and independent development of all dependent and oppressed peoples of the world, from the Palestinian people to the Ukrainian people.

The conferences of left-wing forces held in Milan (2023, 2024) and Paris (2025), highly important and even fundamental due to their relevance to the development of the European and global movement, contributed to the search for common ground and the exchange of ideas among revolutionary forces with diverse histories and traditions. These conferences allowed us to establish solid links, first informational and then organizational, between our International Socialist League (ISL), the International Trotskyist Opposition (ITO), and the League for the Fifth International (L5I).

The basis of our interaction and subsequent unification was not related to abstract theoretical debates about the past, but rather to consultations and discussions based on a common political position on the current world situation and the uniform application of the Marxist dialectical method. The shared political assessment of Russian imperialist aggression against Ukraine was one of the decisive factors for our organizational unification.

For us at the ISL, being truly internationalist means not closing our eyes to any form of national oppression or to the national liberation struggles of peoples oppressed or subjected to imperialist aggression, but rather fully supporting those struggles.

Of course, competing imperialist interests manifest themselves everywhere in the world, and different imperialisms attempt to co-opt and steer popular liberation movements toward their own geopolitical interests. However, this does not deny, in our analysis, the priority of the right to self-determination of all oppressed or attacked peoples. From the very first days of Putin’s aggression, the ISL supported grassroots popular resistance in Ukraine, clearly distinguishing it from support for Zelensky’s bourgeois and corrupt regime and its Western imperialist “partners.”

Western imperialism’s “collaboration” with Ukraine has long been contradictory. With the arrival of Trump, US imperialism has reduced arms supplies to Ukraine and is seeking agreements with Putin at the country’s expense. European imperialism, for its part, continues to buy oil and gas from Russia in amounts that far exceed the aid provided to Ukraine. Both the US and the European Union see Ukraine primarily as an instrument of their geopolitical interests, so talking about sincere “collaboration” is superficial.

Since the beginning of the war, the ISL has stated its position in various political statements. The conflict combines two parallel processes: on the one hand, Ukraine’s legitimate defense of its sovereignty and the Ukrainian people’s right to self-determination; on the other, the escalation of inter-imperialist tensions between NATO and the emerging imperialisms of Russia and China. The failure to understand this dual nature is the basis of the confusion within much of the left.

Some sectors of the left openly support Putin’s Russia, basing their support on popular rejection of US imperialism. This position is unacceptable to any consistent revolutionary, as nothing justifies aligning with an oppressive capitalist regime like Russia’s. To justify that position, some deny Russia’s capitalist character or claim it is the main victim of the war. These positions reproduce the propaganda of the Russian state apparatus.

The goal of the Russian invasion is to subjugate Ukraine, return it to its sphere of influence, and occupy as much of its territory as possible.

From the outset of the aggression, the ISL stated that the working and popular masses of Ukraine have the full right to defend themselves militarily.

For us, it is evident that for almost four years, it is the Ukrainian people who have been fighting Russian imperialism, often not thanks to, but in spite of, their own government. For revolutionary Marxists, participating in this resistance does not imply supporting the country’s bourgeoisie but rather exposing it to the working masses, revealing its contradictions and betrayals.

Only by participating directly in the national liberation struggle against the foreign invader can the proletarian vanguard travel this path of unmasking its own bourgeoisie. Evading this struggle leads to the self-liquidation of the movement as a real political force.

Oleg Vernik, Chairman of the Independent Trade Union “Zakhist Pratsi,” Ukrainian Socialist League (LSU)