To get the first, and most important thing out of the way, first: Yes, this piece is about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But, it's also about a far larger picture of war in general.
It's not often that I write a piece broad enough in scope that it excoriates people, who fall on nearly every part of the political spectrum. This is one of those pieces. Politicians, Media, Industry... Fill in the blanks and to a greater or a lesser degree this can apply to anyone out there through all of Society's Four Estates and Five Columns.
It most specifically applies to anyone, great or small, who see little or no moral quandary, whatsoever in the idea of using their fellow human beings as objects, or like Ozzy sang for Black Sabbath back in the day: "...using people just like pawns at chess."

There is NO overt political statement of any stripe being made in this, period.
I am past the point of giving a shit about politicians, period.

All of my sympathies belong to the ordinary people, who are suffering for the actions of politicians, who are indeed using people like pawns at chess.
It is also, yet again, another instance, where I see yet more proof to the old saw that to succeed at politics, merely shedding your ethics is not enough... You have to kill your soul, or at the very least, sell it.

Most of the direct inspirations for this piece are made quite explicitly within it, but for an additional one that is NOT explicitly stated, there was also some influence from an old Shel Silverstein poem with the title of: "The Peace Proposal", because, quite frankly, sometimes Uncle Shelby said it best.

There is also a very well-known quote that I have referred to, namely: "The first casualty, when war comes, is truth." - California Senator Hiram Johnson (1866-1945)

There is also one other inescapable fact about war, and that is that ultimately the ones who most suffer are ordinary people, who are trying their best to live their lives without bothering anyone else.