“Ukraine – Russia”

The unexpected legacy of its resistance

Momentous occasions such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine often have the effect of reinforcing in commentators and policy analysts the convictions and prescriptions they had previously espoused. In other words, “I favor policy X, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine only reinforces the urgency of adopting policy X.” I recall availing myself of this trope when it came to the question of NATO enlargement and the meaning of 9/11. I averred that the uncertainties of the post-9/11 world made the case for NATO’s embrace of new members even more urgent.

The first lady of Ukraine was in Washington last week to be feted by the Biden administration, Congress, and the corporate press. Olena Zelenska, the attractive and patriotically dressed wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was given the Jackie Kennedy/Michelle Obama treatment by fashion columnists while also helping to reinforce the message that Ukraine’s effort to defend itself against Russian aggression is a battle for democracy and the survival of the West.

As Ukraine’s military steps up its strikes on Kherson, hinting at a new offensive to recapture the region, there is another force working alongside. They are Ukraine’s shadow army, a network of agents and informers who operate behind enemy lines.

Our journey to meet the resistance fighters takes us through a landscape of sunflower yellow and sky blue to Mykolaiv. The first major town on Ukrainian-controlled territory west of Kherson, it has become the partisans’ headquarters on the southern front.

‘If we had permission, we would have seen results a long time ago,’ says one soldier

NEAR IZYUM, Ukraine—When Ukraine pushed Russian forces back from the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv in May, they quickly headed to the border to dig their flag into Ukrainian soil that, for a time, had fallen into Russian hands.

Since then, the front lines in Ukraine’s northeastern region have been largely static. Russian artillery on the other side of the border continues to hammer Ukrainian positions and civilian buildings, and Kyiv has pledged not to target Russian territory with weapons provided by the West.

“Sickening evil” video footage shows a bound and gagged Ukrainian prisoner of war being castrated by Russian soldiers — before he is shot dead and dragged through the street on a rope.

The barbaric footage — confirmed Friday by a Ukrainian politician and journalist — shows camouflaged soldiers allegedly led by Vitaly Aroshanov kicking the distressed soldier in the head as he lies bound by ropes on the floor.

With his mouth gagged, the tortured prisoner moans in desperation as the troops rip his pants to expose his backside.

A Muslim and an Israeli share a trench and their thoughts on the Russian invasion while under GRAD barrage. Somewhere in the East. pic.twitter.com/9uQ7cc89kd

— Artoir (@ItsArtoir) July 21, 2022

h/t Armaros

Five months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the war is now reduced to one of attrition. The current dirty, grinding slog is fought mostly with artillery and rockets. Everything from Ukraine’s shopping centers to apartment buildings — and the civilians in them — are Russian targets.

Most outsiders have already forgotten the heroic Ukrainian winter repulse of the botched Russian shock-and-awe effort to sweep into Kyiv, decapitate the government, and declare the eastern half of the country a Russian protectorate within mere days.

#Ukraine: A Ukrainian soldier demonstrating a modified commercial off-the-shelf DJI Mavic 3 drone adapted to drop two air delivered improvised munitions – here based on American M430A1 HEDP 40x53mm grenades.

Various modified COTS drones are widely used by Ukrainian forces. pic.twitter.com/R3Nae86h9k

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 27, 2022

Russia’s defence ministry says 40 Ukrainian prisoners-of-war have been killed by Ukrainian shelling of a prison in separatist-held Donetsk.

Officials alleged that 75 others had been injured in a rocket strike on the prison camp in Olenivka. The BBC cannot independently verify this claim.

Ukraine’s military denied carrying out the strike and instead accused Russia of shelling the prison.

It said Moscow was seeking to cover up evidence of torture at the site.

In this video you can see how the process of guiding looks like – using a special laser rangefinder-target indicator 1D15 which is pointed on the desired target. Though being developed 40 years ago, 3F5 projectiles can directly hit small sized targets up to 9200 meters away. pic.twitter.com/nU0LPPuRic

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) July 28, 2022

Viktor Bout has been accused of supplying arms to Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and rebels in Rwanda. His exploits helped inspire a 2005 film, “Lord of War,” that starred Nicolas Cage.

Shortly after his conviction in 2011 on charges including conspiring to kill American citizens, the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout relayed a defiant message through his lawyer, even though he faced the prospect of decades in prison.

Mr. Bout, his lawyer said, “believes this is not the end.”

More than a decade later, Mr. Bout, 55, may be nearing a chance for a new beginning even though he has served less than half of his 25-year prison sentence.

A Russian tank killed a Canadian fighter who was trying to carry a fallen comrade to safety in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, grieving members of his battalion say.

Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois, 31, from Montreal, died alongside three other foreign fighters on July 18, after his company was ambushed by a Russian tank near the front line in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was eviscerated by social media users over his Vogue photoshoot with his wife, First Lady Olena Zelenska, which transpired while their country continues to be invaded by Russia.

The Germany city of Hanover has become the first big city in Europe to ban hot water and central heating in public buildings in response to Vladimir Putin’s weaponizing of gas supplies.

The drastic step comes as Germans have been told to expect sky high electricity bills and sweeping gas rationing measures that will affect their day-to-day lives.

In a sign of things to come, Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony in the north west of the country, will cut off the hot water in public buildings, swimming pools, sports halls and gyms.

Some weeks ago the Russians announced an “operational pause” in the Donbas.

Breaks in fighting like these are pretty normal in this type of high-intensity warfare, because of the vast supplies required and damages inflicted.

Armies sometimes just have to take time-outs to regroup and build up their supplies again, although normally you don’t broadcast to everyone that you’re doing it.

That’s a bit odd, and makes it seem like there must be another reason that Russian military activity has decreased.

Yes, do it again! #nafo #fellas pic.twitter.com/kNWz1YwkT7

— Is it HIMARS o'clock? (@HIMARStime) July 24, 2022

In our age of crisis, the state has been reawakened, breaking the taboos of the past few decades. But it’s still an uphill climb. Over the past 40 years, there was broad political agreement that markets were not to be meddled with, and that the power of the state had to be reined in. Economists such as Milton Friedman argued that the overbearing nature of the Keynesian state had suffocated the entrepreneurial spirit, making workers lazy and entitled. Much of this situation, they claimed, was the result of intrusive government interfering with the smooth running of the free market.