“Ukraine – Russia”

The answer may lie in his tactics in previous conflicts.

Geographically, Ukraine is the largest country in Europe (about the size of Texas and some 1800km across from west to east); it has a population of more than 40,000,000. The Russian invasion is being conducted along four axes: 1) from the north, out of Belarus; 2) from the northeast, along the Chernihiv-Sumy-Kharkiv axis; 3) out of the Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine (with the help of the two Russian separatist republics of Luhansk and Donetsk); and, 4) out of Crimea in the south. In general, while the Russian assault has been significantly less effective than anticipated, Russian forces are still managing, deliberately and inexorably, to encircle and bombard key Russian cities and towns, e.g., the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Kharkiv (Ukraine’s second largest city), Mariupol. In the process, they have created the most tragic humanitarian disaster in Europe since the end of World War II, with more than 2,000,000 refugees now fleeing Ukraine.

What the Ukrainian Invasion has Revealed about Russian Military Power

Some Russians are risking everything to speak out against Putin’s invasion.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is facing fierce resistance – not just from the Ukrainian fighters defending their homeland, but on the homefront, too.

Since the invasion, the Putin regime has implemented strict controls on the media and has cracked down heavily on protests. A liberal TV channel and radio station have been forced to shut down. Any journalist caught contradicting the Kremlin line – that Russia has not invaded Ukraine, but rather is conducting a ‘special military operation’ – can face up to 15 years in prison, for the crime of spreading ‘fake’ information or disrespecting the military. But none of this has stopped Russians from speaking out. Far from it.

“This is a war about all the world.” -Volodymyr Zelensky

I can’t get the horror of the Russian atrocities in Ukraine out of my head. I keep hearing that cute little toddler crying out hysterically, “Daddy, Mommy is dead!” Her mother was killed in her apartment by a Russian bomb. The videos of teenage Russian conscripts burning to death in their tanks from Javelin missiles don’t make me feel much better.

Is there any point to all of this needless human suffering? “History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Perhaps it is time to start reflecting on what Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will mean to future historians.

That’s not nice!

Kolejny przykład ludobójstwa #RussianArmy. Na nagraniu widać czołg, który strzela do cywila z #Ukraine https://t.co/LLy6ZmUASa

— 🇵🇱 Independent Poland (@maszczepinski) March 15, 2022

A flood of anti-tank missiles sent to Ukraine has potentially changed the course of the war, putting pressure on Russia to find enough capable troops for the grueling urban combat that is now more likely.

For some military analysts, the number of latest generation anti-tank missiles shipped to Ukraine in recent weeks is breathtaking, giving Ukraine’s soldiers an arsenal of these weapons that may be unprecedented in a major modern war.

Russians are not entirely without success…

#Ukraine: The Russian VDV troops showed the weapons recently captured from the Ukrainian forces near #Kyiv. This includes 8 FGM-148 "Javelin", a single NLAW and 5 Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank launchers, supplied from the West. 9K310 Igla-1 and 9K38 Igla MANPADS also can be seen. pic.twitter.com/Wds1HSH7EY

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 15, 2022

#Ukraine: The Russian army continues to use "Krasnopol" 152mm laser-guided artillery shells – this time two Ukrainian BMP IFVs were hit, which led to the detonation of ammunition inside. pic.twitter.com/rMFRTnwWxI

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 15, 2022

Russia has empowered dangerous factions in Zelenskyy’s army

Like any war, but perhaps more than most, the war in Ukraine has seen a bewildering barrage of claims and counter-claims made by the online supporters of each side. Truth, partial truths and outright lies compete for dominance in the media narrative. Vladimir Putin’s claim that Russia invaded Ukraine to “de-Nazify” the country is surely one of the clearest examples. The Russian claim that the Maidan revolution of 2014 was a “fascist coup” and that Ukraine is a Nazi state has been used for years by Putin and his supporters to justify his occupation of Crimea and support for Russian-speaking separatists in the country’s east, winning many online adherents.

A cameraman and a journalist working for Fox News have been killed in Ukraine, staff at the US network say.

Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, and Oleksandra Kuvshinova, 24, were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire in Horenka, on the outskirts of Kyiv.

Their colleague, Benjamin Hall, 39, was wounded in the incident and remains in hospital.

After three weeks of brutal fighting, Ukraine has acknowledged that joining NATO is off the table.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that he “realized” his country would not become a member of the defensive alliance.

“Ukraine realized that it would not become a member of NATO,” Zelensky said, according to an English translation from Ukrainian news outlet Trukha. “We understand this. We are adequate people. For years, we’ve heard the opposite — open doors. However, it is not.”

A Russian journalist who burst on to a live TV news programme to protest against the war in Ukraine has been reported missing overnight.

Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor at state-controlled Channel 1, was detained after she ran on to the set on Monday holding an anti-war sign.

The sign, clearly visible for a few seconds, read: “No war, stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here.”

Her whereabouts are now unknown.

Ukraine’s president Zelenskyy likely to ask for more than Canada or NATO can give

OTTAWA – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address parliamentarians in Ottawa on Tuesday, but his major request is likely more than Canada or other Western nations can give.

… Zelenskyy is set to speak to MPs through a videoconference link at 11:15 Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the opposition leaders are expected to speak as well.

THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT – Leger

• Canadians and Americans are uncertain about the outcome of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
• Overall, Canadians and Americans are concerned that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will escalate.
  • 74% of Canadians and 66% of Americans think the conflict has the potential to develop into a world war.
  • 64% of Canadians and 57% of Americans think the conflict could last for many years.
  • 47% of Canadians and 41% of Americans think Putin and Russia will use nuclear weapons if the conflict does not go the way Russia wants.
• Canadians and Americans are divided on imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine: 47% and 44% respectively agree that one should be established, even if it risks escalating the conflict.

The moral defeatism of the West stands in stark contrast to the valiance of Ukraine.

Of the millions of words uttered about the war in Ukraine, the most pertinent came from Olexander Scherba. He’s a Ukrainian diplomat. He was the Ukrainian ambassador to Austria from 2014 to 2021. And like other members of Ukraine’s political class, he has been doing the media rounds this past fortnight, eloquently making the case for his nation’s right to resist the Russian onslaught. A few days ago he took to Twitter to express irritation. ‘Every time I give an interview to Western media I get a feeling that they want us to give up’, he said. Then he posed a question that ought to make our commentariat engage in some serious self-reflection. What’s behind this moral defeatism infecting the media elites, he wondered? ‘[Is] it because they know they wouldn’t be fighting like us if they were in our shoes?’