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6,000 Russians Killed, Says Ukraine – Free PDF Download
What has happened?
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday nearly 6,000 Russians had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion,
- And that the Kremlin would not be able to take his country with bombs and air strikes.
- Referring to Russia’s attack on Babyn Yar – the site of a World War Two massacre of Jews by German occupation troops and Ukrainian auxiliaries – Zelenskiy said:
- “This strike proves that for many people in Russia our Kyiv is absolutely foreign.”
- “They don’t know a thing about Kyiv, about our history. But they all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all,” he added in the address made on video.
How Ukraine is fighting back?
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has overwhelmingly more firepower, manpower, naval supremacy and favorable geography than Ukraine.
- So the world has been shocked that he has failed to demonstrate military dominance in the first few days of his invasion of Ukraine.
- The Russian military has not only performed more poorly than expected, but it has made blunders that have been ably exploited by Ukraine’s defenders and the steadfast leadership exhibited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Russia’s initial advance
- It appears Putin and his military planners believed their own propaganda that Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens were begging for them to use force to liberate them from their “Nazi” government,
- While discounting the willingness and ability of Ukrainians to fight back.
- Thus they thought they could repeat their mostly bloodless seizure of Crimea in 2014, while facing limited resistance from stunned Ukrainians.
- Since Putin seemed to want to effect regime change in Kyiv without alienating too many of the Ukrainians who would be governed by his puppet president,
- He jettisoned the established doctrine that emphasizes slowly and methodically using reconnaissance and long-distance bombardment to destroy enemies from afar.
- Instead, many Russian ground units raced toward Kyiv pell-mell, only to get lost, run out of fuel, stumble into deadly ambushes or find themselves blocked by human barricades of Ukrainian civilians.
- The relatively lightly armored Russian advance forces — including paratroopers, special forces and disguised infiltrators ill-suited to storm a city without support — were in position to try to seize key objectives around Kyiv in the first few days.
- But when they recklessly tried to rush the well-defended cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kyiv, they were beaten back with heavy losses.
- Meanwhile, some mid-sized cities — like Kherson, Sumy and Nova Kakhovka — were initially overrun by Russian forces, only to have been at least temporarily retaken by Ukrainian troops.
- While an underdog in the ground battle, Ukraine is so far winning the fight for hearts and minds,
- Including in pockets of Russia where protests have broken out, and within many countries that have gone farther than expected in providing support.
- “Zelenskyy was not seen as a very effective leader two weeks ago. Now he is a Churchill-like figure,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired Central Intelligence Agency official who worked as head of clandestine operations in Europe and Eurasia.
- The early-stage victory in the information domain has had tangible benefits for Ukraine, which has seen harsh sanctions on Russia imposed by the U.S. and the European Union and grassroots financial support.
- How long Ukraine can continue to capture the world’s attention is still to be determined.
- But its disinformation and propaganda tactics will likely continue to target people in both countries should the war drag on.
But things may change very fast
- Unfortunately, Putin’s criminal war upon Ukraine is likely entering a new, even grimmer phase in the coming days — even hours.
- While Ukrainian perseverance may warm hearts, we can’t delude ourselves that this remains anything but a highly unequal struggle certain to cost thousands of lives, many of them civilian.
- And it’s one that could still end with some or all of Ukraine indefinitely occupied by Russian forces and governed by a puppet regime.
Q) Which of the following European countries is not a member of the European Union (EU)?
- Slovenia
- Portugal
- Norway
- Sweden
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