Endless war: 5 keys to the 100 days of the war between Russia and Ukraine

This Friday, June 3, marks the 100th day since the beginning of the war in Ukraine after the announcement by the president of Russia Vladimir Putin of a special military operation in the neighboring country. The situation keeps the European Union (EU) and the West for the long-term consequences they could bring around the world.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine still shows no signs of an outcome for the most important war conflict in Europe since the first half of the 20th century, with a slaughter of soldiers and civilians – and a displacement of people fleeing the destroyed cities – that brings back the terrible memory of the Second World War.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) modified this Friday the method of accounting for Ukrainian refugees in the rest of Europe after the Russian occupation, and now calculates that they are 4.71 million. Poland is the main host nation.

These are the key points to understand the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukraine a former Soviet republic that became independent in 1991, maintains a difficult historical relationship with its neighbor Russia, and in recent decades has moved closer to the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union.

In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed the peninsula of crimea part of the territory of Ukraine, and months later pro-Russian rebels rose in the east of the country, forming the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk —assisted by the Kremlin—, and starting a civil war that never ends.

The coming to power of the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski close to the West, in 2019, gave rise to a new wave of tensions, and at the end of 2021 Russia began to deploy soldiers, vehicles and planes on the border with Ukraine before the invasion.

The Russian government pointed to the expansion of NATO in Eastern Europe as one of the main causes of the escalation.

Putin ordered on Thursday, February 24, to attack the region of donbas. In addition, he defended in the message with which he opened hostilities against Ukraine that clashes between Ukrainian and Russian forces are “inevitable” and “only a matter of time”.

The expansion of NATO and the military development of the territory of Ukraine by the Alliance is unacceptable to Russia”, then justified the head of the Kremlin. Since that day, Russian troops have attacked various regions of the country, including the capital of kyiv, in a fight with an uncertain outcome.

The background of this crisis is the Russian refusal to accept the rapprochement of NATO and the EU with the former Soviet republic, which Moscow considers part of its identity and its space of influence, and whose control it deems vital for its security. . Putin affirms that both nations form “a single people”.

Volodimir Zelenski maintained this Friday that Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory. and that the combat front line extends over 1,000 kilometers.

“We are fighting practically the entire Russian Army to defend ourselves. The entire Russian armed forces are participating in the fighting, ”he said, in a virtual message sent to the Luxembourg Parliament, reproduced by the Ukrinform portal.

According to Zelenski, Russian troops have entered 3,620 localities or villages in the country, of which 1,017 have managed to be “liberated” by the Ukrainian Army.

The Ukrainian leader also recalled that his country has been fighting to defend its territorial integrity for eight years, alluding to the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

Russian troops have gone from occupying the whole of Ukraine to increasingly localized offensives to win city by city. From two weeks maximum to a military campaign without deadlines: the reality on the ground and the strong resistance of Ukraine have forced Russia to redefine its strategy twice in 100 days of war.

“Ukraine has twice forced Russian President Vladimir Putin to lower his military targets,” the Ukraine-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said this week. USA.

Early in the conflict, Ukraine defeated Russia in the battle for kyiv, with Russian forces unable to take the Ukrainian capital and depose President Volodymyr Zelensky in a hit-and-run operation.

Ukraine’s forces are outperforming Russia’s in this war on many levels. Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby He praised them for defending parts of their territory “very cleverly, very cleverly, very creatively.”

The high motivation of Ukrainians to do what they can to defend their nation has freed up professional soldiers to go to the front lines. Furthermore, Zelensky and his top advisers have shown clear leadership in the face of the notable military difference with Russia.

Ukraine has access to modern tools of warfare, such as the javelin surface-to-air missile. The Ukrainian troops are heavily outnumbered, yet they have made better use of the terrain and their weapons than the Russian invaders.

And in the information warfare the Ukrainian president has participated by video in a number of international meetings and foreign parliaments. Ukraine is gaining it hands down in most of the world, though not in Russia, where the Kremlin still controls access to almost all media.

Russia justified its offensive in Ukraine in the alleged genocide of the Russian-speaking population and to prevent the expansion of NATO with its eventual accession.

But Moscow got the opposite effect. The military alliance was further strengthened under the umbrella of the United States, sending weapons to Ukraine and asking the European Union about its strategic autonomy.

Sweden Y Finland two traditionally non-aligned countries also asked to join the transatlantic organization. The United States and its European allies have also deployed thousands of troops to Poland and the Baltic states bordering Russia.

In the much more united EU, the Eastern countries took advantage of the occasion to raise their voices and gain weight against the Franco-German engine, in order to tighten sanctions against Russia. The Twenty-seven approved on Monday a sixth package of sanctions and for the first time against the russian oil.

According to US intelligence, Putin is preparing for a long war in Ukraine and not even a hypothetical victory in the eastern part would be enough to end the war. The warning comes as heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is trying to gain territory.

The director of intelligence of the United States, avril haines told a US Senate committee hearing on May 11 that Putin still intended to “achieve goals beyond the Donbass,” but that he “faces a mismatch between his ambitions and current conventional military capabilities.” Russia”.

He added that the Russian president was “probably” counting on US and EU support for Ukraine weakening with rising inflation, food shortages and energy prices.

Putin could resort to “more drastic methods” as the war although it would only use nuclear weapons if it perceives an “existential threat” to Russia, according to US intelligence.

The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Scott Berrier indicated at the same hearing that the Russians and the Ukrainians were to some extent in a situation of stagnation.

With information from EFE and AFP.

Source-larepublica.pe