Stagnant and with fierce resistance, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is six months old

by time news

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which shocked the world with its cruelty and left thousands dead and cities destroyed in its wake, turns six months this Wednesday in a scenario of military stalemate and with great uncertainty about the consequences that it will finally cause in Europe and the world.

Paradoxically, it coincides with Ukrainian Independence Day, a date that commemorates August 24, 1991, when the country emancipated itself from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The anniversary only gave rise to new threats from both sideswhich heralds a prolonged conflict.

The United States accused Russia on Tuesday of planning an imminent intensification of bombing on major cities in Ukraine and France, he asked Western countries not to show “any weakness” to Moscow.

“Russia could go out of its way to do something particularly disgusting and cruel on this anniversary. One of the key objectives of the enemy is to generate dejection, fear and conflict. We must be strong enough to resist any provocation and make the occupiers pay for their terror,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

A Russian soldier in the Donetsk region. Reuters Photo

The same hardness of tone showed Russia. His Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, warned that there will be “no mercy” for the murderers of Daria Duguina, the daughter of a Russian ultranationalist ideologue close to President Vladimir Putin, who died on Saturday when his car exploded in the Moscow region, a attack that the Kremlin attributes to the Ukrainians.

Stagnation

In the military field, Russia persists in the invasion, although its powerful army is stuck. When the invasion was launched on February 24, the Russian high command thought it would be a hit-and-run operation that would allow them to overthrow the Zelensky government and quickly control the entire country.

The impetus shown by the Russian Army at the beginning was lost in the face of the resistance of the Ukrainian troops, who received enormous aid both in weapons and in funds from the United States and European powers.

The arsenal provided by the Americans, British, French and Germans, among others, allowed the Ukrainians to hold off the Russians and even retake some regions. The provision of sophisticated artillery, medium-range missiles and drones were essential to counteract great russian firepower.

After failing to take kyiv, the capital, Russian forces concentrated their offensive on breakaway provinces in the east, known as Donbas, and some southern cities like Mariupol, which they devastated with endless missile fire.

Thus, they sought to establish a territorial corridor that would allow them to control the outlet to the Black Sea. Although they made some significant progress, they did not fully achieve it.

To top it off, in recent weeks Ukrainian resistance and sabotage have gained new momentum, even breaking through Russian lines. There were shocking attacks on Russian bases as far away as Crimea, the peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014.

But the war also claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and soldiers. On Monday, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valeri Zaluzhny, admitted that about 9,000 soldiers had died from the start of the invasion. A figure that does not include the thousands of civilians who fell under Russian bombing.

The economy

Moscow also had heavy losses. It never revealed the official number of casualties, but Western services estimate that there were more than 20,000 Russian soldiers killed.

At the economic level, the conflict hit the world energy market hard and raises fears of a difficult winter in Europe due to the shortage of gas from Russia, which sent energy prices skyrocketing. European countries had to implement an emergency energy saving plan.

With this picture, it is possible that Germany, the locomotive of the European economy, will have to impose gas rationing that could paralyze industriesfrom steelmaking to pharmaceuticals.

Governments, businesses and families around the world are feeling the economic effects of war just two years after the Covid pandemic brought global trade to a standstill. The sharp rise in inflation and energy costs increased the possibility of a cold and dark winter. Europe is on the verge of recession.

High food prices and shortages, aggravated by cutoffs in grain and fertilizer shipments from Ukraine and Russia that are slowly resuming, could lead to hunger and widespread malaise in the developing world.

Source: AFP, AP and EFE

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