 |
| AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda |
As he prepared to send his army into Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin was convinced that victory would be swift and complete.
Like American leaders prior to the Iraq War who persuaded themselves that the Iraqi people would welcome U.S. troops with flowers and open arms, the Russian oligarchy apparently believed that Ukrainians would see their troops not as invaders, but liberators. The invasion force entered Ukraine without the supply lines and equipment needed when Ukrainians decided to fight and die rather than bow before a superior military.
An invasion either works or doesn’t, and gets messy fast if not. One would have thought that Mr. Putin, who considers himself something of a student of history, would understand this better than most after witnessing what happened to his Communist predecessors in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The nine-year bloody guerilla war that raged there after the arrival of a Soviet invasion force as Afghans fought with whatever weapons they could acquire to drive a foreign army from their homeland cost tens of thousands of Russians their lives and, ultimately, led to the collapse of the Soviet Union itself.
What the Soviets learned in Afghanistan is that maintaining control of a hostile population willing to fight an invader is more difficult than the planners who fight wars on paper presume. Fighting in the mud and sand or the streets of the cities and countries they invade can be almost impossible. --->READ MORE HERE
Reports in Ukrainian media suggest that a Russian attempt to land troops near the coastal city of Odessa ended in failure, with Russian marines refusing to attack in an act of mutiny.
The Ukrainian newspaper Dumskaya claims to have contacted parents of Russian marines assigned to the 810th Naval Infantry Brigade whose sons told them that they refused to assault the Bay of Odessa.
The Russian troops, reportedly conscripts, were afraid to fight Ukrainian forces, many of whom are experienced in warfare from Ukraine’s years of armed strife in the Donbas region, the newspaper said.
Ukraine’s former ambassador to Austria, Olexander Scherba, indicated that a Russian naval landing at Odessa was aborted in unclear circumstances on Monday night.
“Last night a large group of RU warships was about to launch landing on Odesa beaches,” he tweeted. “They approached the coast. RU was about to shell the beach. UA was about to shoot back, when they suddenly withdrew. Reports that marines from Crimea refused to attack Odesa.” --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories:
+++++EU Plans To Send Fighter Jets To Ukraine Fall Apart+++++
+++++NY POST: Russia-Ukraine LIVE UPDATES+++++
Russia Captures Key Port City of Kherson, Ukrainian Officials Confirm
WATCH: Russian soldier surrenders and Ukrainians greet him with food and drink
Ukrainians Are Winning The Information War
Ukrainian officials post grim photos of dead Russian soldiers online
How to help the people of Ukraine: 3 ideas for giving
Ukraine raises $270 million in war bond sales to fund military
Ukrainian civilians — inspired by ‘The Matrix’ — hunt Russian ‘saboteurs’ in Kyiv
‘Damn them’: Zelensky condemns Russian attack on Holocaust memorial
Russian troops reportedly slaughter cop’s children, parents, partner
If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.
No comments:
Post a Comment