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| AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky |
Torched forests and cities burned to the ground. Colleagues with severed limbs. Bombardments so relentless the only option is to lie in a trench, wait and pray.
Ukrainian soldiers returning from the front lines in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region — where Russia is waging a fierce offensive — describe life during what has turned into a grueling war of attrition as apocalyptic.
In interviews with The Associated Press, some complained of chaotic organization, desertions and mental health problems caused by relentless shelling. Others spoke of high morale, their colleagues’ heroism, and a commitment to keep fighting, even as the better-equipped Russians control more of the combat zone.
Lt. Volodymyr Nazarenko, 30, second-in-command of the Ukrainian National Guard’s Svoboda Battalion, was with troops who retreated from Sievierodonetsk under orders from military leaders. During a month-long battle, Russian tanks obliterated any potential defensive positions and turned a city with a prewar population of 101,000 into “a burnt-down desert,” he said.
“They shelled us every day. I do not want to lie about it. But these were barrages of ammunition at every building,” Nazarenko said. “The city was methodically leveled out.” --->READ MORE HERE
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| Photo: Cover Images/Zuma Press |
As Russia closes in on full control of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, the debate about the war’s future course is intensifying. Optimists believe that a fully equipped Ukrainian army could halt Russia’s advance and drive its army back to the pre-Feb. 24 line of demarcation. Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, says that Ukraine can win the war if the U.S. accelerates its efforts to get them what they need. “We just need to slam the gas pedal on the floor and help them succeed as fast as possible.” Pessimists believe that even if the Ukrainians get everything they’ve requested, they won’t be able to dislodge the Russians from the territory they have won. This debate is largely irrelevant, because no one really knows how much more success Ukraine would have if it had all the weapons it wanted.
In the first stage of the war, Ukraine’s ability to thwart Russia’s strike on Kyiv and Kharkiv surprised many experts. In the second stage, Russia’s ability to regroup and execute a more focused offense defied the predictions of observers who thought that its early losses of men, materiel and morale had dealt the invasion a fatal blow. Recent Russian successes, capped by the surrender of Lysychansk, are tempting policy analysts and political leaders to lurch from the premature exuberance of the war’s early weeks to exaggerated gloom today.
These mood swings should not affect U.S. foreign policy. A Ukrainian counteroffensive may fail, but if we withhold what the Ukrainians need to have a chance of succeeding, we will ensure that they fail. And if they fail, there is no reason to believe that Vladimir Putin, who sees himself as a 21st-century Peter the Great, will stop in Ukraine. As Mr. Putin once instructed a group of geography students, “The borders of Russia do not end.”
The U.S. owes President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government a chance to win this war, on which Ukraine’s survival and the West’s security depend. We must give the Ukrainians what they need, when they need it. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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