150 days ago, Vladimir Putin launched war against his neighbour, and ally, Ukraine.
Prof. Tony Meehan (Great Britain), FCIPR, FRSA, FIPRA. Проф. Тоні Міхан (Велика Британія)
Dr. Denis Bohush (Ukraine), FRSA. Денис Богуш (Україна)
His reason, not justification, was to protect and save Russian speaking Ukrainians from the false claim of a non-existent genocide. This was just one of Putin's lies...
To be clear, this is one man's war executed on behalf the Russian nation.
There can be no justification for the brutal killing of children and the elderly, or the rape, torture and execution of women, men – both young and old, civilians and military alike,or the destruction of family homes, hospitals, schools, church's, universities, cities, towns, villages, roads, railways, airports, power plants, factories or industrial areas.
Kill and destroy was the licence issued to his military – the signature of Putin's war.
It has been 150 days of brutality since the 24th February, 2022. Putin and his Generals anticipated they would walk in, be greeted as saviours, and within a week would be sitting in President Zelensky's office. It didn't happen.
Putin ignored the lessons of Ukrainian history and, the Russian army was shown to be weak, poorly trained and doomed to failure, at what cost?
Everything has a cost.
To date, the cost of Putin's War to Russia, which its people will never be told by the Kremlin is;
Military Personnel
Killed: 39240
Wounded: 110530
Captured: 3480
Military Equipment
Tanks 1708
Aircraft 228
Helicopters 188
What has Putin achieved?
Global impact – Humanitarian Crisis, Refugee Crisis, Food crisis, Energy crisis, financial chaos.
Strengthening of NATO and Europe, loss of Russian and oil revenues, embargoes on Russian energy – gold – foods
A short-term win for Putin has been to destabilise global security, cause chaos, distract, and move onto a new target. Which he has already planned.
If you believe his invasion of Ukraine was to save Russian speaking Ukrainians, you are being naive and foolish. It was a test for the West.
Is Putin is looking for global war?
Unless the West pays attention, it will be caught in the nightmare of a Russian Nuclear Armageddon. Simply because Putin knows he can do it.
Those who know the Russian leader understand his plots always have sub plots, so no matter the outcome Putin wins at one level of another.
Putin's Ukrainian subplots were to test and challenge NATO and the stability of the European Union, if only to identify the strengths and weaknesses for future use. In both cases he won, because he knows the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of both organisations.
While the strength and commitment of the NATO response may have surprised him, you would be wrong to think he had not considered Norway and Sweden applications to join NATO. This allows him to strengthen Russian propaganda that NATO is the military aggressor, thereby justifying to the Russian people the need for military power and retaliation against both real and perceived enemies.
The West's sanctions against individual Russians, the Kremlin or Duma have had little effect except to meet his long term strategic objective, which is to show Russia as the victim, the West as the political – economic – military aggressor always planning against Mother Russia.
His wars in Syria and Ukraine signal his intentions. He has no respect or consideration for life and he is not afraid of death.
No matter how you calculate the military losses to Russia by the day, month or year, the losses are insignificant to Putin.
How significant would they be to families of the 150,000 Russian soldiers who have been either killed or wounded in the five months of Putin's Ukrainian War since Feb 24, 2022.
The opportunity for Russians to know the true numbers are limited, because as we know Russian media is controlled and those who attempt to share the following information, or object to the war, disappear or are killed.
And what of the cost to Ukraine and the Ukrainians?
The cost to Ukraine is immeasurable, the hundreds and thousands of men women and children, some not born, civilian and military who were raped, tortured, killed or injured. Those who were captured, dehumanized, forced to fight against their own country, faced forced deportation, became refugees in their own country, or escaped to counties to live in towns whose names they couldn't pronounce, to rely on the charity and goodwill of strangers they did not know. It will take many years and many billions of £and $ for Ukraine to rebuild and recover. Its people will never forget or forgive
Блог автора – матеріал, який відображає винятково точку зору автора. Текст блогу не претендує на об'єктивність та всебічність висвітлення теми, яка у ньому піднімається. Редакція "Української правди" не відповідає за достовірність та тлумачення наведеної інформації і виконує винятково роль носія. Точка зору редакції УП може не збігатися з точкою зору автора блогу.
