Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: Not Quite Going To Plan

"The occupiers cannot win on the battlefield, so they resort to the killing of civilians."

"After the enemy was dislodged from Snake Island, he decided to respond with the cynical shelling of civilian targets."

Ivan Bakanov, head, SBU, Ukraine security service

"These missiles, Kh-22, were designed to destroy aircraft carriers and other large warships, and the Russian army used them against an ordinary nine-storey building with ordinary civilian people [within it]."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

"[The Russian pullback from Snake Island bears] colossal psychological significance [for Ukraine]."

"Snake Island is key for controlling the Black Sea and could help cover the Russian attack if the Kremlin opted for an amphibian landing operation in Odesa or elsewhere in the region."

"Now, those plans are pushed back."

Oleh Zhdano, Ukrainian military analyst

Russia said it pulled out its forces from Ukraine's Snake Island as a 'goodwill gesture.' Ukraine’s military, however, said the Russians fled after relentless attacks by its forces.

 

At great cost, both to the aggressor and to the victim, Ukrainian resolve in responding in kind to the Russian military, using all means at their disposal to defend and push back the enemy invader. A choreograph that has provided a dramatic war theatre totally unexpected in the courage displayed by Ukrainians in their time of existential crisis while at the same time amply demonstrating the lack of military expertise and personnel coordination an invading military as well equipped as Russia's has the potential to encounter in its losses of senior military personnel and equipment.

The Kremlin, along with Vladimir Putin must be writhing in futile fury over the time, personnel and material being consumed by this ill-advised venture they so confidently launched. Not to mention how degraded their reputation has become throughout the international community as a viciously despised tyranny whose irenic display of territorial aggression has appalled the free world. The far-reaching effect of Russia's costly war in lives and infrastructure, has placed food dependent nations in a vulnerable position, awaiting a replacement source of grains and edible oils.

Russia is fuelling the cost of its misadventure with gas and oil sales to energy-hungry nations that have become energy-dependent on its natural resources. And despite Europe beginning to wean itself away from consuming Russian resources, China and India have stepped into the breach. The price of fuel has escalated thanks to the conflict, as has food products and Russia is the beneficiary of those higher prices. A conflict whose complications have embroiled not only Europe but the broader world community.

 

Ukrainian soldiers run for cover during an artillery duel between Ukrainian and Russian troops in Lysychansk. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Yet another Russian airstrike on residential areas in Ukraine has once again demolished civic buildings and destroyed Ukrainian civilian lives. The small town of Serhilvka, relatively near Odeaa was hit by three missiles aimed at civilian areas and taken as representative of payback by the Kremlin for the humiliation of having to withdraw from the strategic Snake Island because of Ukrainian military bombardment against the Russian military stationed there.

Back in the initial stages of the invasion, the Russian navy took control of the island planning to use it as a stage for an eventual assault on Odesa, the largest port in Ukraine, and headquarters of its navy. From the start to the present, the Russian military has deliberately targeted civilian enclaves; hospitals, apartment buildings, schools, despite claiming it does no such thing. Kyiv and its regions were struck by Russian missiles again last weekend following calm after the Russian military retreat when plans to occupy Kyiv were foiled.

A shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk where scores of people died was also carried out last week. Russian forces continue their strategy in eastern Ukraine to encircle the city of Lysychansk representing the final stronghold of resistance in Luhansk, which beside Donetsk, make up the Donbas region. "The shelling of the city is very intensive. The occupiers are destroying one  house after another with heavy artillery and other weapons. Residents of Lysychansk are hiding in basements almost round the clock", advised Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidal.

Buildings destroyed by a military strike are seen in Lysychansk. (Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters)