Destroy Ukraine? Perish the Thought!!

Vladimir Putin   EPA

"The line of contact is 1,100 km, so it is practically impossible to hold it with forces formed only of contract soldiers, especially since they take part in offensive activities."

"We do not set ourselves the task of destroying Ukraine. No, of course not."

"What is happening today is not pleasant, to put things mildly. But all the same, [if Russia hadn't attacked] we would have been in the same situation, only the conditions would have been worse for us. So we're doing everything correctly and at the right time."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russia not interested in destroying Ukraine? On the clear evidence it seems as though this is exactly what is happening; violent punishment through unrelenting air strikes on civilian enclaves, targeting non-military areas, including hospitals, malls, schools, theatres. Deliberately targeting civilians. Russian troops engaging in brutal acts of malevolent murder. Massive looting. Bringing Ukraine to its knees, but furious when Ukraine refuses to kneel, standing upright and defending itself.

 

Russian troops so hard put to deploy themselves as confident occupiers, they retreat in confusion, leave their gear behind, and Ukrainian military counteroffensives succeeding in reclaiming for Ukraine what is rightfully theirs, despite Vladimir Putin's grandiose claims of annexation, depriving Ukraine of four provinces constituting a massive portion of its geography. Hyperbole and bellicosity, the Russian gambit to strike fear into those who when they strike back, are identified by Mr. Putin as 'terrorists'.

When the month of October rolled around Ukrainian forces managed to burst through the front lines that Russian troops have been incapable of defending. So much for annexation; it is a partial occupation, illegal and massively disruptive, and bit by bit, crumbling even as the rhetoric of propaganda to persuade the Russian public that all is well and the Kremlin will prevail over the neo-Nazi terrorists controlling Ukraine.

Ukraine's response has been widespread courage on the part of her people, craven illogic on the part of the tyrrany that seeks to dispel the notion that Ukraine holds dear that it is a democratic nation committed to its autonomy' progress in its purpose and prosperity and freedom for its people. Ukraine's armed forces have retaken 600 settlements in the past month, including 75 in the Kherson region and 43 in the eastern Donetsk region. While cutting off Russian troops from supply lines and escape routes.

 

A wrecked car and people’s baggage outside apartment buildings in Osypenkivsʹkyy Zhytlomasyv region in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: Ed Ram/The Guardian

 

Russia gave vent to its fury over the explosion that crippled the Crimean bridge's direct route from Russia to the Crimean peninsula by firing 100 Russian cruise missiles all over Ukraine, targeting its electricity and heat infrastructure in the largest air assault in the 8-month conflict, where tens of thousands of people have been killed. The threat of nuclear weapons hangs menacingly over Europe.