Sleep-Walking in a Fantasy World

"Worthless decisions by a terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on."

"[The Russian annexation moves are reminiscent of a] collective madhouse."

Andriy Yermak, head, Ukraine presidential office

"This week alone since the Russian pseudo-referendum, dozens of population centres have been liberated."

"These are in Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions all together."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy

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As a symbol of Vladimir Putin's presumed conquest of the disputed regions, as though to make it proof-positive that he has torn 18 percent of Ukrainian territory from Ukraine possession, and made it his own, he ordered the seizure of Europe's biggest nuclear power station in full control of Russia, despite that Russian occupancy to this point has not deterred Ukrainian engineers from maintaining complete control of the safety and security of the power plant; its early capture by Russian troops aside. 

All six reactors have been shut down for weeks at the power station located on the front line, on a Russian-controlled bank of a giant reservoir, Ukrainian forces on the opposite bank, both sides warning of a nuclear disaster should nearby conflict inflict damage on the plant.

 

Although Russian forces have steadily been pushed back on the battlefield, with one rout after another, Moscow has seen to the launch of attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, far from the front, with the use of Iranian=produced drones. In the south, Ukraine forces have continued their steady adance along the west bank of the Dnipro River with the goal of cutting off thousands of Russian troops from escape or resupply.

 

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On Russia's part the absurdity of a forced referendum and the parody of legalizing the annexation of four Ukrainian provinces into the Russian Federation continued non-stop, with Putin signing the final law incorporating Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces into Russian possession. This, despite the not-inconsequential reality that Russia does not control fully any of the four provinces it now claims are a legitimate part of the Federation, and nor has Moscow yet demarcated what it purports is Russia's new borders. 

"They will be with Russia forever", stated Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin. Settlements recaptured by Ukraine in recent days, he asserted "will be returned". These statements are difficult to logically comprehend, given the circumstances on the ground, with Russia continually losing occupation status of areas they had taken from the early days of their February invasion, yet clinging to the fantasy that Russia controls everything.

According to Sirhiy Gaidal, governor of Luhansk, pro-Kyiv forces had succeeded in liberating six villages in his region on one day alone. Momentum has clearly swung in Ukraine's favour since the beginning of September, with thousands of Russian troops fleeing their positions once their front line crumbled under the Ukrainian assault. First the north east, and weeks later, in the north. Which failed to give Putin pause before celebrating his dream annexations.

Ukrainian soldiers wave a national flag atop a personnel armoured carrier on a road near Lyman, Donetsk region on October 4, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Anatolii Stepanov / AFP)