Ukraine Annoyingly Frustrating Russian Goals

E. Eduardo Castillo, Associated Press

"Bakhmut Fortress. Our people. Unconquered by the enemy. Who with their bravery prove that we will endure and will not give up what's ours."

"Since May, the occupiers have been trying to break our Bakhmut, but time goes by and Bakhmut is already breaking not only the Russian army, but also the Russian mercenaries who came to replace the wasted army of the occupiers."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenenskyy

"Our country has often faced challenges and defended its sovereignty."

"Now Russia is again facing such a challenge. Soldiers, officers and volunteers are showing outstanding examples of courage and self denial on the front line."

"People living there, Russian citizens, [in the four Ukrainian regions Putin summarily declared Russian territory] count on being protected by you [Russian servicemen]."

Russian President Vladimir Putin

"Not one single operational commander then in place on February 24 is in charge now."

"Russia has lost significant numbers of generals and commanding officers."

"[Some 100,000 Russian troops were] dead, injured or have deserted [since the invasion began]."

U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace

Firefighters work to put out a fire at a residential building hit by a Russian missile strike in Bakhmut on December 7.

 

According to the Kremlin there is one way its conflict in Ukraine can be brought to a halt. And it is entirely up to Ukraine. The invaded nation must meet the conditions Moscow has set for the fighting to end. Kyiv must recognize Crimea is no longer a Ukrainian peninsula, but part of Russia. All other annexations must be accepted by Kyiv as Russian gains. Ukraine must disarm and not plan to join NATO..

 

The government of Ukraine, however rejects such conditions; the war will end when the occupied territories are retaken, or Russian forces are ordered to leave. And so, each leader, the aggressor and the defensive aggressed, praises their troops' heroic efforts to pursue the goals of their respective leaders. Russia which envisions complete control of Ukraine, a goal Putin is fiercely determined to reach, speaks of the Ukrainian unwillingness to accept Russia's conditions as the reason the conflict was launched.

 

Thwarted Russian troops by the Ukrainian counteroffensive placing Russia on retreat in a conflict it launched with the assurance it would have no opposition longer than a few weeks, represent an inconvenient reality that Vladimir Putin prefers to skirt around. It is not Russia that is responsible for the deadly nature of the conflict, but Ukraine, intransigent and vicious in its response to Russia's totally reasonable effort to relieve it of a third of its vast territory. 

 

An aerial view of Bakhmut on December 9. The city has been all but emptied of its 70,000 residents, and its buildings and houses are -- or are steadily being reduced to -- rubble.

 

The city of Bakhmut, "the hottest spot on the entire frontline", about 600 kilometres east of Kyiv, remains in Ukrainian hands despite Moscow's intention of capturing what remains of Donetsk still in Ukraine's possession, at a time when the entire Donbas has been declared a part of Russia, while Ukraine begs to differ. Denying Russia the momentum it feels it deserves, the annexed provinces of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia remain fiercely contested.

With the capture of Bakhmut, Ukraine's supply lines would be severed, opening a route for Russian forces to press forward on cities that remain key Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk province. Wagner Group mercenaries have been leading the charge in Bakhmut where prior to the invasion Donetsk separatists had controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014.

Mr. Putin gave out awards to the Moscow-appointed heads of the four regions of Ukraine Russia has illegally annexed, at a Kremlin ceremony in honour of Russia's military and security agencies. Russia remains in control of roughly 18 percent of internationally recognized areas of Ukraine inclusive of the 2014 parts seized of the Donbas and Crimea.

A Ukrainian artilleryman carries a 122-mm shell for a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer at a position along the front line near Bakhmut on December 10