The Russians are about to catch hell in Kyiv. The Ukrainians have had weeks to fortify and supply their capital. The fighting will be door to door, alley to alley, until the bitter end.
The Russians might win in the end. But victory will leave the taste of ashes for the victors. All because of the revanchism of one man and his toadies. Rebecca Grant fills us in.
Update on the battle for Kyiv from the Ukrainian Military: “Convoys of occupier's equipment were destroyed. The enemy suffered significant personnel losses. Russian troops are demoralized and exhausted. We have shown that we know how to protect our home from uninvited guests.”
— Erin McLaughlin (@ErinNBCNews) February 28, 2022
Grant: Destroying a city is a Russian army specialty. Kyiv is next. “Don’t let Putin turn Ukraine into Syria,” Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted after the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting today.
Sadly, Russia under Putin has recent experience blowing up cities as seen in Aleppo in Syria in 2016 and in Grozny in the second Chechen war in 1999-2000, where tens of thousands died. Putin wants Kyiv. Especially if he can’t catch Zelensky.
“His only instinct is going to be to double down and to try and ‘Grozny-fy’ Kyiv,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned Mar. 2. “He will, in his own words, carry out his operation to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine to the end,” French President Emanuel Macron said after his phone call with Putin Thursday.
The battle for Kyiv will decide the course of the war and set Europe’s security challenges for a generation. Putin’s model of glory is the 1945 Red Army conquest of Hitler’s Berlin. As the Red Army wiped away Nazis in World War II, so Putin want to see his armies to sweep across Ukraine. This is a delusional conquest. There are no Nazis in Ukraine. Ukraine is full of patriots who want democracy.
The city fight is familiar ground for Putin. He craves this battle. Twisted Putin thinks he will become greater than Lenin and Khrushchev by standing up for Russia and taking back all of Ukraine. World opinion on casualties won’t affect him. A Russian flag over smoking rubble is his goal.
President Biden and Europe and the world have at most a few days left to make sure Ukraine’s fighting forces are supplied for what lies ahead. It may soon be down to hours. Tanks are already probing Kyiv suburbs. At some point, the Russian convoy north of Kyiv will move down to encircle the city.
First, Ukraine must keep a supply route open out to the west even under attack. Fighting for Kyiv will consume Ukraine’s weapons and supplies, fast. Ukraine’s armed forces claim they’ve destroyed many Russian tanks and vehicles, which is good, but it also means they are using up Javelin anti-tank missiles. The U.S. and NATO should do whatever it takes to help Ukraine hold airfields and roads in Ukraine’s west. Few Russian forces are in that area so far.
Next, Ukraine says they are going on the counter-offensive. As the Russian convoy north of Kyiv moves south, they must pick their targets carefully. Yes, Ukraine should strike Russian tanks, but their overall aim should be to break up and harass Russian formations by hitting resupply vehicles, too…
Senior Russian commanders know in their bones that a pitched fight in Kyiv will be hell. The Russian army in 1942-1943 swallowed up entire German divisions at Stalingrad. Today’s Russian generals had grandfathers and great-grandfathers in that fight. Their defense of Stalingrad was glorious. Now the tables are turned. The Russians invading Ukraine are on the wrong side morally – and tactically.
Join the Discussion
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.
Have experience from WW2