500 days of war in Ukraine – and Russia has failed completely. This is the verdict of US military experts in an analysis of the Ukraine war.
Kiev/Moscow – 500 days ago the world woke up with a shock: Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine on the night of February 24, 2022 – simultaneously from the south, east and north. Rockets fell on Kiev, people fled to bunkers. Putin’s goal: to take the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and overthrow the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A successor to Zelenskyj by the grace of Russia should apparently already be available.
But taking Kiev failed – like all the goals that Russian President Vladimir Putin had in the Ukraine war since Moscow started Russia’s war against Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This is how the military experts at the US think tank put it “Institute for the Study of War” in a recent analysis. “The Russian military intended to capture Kiev within three days, but failed to achieve any of its intended targets in Ukraine,” the analyzes write.
“Skillful resistance” in the Ukraine war: military experts praise Kiev’s actions against Russia
The decisive factor was the “determined and skilful Ukrainian resistance”. Thanks to this, Russia’s offensives in the Ukraine war collapsed – above all the offensive on Kiev. But last fall Ukraine was also able to recapture regions that Russia had temporarily conquered – for example the Sumy and Chernihiv regions as well as parts of the Kharkiv, Cerhson and Mikolajiv regions.
The US military experts are optimistic that the Ukrainians’ successful resistance will continue. In many parts of the frontline, Ukraine has gained the upper hand in the current situation in the Ukraine war. A Ukrainian counter-offensive is currently underway, which falls short of the very high expectations, but in which the Ukraine repeatedly manages to make individual breakthroughs and gain ground. According to the ISW, the Russian army is currently concentrating primarily on “holding the Ukrainian territories they still occupy”.
Weapons for the Ukraine war: deliveries from the West crucial for Kiev in the fight against Russia
According to the history of the Ukraine war, Western arms deliveries were crucial for Ukraine to defend itself against Russian appropriation. The task now is to “liberate strategically important areas” that Russia still occupies. The current decision by the USA to deliver cluster munitions to Ukraine under certain conditions is currently causing a stir. Although Russia uses the internationally banned ammunition itself, Moscow has sharply condemned it.
On the 500th day since the beginning of the Ukraine war, Zelenskyj emphasized his country’s will to persevere. Ukraine will “never be conquered by the occupiers, because we are the land of the brave,” Zelenskyy said in a video showing him visiting the symbolic Snake Island in the Black Sea. Meanwhile, the UN condemned the consequences of the war. According to the UN mission HRMMU, more than 9,000 civilians have been killed since the Russian invasion began.
How far does the counter-offensive go in the Ukraine war?
It is disputed whether Ukraine also wants to recapture the Crimean Peninsula, which has been annexed by Russia since 2014, as part of its counter-offensive. Selenskyj has stated this several times as a goal in the Ukraine war. Russia, on the other hand, sees no “concrete plans” by Ukraine to recapture Crimea, according to a recent report by the Russian news agency TASS. The “all rhetoric on this issue” is “part of Kiev’s ideological media campaign,” the head of the Crimean State Council, Vladimir Konstantinov, is quoted as saying. (smu)
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