“Advance at any cost.”
Those are the marching orders being given to Russian soldiers fighting in eastern Ukraine; and by some accounts, the cost is very high.
Ukraine claims it’s killing over a thousand Russians a day. While that can’t be verified, outside expert observers say Putin is using new recruits as “cannon fodder” and demonstrating he’s “willing to take casualties on a vast scale.” His war, their lives. (Read story here.)
Meanwhile, Ukraine has a new source of military manpower: Russian defecters. (Read story here.) And Russia has a new problem: Weapons leaking from the front into Russian civilian society are being used in violent crimes. (Read story here.)
It doesn’t just suck to be a Russian soldier; it sucks to be Russian, period.
What about the U.S. homefront? Ukraine can’t survive without western military assistance, and all signs point to Putin settling for a long fight, apparently betting the U.S. and Europe will get tired and bow out. In Congress, Republicans talk about capping U.S. aid; and on Fox and other rightwing media, prominent conservatives like Tucker Carlson appear to be Russian sympathizers.
Who knows what their motivation is. In any case, America must not quit. U.S. troops aren’t involved; Ukrainians are willing to fight, all they want from us is ammunition. We should give them what they need, because if Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there; he’s already plotting against Ukraine’s neighbor, Moldova (see story here). It’s widely believed by western analysts that he intended to reclaim all of eastern Europe for a new Russian empire when he launched his invasion of Ukraine.
The young Russians Putin is sacrificing in Donbas have no say about what’s being done to them. Here in America, young people should turn out to vote, to make sure we don’t get that kind of government here.
Photo below: Russian recruits are being fed into the killing fields without training or equipment, and this is the result (read story here).
