“Ukraine – Russia”

One month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the outcome of the war remains unclear, and any number of scenarios are possible. However, the scenario for which Russia planned — a quick and thorough political subjugation — is not achievable, because of the tenacity of the Ukrainian resistance and the support flowing to the Ukrainian government from so many countries.

#Ukraine: What is claimed to be a Ukrainian drone dropping munitions on to a Russian vehicle, destroying it.

via @CRNICASMILITAR1 pic.twitter.com/SrXn213WTc

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 26, 2022

In the second episode of Volodymyr Zelensky’s very funny comedy series, The Servant of the People, one of the spooky bad guys says of Zelensky’s character, the newly elected President of Ukraine: “He’s known for being iron clad and brave.”

That was the point I reached for the remote, pressed pause, and took a deep breath.

The 2015 series has just starting airing here in America, and for those of us who are new to it, it’s a bit surreal. Every time you catch yourself chuckling, you then start to feel sad. It’s emotionally draining. I find I can’t watch more than an episode at a time and I do so with a certain dread. Friends have told me they can’t watch it at all.

Russian Orlan-10 UAV footage reportedly showing Russian strikes on Ukrainian artillery in an industrial area in Chernihiv Oblast. https://t.co/bjCCLpfNZG pic.twitter.com/LLeTAyPOgv

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 26, 2022

Western officials have said they believe a Russian commander was run over by mutinous forces during the fighting in Ukraine, in a sign of what they described as the “morale challenges” faced by the invading forces.

They highlighted – and repeated – reports from earlier this week from a Ukrainian journalist that a colonel of the 37th separate guards motor rifle brigade was run over by a tank. Some reports said he had died of his injuries.

One official said they believed that the brigade commander was “killed by his own troops” as “a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade” in the bitter fighting.

Is there a lesson here for Canada’s armed forces? Asking for a friend.

Is the Russian military having to change its plans? Perhaps even reduce the scale of Moscow’s ambitions in Ukraine?

It’s probably too early to tell, but there’s definitely a shift in emphasis.

A top Russian general – Sergey Rudskoy – says the “first stage” of what President Vladimir Putin calls Russia’s “special military operation” has been mostly accomplished and that Russian forces will now concentrate on “the complete liberation of the Donbas”.

This is likely to mean a more concerted effort to push beyond the “line of contact” that separates Ukrainian government-held territory in the east of the country from the Russian-backed separatist “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia reasserts right to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

The Kremlin again raised the spectre of the use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine as Russian forces struggled to hold a key city in the south of the country.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is deputy chairman of the country’s security council, said Moscow could strike against an enemy that only used conventional weapons while Vladimir Putin’s defence minster claimed nuclear “readiness” was a priority.

Russian general Yakov Rezantsev killed in Ukraine

Ukraine’s defence ministry says another Russian general, Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, was killed in a strike near the southern city of Kherson.

Rezantsev was the commander of Russia’s 49th combined army.

A western official said he was the seventh general to die in Ukraine, and the second lieutenant general – the highest rank officer reportedly killed.

It is thought that low morale among Russian troops has forced senior officers closer to the front line.

#Ukraine: A Russian tank stuck by Ukrainian fire, as viewed from a drone; it is completely destroyed.

Location/date unknown, but the footage appears to be new. via @Arslon_Xudosi. pic.twitter.com/9WOZ2zAacs

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 25, 2022

#Ukraine: Another Russian Tigr(-M) IMV was destroyed by Ukrainian Special Forces, likely during a night raid. pic.twitter.com/NoApvhDI91

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 26, 2022

It’s human nature to sympathize most with what’s familiar.

Millions of Ukrainian refugees are on the move across Europe and have been received by neighboring countries with open arms. Even Hungary, usually criticized for its hostility toward asylum seekers, has been generous in response. American and European commentators have remarked on how shocking it is to see a war in a “civilized” country, affecting people “like us.” To some observers, such as H. A. Hellyer, writing for the Washington Post, this is evidence of “racist biases in Western media and politics.”

If you’re anything like me (and I’ll bet you are), over the past month you’ve been feeling uneasy watching the zealots on the left and the squishes on the right unabashedly cheering for Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the events of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After the political animosity of the last several years, something has seemed off, not quite right about pundits on the left and the right fervently cheering for the same side in anything let alone a war.

To be clear, I’m not questioning American support of the Ukrainian people.

The U.K. is predicting that Russian troops could be encircled.

One of the surprises in the war in Ukraine has been the sheer number of Russian losses.

A NATO official said Wednesday that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops have been killed since the invasion was launched in late February. That has been compared to the Battle of Iwo Jima, at which 6,852 U.S. troops were killed in five weeks in some of the bloodiest fighting of World War II. A Russian media outlet offered a similar number Tuesday when it said that almost 10,000 Russian troops had been killed, but it later pulled that report, saying that it had been hacked.

BUCHA/LVIV, Ukraine, March 25 (Reuters) – Moscow signalled on Friday it was scaling back its ambitions in Ukraine to focus on territory claimed by Russian-backed separatists as Ukrainian forces went on the offensive to recapture towns on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv.

In the first big sign that Western sanctions on Moscow were impacting investment from China, sources said state-run Sinopec Group, Asia’s biggest oil refiner, halted talks on a petrochemical investment and a venture to market Russian gas.

#Ukraine: Two Russian strikes against Ukrainian D-30 howitzers, destroying them. Unknown if recent. pic.twitter.com/3hdfkbtsMk

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 25, 2022

#Ukraine: An accurate Ukrainian Stugna-P ATGM strike against a Russian T-72B3, very likely knocking the tank out. pic.twitter.com/ICW2ks8pVs

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 25, 2022

Chechen warlord and Putin ally Ramzan Kadyrov boasted of his soldiers’ part in Russia’s war in Ukraine. But many Chechen and Tatar Muslims are defending Ukraine and settling scores with the rulers of their homelands.

The number of these fighters deployed to Ukraine is unknown, but their reputation for brutality and ruthlessness in enforcing domestic rule is well-known, and their presence has raised memories of grisly urban combat and guerilla fighting from the Chechen wars in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov, known as one of the most loyal allies of President Vladimir Putin, announced on his Telegram channels that his men would be fighting in the “hottest hotspots in Ukraine.”

Ukraine’s army now has more tanks at its disposal than it did at the start of the war with Russia one month ago, while the Russian military has lost hundreds, reports suggest.

Russia had lost 530 tanks as of March 24, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including some that were captured by Ukrainian forces.

#Ukraine: Two precise hits on Russian armor with a Stugna-P anti-tank guided missile. Types of targeted vehicles is unclear, however both seems to be damaged/destroyed. pic.twitter.com/BQdQiEk2kw

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 23, 2022

US volunteers have been seen in video footage from the frontlines in Ukraine, suggesting that the international legion fighting alongside the Ukrainian army is playing an increasingly active role.

Two video clips featuring US fighters appeared on Twitter on Thursday: one showing an American in combat gear posing in front of the burnt remains of what he said was a Russian tank. Off camera, a Ukrainian shouts “Welcome to America!” and the American repeats the phrase.

#Ukraine: An American volunteer posing near a destroyed Russian BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle in #Kyiv Oblast. Not a tank though!

(h/t @jmvasquez1974) pic.twitter.com/TKBHrCnpxx

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) March 24, 2022