The sixth day of this Russian invasion of Ukraine is now over. For now, Ukrainian defense forces have held out against the Russian invasion force.
Granted, it has only been six days. But Ukrainian forces have managed to maintain a surprisingly strong resistance. One way that they have been effective is by managing to successfully attack Russian supply lines. Obviously that makes it far more difficult for the invading Russians to eat or keep moving with any efficiency.
Still, Putin keeps pouring in more Russian military might into Ukraine, as the Russians adjust to Ukrainian resistance and then counter. They grew a lot bolder in the eastern part of Ukraine, particularly in the country's second biggest city, Kharkiv. There, they recently destroyed a good part of a government building, a shopping mall, and a residential complex, as I understand it. Russians deny civilian casualties, but there are reports of over a dozen civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, there is a Russian military convoy that has been estimated to be 60 kilometers (40 miles) long. It is located maybe 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the capital city of Kyiv. And while it is making only slow progress thus far, it is nevertheless heading down towards Kyiv, slowly but surely. What happens when it gets there, or gets closer? That is obviously a lot of firepower, and can do much damage. The Russians appear to be trying ti encircle the city. Unfortunately, so far, it does not appear that the Ukrainians have been able to prevent this from happening.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zolensky received a standing ovation by the European Union after a live televised address.
Russian received a far different, and much icier, reception when addressing the United Nations and attempting to defend his country's recent actions in Ukraine. Diplomats from many countries walked out, many of them wearing some kind of visible show of support for the Ukrainian cause, including a number of Ukrainian flags.
How widespread was this walkout?
Well, according to Reuters:
The boycott by envoys from the European Union, the United States, Britain and others left only a few diplomats in the room including Russia's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Gennady Gatilov, who is a former deputy to Lavrov. Envoys from Syria, China and Venezuela were among delegations that stayed.
Still, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov went on with his speech. He accused the the West of engaging in a "Russophobic frenzy." He also said that the West had a blind spot in history, forgetting what he described as asically a coup invasion Russia describes as a d'état in 2013 when a government more aligned with Moscow than the West was removed from office by a revolution, although many in the west, and many Ukrainians, feel that this was something very different. Nevertheless, he used this as justification for Russia's "special military operation." He repeated Putin's claimed that the objective of this military incursion was to dislodge "neo-Nazis" who, according to Russians officials, are in charge in Ukraine.
So to look again at what is going on inside of Russia itself, the Russian banking system is in the process of crashing, and Russians are waiting in long lines, trying to get their money. The Russian ruble has crashed. The Moscow Stock Exchange was not permitted to open on Monday. Stocks in Russian banks, and presumably other businesses, took a nose dive.
How long can that country keep on going like this? Will they finally put pressure on Putin to end this war, which is actually not popular inside of Russia itself, as I understand it (at least not outside of the Kremlin, or perhaps even outside of Putin himself)? As much as Putin claims not to be bothered by the sanctions, how long can he hope to maintain the support of his fellow Russians, and perhaps especially all of those oligarchs, if the economy continues to tank the way that it is doing?
I think that Putin is very cold and calculating. But my assumption here is that Putin miscalculated some things regarding this invasion. He did not count on such fierce resistance from Ukraine, especially from elite politicians, most notably President Val. And he did not count on such quick and almost unanimous condemnation across the board and around the world.
Standing ovation as Zelensky tells European Parliament: ‘Prove you are with Ukraine’ by France24.com, Issued on: 01/03/2022:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20220301-nobody-will-break-us-president-zelensky-addresses-european-mps-by-videolink
March 1, 2022 9:16 AM EST Last Updated 12 hours ago Western envoys, allies walk out on Lavrov speech to UN rights forum By Stephanie Nebehay:
https://www.reuters.com/world/eu-us-british-envoys-boycott-lavrov-speech-un-rights-forum-2022-03-01/
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