The frantic appeal for immediate and concrete actions by Western countries made by a desperate Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amidst continued shelling by pro-Russian separatists shows how perilously close Russia is to invading Ukraine. Zelenskyy was so desperate to save his country that he had flown to Munich for a few hours February 19 despite US advice that he should not leave the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The sight of Russian speaking Ukranians in separatists controlled Donetsk boarding buses in hordes to take shelter in Russia fearing being caught in crossfire is yet another tell-tale sign of a Kyiv failure at holding the country together.
Zelenskyy’s appeal for immediate intervention by the West not only brings out the precarious situation, but also shows the Western posturing as hypocritical, using the Ukrainians as pawns for their game of merely threatening issuing sanctions against Russia. His emotive question is not wide off the mark. He has a point when he asks what the Western countries are waiting for and underlines the futility of sanctions when Ukraine’s economy collapses and “parts of our country are occupied.”
Openly confronting Russia which has been warning Ukraine against joining the NATO, Zelenskyy has shown the nerve to make it clear that Ukraine would continue to seek membership in NATO and blamed the West for not being honest about whether it really would welcome Ukraine into the alliance. Western nations have so long been parroting the line that their “doors are open.” Zelenskyy hit the bull in the eye when he said such posturing is good, but his countrymen want “open answers” and honesty.
Things appear to be spinning out of control with shells being fired continually February 19-20 in the centre of the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The origin of the explosions was not clear. War cry intensifies as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the situation at the Ukraine border where Russia has massed over 1,00,000 troops and the shelling by pro-Russian separatists do suggest a Russian invasion is inevitable and in that case “the biggest war in Europe since 1945 in terms of sheer scale” will break out. Johnson is no Churchill. Similarly, United Kingdom of early 1940s fighting Battle of Britain and United Kingdom of 2022 fighting Russia are not the same. Russia has already won the Ukraine war without firing a single shot. The propaganda blitz launched by Moscow has succeeded in the Battle of Nerves. We are observing one of the greatest examples of modern day warfare. Tanks, aircraft, missiles and soldiers have become show pieces. Real battle ground is now controlled by Artificial Intelligence, robotics, misinformation, cyber attacks and the likes of Slaughterbots.
Reports suggest almost 2,000 ceasefire violations were registered in eastern Ukraine by monitors for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The rebels, ignored by the government at Kyiv for long, are proving to be the Achilles’ heel in today’s situation. This is a lesson for most nations which have preferred to ignore or suppress sections of their society. The time tested adage that says ‘it is with our own luxury, our own folly, our own criminality that we have to contend with the enemy within the gates’ seems to have proven true for Ukraine.
The spate of shelling by the rebels in the East has added a new twist in the tension between Moscow and the West over the Russian military buildup near Ukraine. So long, Russia has been sending the message across the world that it has put its troops along Ukraine’s border to preempt any strike by the NATO. The USA has not only been insisting but has been repeating daily, like a parrot, that it has intelligence reports suggesting the pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine would be used as a pretext for invasion. From Biden to Kamala Harris to Blinken and anyone known in the present day US administration has been reported as talking about the ‘imminent invasion’ for the past few weeks. Now, they believe the shelling tends to confirm the Western power’s fears.
As if this is not enough, Russia’s strategic nuclear forces held exercises amidst the shelling and it was overseen by President Vladimir Putin himself. This, in the eye of the West, is one more indication of Russian troops advancing along Ukraine’s border to launch a strike. All the accusations and counter-accusations are part of the well known military strategy of propaganda and lies to prepare the groundwork for attacks. What lends credence to a possible armed confrontation is the fact that separatist leaders urged women and children February 19 to evacuate and able-bodied men to prepare to fight. The upshot of this is that refugees have started frantically boarding buses to Russia and refugee tent camps are popping up across the Russian border.
A humanitarian crisis is staring Ukraine in the face. This is clear from the fear that has gripped the people.
The propaganda warfare going on at the moment proves the undeniable fact that Ukraine is only a testing ground for modern warfare and Russia is on an experimentation trip. Human sufferings do not seem to count as much as the strategic calculations.