Why the Battle in East Ukraine matters:
The Sydney Morning Herald
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When Russian military aircraft attacked a maternity hospital in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky posed the questions that the rest of us were surely thinking: “Were pregnant women going to fire at Rostov? Was it the de-Nazification of the hospital?”
This attack is indicative of Russia’s new phase in their war against Ukraine. It is no longer a lightning war to quickly capture the Ukrainian capital and install a puppet regime. As CIA director William Burns described in testimony to the US Congress this week, “I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now. He’s likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties.”
Members of the Ukrainian military arrive to reinforce a forward position on the eastern frontline near Kalynivka village this week.
Members of the Ukrainian military arrive to reinforce a forward position on the eastern frontline near Kalynivka village this week. CREDIT:CHRIS MCGRATH/GETTY IMAGES
The Russians are desperate for battlefield success. Therefore, they are falling back on their preferred way of war in the past – massive firepower to destroy enemy military forces and terrorise “enemy” civilians.
If the failure to secure Mariupol is any sign, Russia’s shift in tactics is not yet working any better than their initial “blitzkrieg” approach. Its repeated attempts to seize an even larger prize in the east, Kharkiv, have yielded similar failure. Both cities sit astride important supply routes for advancing Russian forces. And while Mariupol has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the south-east of the country, Kharkiv is even more important.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/while-putin-is-denied-battlefield-success-look-east-to-grasp-his-strategy-20220310-p5a3ov.html