The Russia-Ukraine war that's been going on for months is seeing a new twist. Look at this map.
This map shows the departing international flights leaving Russia on 21st September. Each of the seats on each of these flights was completely sold out. The prices of these flights have risen exponentially. And has become unaffordable for most Russians. The cheapest flight here was the one from Moscow to Dubai, for 300,000 Rubles, it is around ₹400,000. It is 5 times the monthly salary of an average Russian. Apart from this, do you know what was the #1 search term on Google in Russia?
How to break your arm at home. People are looking up ways they can break their arms. Do you know why this is happening friends? Because recently, Russian President Putin, declared Partial Mobilization in his country. This means that the average Russians who do not want to participate in this war are forced into going to the frontlines and asked to fight. This is why people are so desperate to leave the country. Any flight, at any cost, to anywhere. They just need to leave the country.
There are traffic jams on the Russian borders. "Russians are mobilizing on the streets of Moscow, chanting, "Send Putin to the trenches." Hundreds of demonstrators have been detained for saying Nyet.
Russian Exodus and the Harsh Reality of War
Other Russians are fleeing the country. Flights from Moscow to all visa-free destinations selling out quickly. There are also long lines of cars heading to Finland, which has open borders." And those who do not have the means to escape are thinking of breaking their hands, their bones, so that they could use a medical reason to avoid being listed.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin just escalated his invasion of Ukraine. I think it is necessary to support the decision of the partially mobilized citizens of the Russian Federation.
- A partial military mobilization. "Putin says Moscow would respond without a delay, if Russia's territorial integrity is threatened." Look at this tweet on Twitter by a Russian guy on 12th September. "Time to counter the counter-attack of the counter attack.
- They are the Russian elite, born to compete, never retreat.
- Living or dead, always ahead, fed by your dead.
This guy had enthusiastically tweeted in support of the Russian army. But around 20th September the same account tweeted this.
- Special military operation my ***.
- They want to send us to war while they have fun in their yachts, and send their kids to school in the west.
- Ok, that's it, now I fully support Ukraine, ****Russia.
- Guess what? I just received a convocation for mobilization.
- No ****ing way I'll join. They are clearly losing if they think that I'm their last hope.
It shows that as long as the war is only on the TV, and people are watching the war from the comfort of their homes, it is quite fun. To cheer for their country, their team. But when the war knocks of their doors, and their lives are in danger, people realize the true meaning of the war only then. For many Russians, this war was something that was happening in Ukraine. There weren't many consequences in their lives. The economy did suffer a little,
Some American companies exited the country, But their daily lives were continuing for the average Russian. But now that the war has taken a turn where even the average Russians are being pushed into the war, they are now realizing the consequences of a war. Several months ago when Russia invaded Ukraine, they were hoping to march into Ukraine with their large army to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, and would overthrow the Ukrainian government.
It is said that Putin had hoped that the Russian army would capture the entire country of Ukraine within 3 days. The plan was that the Russian army would act so stealthily, that the Ukrainians wouldn't have the chance to defend themselves. That they would finish it while other countries debate whether or not to help. But this plan failed miserably. Putin and the Russian army grossly underestimated the capabilities of the Ukrainian army.
"Ukraine's Resilience: Turning the Tide in the Ongoing Conflict"
The extent they are willing to go to protect their country. For their independence. As the war continued to extend, more countries came forward in support of Ukraine. In the first month of the war, there was a point when the Russian army was very close to Kyiv. Look at this map, it shows the Ukrainian areas occupied by the Russian Army at their peak. But about a month after the invasion, Russia had to pull back from Kyiv, and they changed their goal.
They said that their goal was the liberation of the Donbas region. This region lies in Eastern Ukraine. Since then, a situation of a stale mate was maintained. The area occupied by Russia, more or less, remained the same. The area protected by Ukraine, remained the same. But in the last few weeks, Ukraine has turned this war around. Steadily, the Ukrainian army liberated more areas under Russian occupation.
And returned it to their country Ukraine. The situation now looks somewhat like this. If you look at the map, The red area is under Russian occupation, And the Yellow area is completely under Ukrainian control. Only some areas in the East and South are still under Russian occupation. About 80% of Ukraine is safe from Russian invasion now.
But it is interesting to note that of the area still under Russian occupation one-third of it was under Russian occupation since 2014. You will need to understand the context a bit. The southern peninsula in Ukraine is called Crimea. Before 2014, it used to be a part of Ukraine. But in 2014, Russia occupied this and a controversial referendum was held.
According to Russia, the outcome of it was that a majority of people living there, wanted to make it a part of Russia. In 2014, Russian backed separatists declared a war on Ukraine. There are two proxy countries of Russia in the region. Donetsk People's Republic, and Luhansk People's Republic. Although there are very few countries to recognize these countries.
Ukraine's High-Tech Arsenal: How Advanced Weapons Are Shaping the Conflict
But after 2014, practically, these two countries existed. Technically speaking, even since 2014, these areas were already under Russian occupation. But then, on February 24th of this year the Russian army launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And tried to establish their control over the entire country. And as I told you, Ukraine has successfully fought back now. But you would wonder one thing, how can a country like Ukraine, face a country like Russia.? How did the momentum go in favor of Ukraine?
One of the biggest reasons here are the high-tech gears supplied from America. One of the most useful weapons for Ukraine has been this American-made rocket launcher system. This is known as are HIMARS. This rocket launched system is highly advanced, they are extremely precious. one that can destroy the facilities in a a wide range. These rockets have been given to Ukraine are part of giving Joe Biden's $10 billion Military Aid plan. The plan is quite simple. Ukraine used this rocket launcher system to attack the Russian railways, infrastructure, and logistics. Russians mostly use trucks to bring their supplies to the frontlines. When these trucks are offloaded, Ukraine used the rockets to destroy the trucks, Without approaching them.
Ukraine has so many high-tech, advanced weapons that Ukrainian aircraft are hitting military targets in Crimea as well. "By contrast, Bioreactor must fly close to the target, to release its bombs. This boost in range would allow the Ukrainian drone operators, to contact stand off attacks. On 1st August, they attacked an airbase, and the headquarters of the Russian bad sea fleet, This is why, in this conflict, Russia is forced to use more soldiers.
They have to force the average person to join the war. Well, not Russia, It is all simply Putin. But this begs the question, does this mean that Ukraine will win this war? To understand this, we need to understand what does it mean to win such conflicts? This will be explained by Mohak. You would know Mohak Mangal, He is from the Soch YouTube channel, he makes pretty good, in-depth research videos.
Assessing the Ukraine-Russia Conflict: Who Holds the Initiative?
This is Lt. Amir Khan Niazi, under his supervision, about 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian and Bangladeshi army after which Bangladesh became Independent. Usually, this is how wars end. When one army surrenders to the other army. The same happened when the German army surrendered in World War II and the Southern Confederation has surrendered in the American Civil War. But when a war doesn't end,
How can we see which side is winning and which is losing?
In such a situation, some people suggest that we should see which army wins territories, and which army loses their territories. As we saw in the fighting in the Donbas region, Evaluating this war on this measure won't tell us which army is winning the war. As per experts, in such a situation, we should run 3 tests to see which army is winning. The first test is to see which army has the initiative in the war. In layman terms, this means that the army which decides the course of the war while the other army just reacts to it.
The agenda is set by which army?
In this war, we witnessed Russia attacking Ukraine, Showing that Russia was the one to set the agenda. Because Ukraine wasn't prepared to counter this attack. That's why their army had to react to the Russian attack. But the situation has changed in the last 2 months. Because Russia doesn't have a surprise factor now. And since America and European countries are helping Ukraine, Ukraine has been able to set the agenda as well. Apart from attacking military targets in Crimea,
"Ukraine's military says that 9 Russian military planes were just destroyed in the airbase in Crimea."
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