That war is dragging on, and it now seems that a military victory by either side is impossible. Although both sides refuse to allow accurate figures, the current estimate of those killed in Ukraine is close to 200,000. That is made up of around 75,000 soldiers, and the rest civilians. Russian troops killed in action are said to amount to a similar number, perhaps 230,000 dead.
Those numbers are staggering in modern times, and speak to the nature of the dogged trench warfare and street fighting that typifies this war. And this is without taking into account those severly wounded, many losing limbs or suffering terrible burns. Russia has the benefit of a much larger population, but Ukraine is going to have to face the reality of the loss of a huge part of its workforce, soldiers (male and female) who may never be able to live normal lives in the future, let alone return to their pre-war jobs.
Add to this the 5,000,000 refugees who left the country to settle in other countries away from the war. Mostly women and children, will they ever be able to return home? Many have no homes to go back to, husbands and other relatives killed or maimed in action, and former jobs that had to be abandoned to flee the country may no longer exist.
Putin seems to have settled on occupying the long-disputed areas in the south and east of the country, and the Russian army has become a defensive force, not seeking to expand from its current positions. Ukraine’s army is left with one option, to dislodge the Russians from well-prepared and very strong defences in those areas. So far, it seems they are incapable of doing that.
The financial and military aid given to Ukraine so far is enormous, especially the contribution from the USA. But most of the heavy equipment and tanks have made no difference to Ukraine’s offensive capability, and Zelensky keeps asking for more aid, military and financial. It is now a stalemate, with neither side intending to budge. Both sides are also reluctant to sit down to negotiate, even though they must know that some kind of ceasefire agreement is the only way to end the killing and destruction.
I have some questions.
Has all the billions of dollars (and other currencies) of aid been accounted for properly? Has there been any financial report explaining where it has all been spent? Is anyone from the supporting western countries in Ukraine taking stock of where the money is going? Read past the headlines, and you can find local reports of army generals and government officials driving around in new Mercedes cars, and living in mansions. Earlier this year it was reported that Zelensky and his wife bought a luxury villa on the Red Sea in Egypt, though that has since been labelled as fake news, depending on which article you read.
During a visit to Paris last year, Mrs Zelensky spent over £40,000 in a short shopping spree, buying designer clothes, shoes, and handbags. Is this appropriate behaviour for the wife of the leader of a nation at war when she was in France asking for more money?
In Ukraine, some independent news companies have been banned from operating. Some news has been censored, casualty figures are secret, and no Russian-speaking media is currently allowed. This in a country where 34% of the population are native Russian speakers.
Given the huge amount of military aid supplied, the expense of training new Ukraininan recruits in other countries, (including the UK) why has the Ukrainian offensive stalled? And for that matter, why was it announced on the world’s media exactly where they were going to attack the Russians? Ukrainian army volunteers have now been informed that their service will be extended for the ‘duration of the war’, in effect a war that has no possibility of ending without compromise. The cost of paying the armed forces is huge, and mainly provided currently by American money. How long can that go on, with an election coming up in 2024?
Making it clear that I am not on anyone’s ‘side’ in this war, I would like to have some real answers. Otherwise I will have no choice but to conclude that this has just become a proxy war, funded by western countries to support the arms industries of those countries, and to oppose Russia ‘by other means’, with no end in sight.