THOUGHTS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE - PART THREE The aim of the first phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was political – take the capital, the seat of government and you have taken the country. When this thrust failed and was withdrawn, the second phase was strategic: an attack out of Donetsk along the northern coast of the Black Sea. The aim there was, firstly, to create a land bridge to the Crimea. Although annexed by Russia in 2014 the Crimea had no overland link to Russia proper, all communication being either by air, sea or by a hastily constructed bridge across the sea of Azov. To consolidate the land bridge necessitated the taking of Mariupol, stubbornly defended by the Azov battalion which, once the Russians had surrounded the city on 2 March, withdrew into the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, an industrial complex riddled with tunnels and underground storerooms, ideal for defence. After initial infantry assaults were beaten back the Russians reverted to their traditional tactic of massive artillery and rocket bombardment which, according to the United Nations, destroyed ninety-five percent of the city. Civilian casualties are unknown but must have been in the tens of thousands. The siege went on for almost eleven weeks, until 16 May when the garrison, out of ammunition, food and water surrendered. The Azov battalion had been raised from the extreme right wing Azov political party. This had little Ukrainian public support, having got less than 3 percent of the vote in the 2019 general election that brought Vladimir Zelensky to power. Despite this, the party’s rhetoric allowed Putin and the Russian publicity machine to hold the battalion as examples of the ‘Nazis’ that they claimed were in control in Ukraine, and allowed them to claim that the survivors would be treated as war criminals rather than as prisoners of war. In the event at least some have since been released in a prisoner exchange.
THOUGHTS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE - PART THREE
THOUGHTS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE - PART THREE
THOUGHTS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE - PART THREE
THOUGHTS ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE - PART THREE The aim of the first phase of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was political – take the capital, the seat of government and you have taken the country. When this thrust failed and was withdrawn, the second phase was strategic: an attack out of Donetsk along the northern coast of the Black Sea. The aim there was, firstly, to create a land bridge to the Crimea. Although annexed by Russia in 2014 the Crimea had no overland link to Russia proper, all communication being either by air, sea or by a hastily constructed bridge across the sea of Azov. To consolidate the land bridge necessitated the taking of Mariupol, stubbornly defended by the Azov battalion which, once the Russians had surrounded the city on 2 March, withdrew into the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works, an industrial complex riddled with tunnels and underground storerooms, ideal for defence. After initial infantry assaults were beaten back the Russians reverted to their traditional tactic of massive artillery and rocket bombardment which, according to the United Nations, destroyed ninety-five percent of the city. Civilian casualties are unknown but must have been in the tens of thousands. The siege went on for almost eleven weeks, until 16 May when the garrison, out of ammunition, food and water surrendered. The Azov battalion had been raised from the extreme right wing Azov political party. This had little Ukrainian public support, having got less than 3 percent of the vote in the 2019 general election that brought Vladimir Zelensky to power. Despite this, the party’s rhetoric allowed Putin and the Russian publicity machine to hold the battalion as examples of the ‘Nazis’ that they claimed were in control in Ukraine, and allowed them to claim that the survivors would be treated as war criminals rather than as prisoners of war. In the event at least some have since been released in a prisoner exchange.