One Year of NATO-Russia ‘War Game’ and a Clueless Zelenskyy

Background of the Ukraine-Russian Problems

Persecution of Russian-speaking population of Donbass by the Ukrainian soldiers for over 8 yrs must have created enough distrust between the two. Further, their seeking NATO membership was the trigger for the Russian offensive that unfolded rather swiftly since the event of declaring Donbass a free state on 20 Feb 22. Whatever could have been the cause, the invasion of Ukraine by the Russians cannot be justified. That single act by Putin has taken away the lives of 10s of thousands of innocent men and women as well as turned many-a-beautiful townships into rubble. On 24 Feb 2023, it is one year of Russian invasion of Ukraine in the name of special military operations with 3 main objectives of:-

• To liberate the two breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk from Ukrainian.
• To demilitarise Ukraine and
• To force Ukraine to recognize Crimea as part of Russia and desist from joining NATO.

The Invasion or "Special Military Op"

The invasion was on the pretext that the Ukrainian forces has attacked the newly declared independent state of Donbass. The invasion was with lightning speed on all 3 fronts of land, sea and air within days, Russian troops were at the doors of Kiev. Experts in military operations were predicting the capture/resignation of Zelenskyy and reinstating a pro-Kremlin administration meeting Russian military objectives and cessation of the hostility. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy feared on the 3rd day of the ops that he could soon be captured (read “Russian Game Plan in Ukraine and its Repercussions”, https://articles.thecounterviews.com/articles/russian-game-plan-in-ukraine-and-its-repercussions/) . However, the turn of events took of different course and the result is before the world…“a continued war game between NATO and Russia” at the cost of the Ukrainian lives and infrastructures.

Russian Setbacks and NATO Initiatives

It will be for the war veterans and experts in military operations to analyse as to where Russian operations went wrong; that they are still fighting a depleted Ukrainian Army without much gains; at an immense cost of own men and machines; with operational reversals on many fronts. It will be for the economy experts to analyse why cripply-looking EU-USA sanctions could not cripple the Russian economy. On the contrary, the EU nations suffered immense economic reversals. NATO was successful in convincing Zelenskyy to continue fighting, asking his citizens to take to guns. Gradually western-NATO military aids started pouring in. NATO military planners and advisors along with mercenaries from various nations gained access into the war theatres.

Lack of foresight and continued slackness of Russian Military Ops were evident. NATO successfully created a battleground in Russian backyard, inflicting significant losses to Russian military through advanced military weapons. The simplest of the NATO defensive weapons of shoulder fired anti-tank (Javelin) and anti-aircraft (Stinger) missiles inflicted heavy Russian losses. An approx 20 Km long Russian convoy of Tanks, armoured vehicles and logistic stores stuck on the road to Kiev became a sitting duck to Ukrainian ground and drone attacks. In the later operations, NATO precision drones started inflicted heavy losses on Russian Arms depots, fuel dumps and some military barracks…in occupied territories, in Black Seas as well as some on the mainland. A wide range of NATO weapons as mentioned in the text box below, were provided for free to Ukraine to fight Russians.

Zelenskyy’s decision to arm civilians with Javelin and Stinger missiles and relocate the radars and Air Defence systems to/amidst residential buildings shifted the conflict zone from the military bases to the civil inhabitation. Although it inflicted heavy losses to the city dwellings and infrastructures BUT…compelled the Russians to waste substantial quantities of Missiles (both cruise & ballistic) as well as artillery ammunitions in demolishing home after home. As the war continued, Zelenskyy started getting his voice heard by EU-NATO more and more. He has compelled them to supply more and more weapons, many advanced ones as war aid, almost free of cost. Today, NATO weapons are in plenty in Ukraine. It is also whispered that many of the NATO arms & ammunition are being smuggled and sold out to non-state players in the vicinity thru’ dark web. High corruption has cropped-up in Ukraine's administration.

The cost Ukraine has been paying in this war is far more than the NATO in which his own people, their homes & infrastructures are being put to rubble and larger portion of territories lost to the Russians. Civilian representatives of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson; and signed merger into Russian Federation although part of Kherson (west of Dnipro river) was vacated by Russia owing to difficulties in maintaining logistics.

Although Zelenskyy is increasingly finding access to EU-US leaned international community, he is no more than a piece of pone on the NATO-Russian chessboard. Both his voice and acts are being dictated by his masters elsewhere. The war is directly funded by US-led NATO. It is also believed that EU-US-NATO forces (in civvies) are actually operating all sophisticated and advanced weapons donated by them. These troops are at the top advisory level, mid-level Op supervisors as well as at field levels in tactical planning and weapon operations. As on today, the war is being fought between Russia and NATO on Ukrainian grounds. By now, so much of water has flown overhead that NATO involvement is at all levels. This war is near stalemate and cannot be won with conventional weapons.

As can be observed in the present stage of the Ukraine war (in the textbox above), it closely resembles the comparative situations of World War II when post-Potsdam conference, US Prez had taken the recourse to attack Hiroshima & Nagasaki with A-bombs. In the current trend of mounting Russian losses with no visible sign of victory in sight, Putin too may take a conscious decision to destroy Ukraine through Nuclear attack(s) on Kyiv and Leviv/Odessa). If this happens, Ukraine will be destroyed and worse, NATO will only watch in disbelief. They can’t retaliate; for any NATO misadventure will destroy smaller NATO members in Europe and none of them will be willing to take that risk. Hence, as it appears now, Ukraine is heading to difficult times (read “Kiev destruction a clear possibility”, https://articles.thecounterviews.com/articles/kiev-destruction-clear-possibility/). Besides, control of Zaporizhia may become another flashpoint, threatening to turn into another Chernobyl. All these will be catastrophic for Ukraine.

Biased West Meddling

It may be worth looking back at some of the previous US-led invasions. US govt invaded Vietnam in the 60s and the ravaged nation became cities of the dead. US-NATO went to Iraq on the pretext of destroying Tony Blair’s brain-child of Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Iraq was put to dust. US-NATO went to Afghanistan on the pretext of fighting Islamic terror and finally fled in 2021 gifting the State along with >30 billion dollar NATO defence equipment to the same Talibani terrorists whom they wanted to defeat. US-NATO is now meddling in Ukraine which is facing Russian ire and gradually being destroyed. As fears are being expressed, it may end up with Ukraine becoming the target of the Russian Nuclear bomb if it comes to that. United Nations and its Security Council has become useless in their inability to stop this ongoing war. The duo has become infamous for their flawed approaches. Even International Court of Justice (ICJ) has tarnished own reputation by passing a hasty verdict based on one-sided story. It was imperative on the UN Secretary General to bring-in the much-needed reform in the Security Council to rescue weaker member nations from the wrath of the mightier ones. He neither fulfilled his obligations nor resigned from his post (read “Failure of the UN in ensuring world peace”, https://articles.thecounterviews.com/articles/failure-of-the-un-ensuring-world-peace/). Ukraine has already suffered a lot and if war ravages on, it may suffer more in the coming weeks and months.

The US Gameplan

US-NATO supplies of weapons is not helping the situation. There was a time in the initial days when Zelenskyy had come to the negotiating table at the behest of Turkey. However, USA didn’t want that to happen and the talks were scuttled then and remain elusive even today. NATO is happy to get a battleground in Russian backyard which is weakening Russian might (both on military and credibility fronts) without losing a single soldier. Zelenskyy has been fool-hardy, unable to realise the US-NATO game and in turn, sacrificing the interest of Ukraine (read “Zelensky Sacrificing Ukraine for Own Ego”, https://articles.thecounterviews.com/articles/zelensky-sacrificing-ukraine-for-own-ego/). Unfortunately, there were very few credible facilitators in the peace talks. China and India having an influence on Russia, chose to refrain from any initiative in this regard and UN/UNSC was never perceived to be neutral in their approach. The result of all these are evident on many fronts…the Humanitarian suffering of Ukraine, uncontrolled energy crisis with inflation in Europe, disruption of the supply chain resulting in high inflation the world over and the worst of all…the world peace on tenterhooks…that any moment the war may escalate to engulf the humanity.

The Information War

The biggest achievement of the EU-US-NATO controlled war was their Information management. They strictly regulated the media content coming out of their battlefield in Ukraine. All Russians and their sympathetic media groups were denied permission. The EU handlers strictly filtered the information, often incorporating doctored contents coming out of the battle. At no time they gave any impression that Ukraine was losing any ground except when lost to the Russians. They also effectively manipulated the negative narratives of attacks on civilians, women and children, against the Russian Forces. That media control strictly remains in place even today.

The Grim Pictures

Today, when the war has been ravaging for one year, Ukraine is the prime victim of the Russia-NATO game plan. There are fears of the war escalating further. President Zelenskyy has become a pone on the NATO-Russian chessboard, sacrificing Ukrainian interests. Many of their families living in exile are falling victim to flesh trades, children missing their childhood, parental care, schools and developmental needs. Ukraine has become a playground for international mercenaries and Arms Exporters. Erstwhile beautiful and prosperous Ukraine is gradually turning to dust. Cities like Kharkiev, Sumy, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Volnovakha, Rubizhne, Popasna, Lyman, Sievierodonetsk, Bakhmut, Soledar, Maryinka, Kreminna among many others have been completely destroyed. Donbass, Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zaporizhia suffered significant damages that were annexed and merged into Russian Federation. UN/UNSC remains complacent of credible action and its reforms as elusive as before…and all these are echoing fears in the hearts and minds of other nations in the wrong books of the mightier ones. It is a shame for the entire world.