One Week In, Ukrainians Hold On To Kyiv, Face Losses In South

March 3, 2022
KYIV, UKRAINE - MARCH 03: Ukrainian soldiers patrol in front of the Independence Monument during Russian attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine on March 03, 2022. (Photo by Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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March 3, 2022

It’s now been more than one week since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, bringing what at first seemed to be the full power of Russia’s military to bear on its neighbor.

But in recent days, many who expected a swift victory for Moscow, replete with heavy use of airpower and a well-coordinated offensive, have been left scratching their heads.

Some ask, where’s the Russian air force? Others focus on a 40-mile long convoy of Russian vehicles on the road to Kyiv, which appears to be stuck in a week-long traffic jam.

That’s not to say the situation for Ukraine isn’t grim. Russian troops appear to be occupying Kherson, a major port city in the south, and are pressing an offensive in that area.

Putin shows no sign of changing course. He told French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that Russia remains committed to its war goals, and that its “tasks will be fulfilled no matter what.”

An aide to Macron told reporters that the French president told Putin that he was making a “major mistake” in Ukraine and that he was “lying to himself.”

According to the Kremlin readout, the war is “going according to plan.”

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It’s now been more than one week since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, bringing what at first seemed to be the full power of Russia’s military to bear on its neighbor.

But in recent days, many who expected a swift victory for Moscow, replete with heavy use of airpower and a well-coordinated offensive, have been left scratching their heads.

Some ask, where’s the Russian air force? Others focus on a 40-mile long convoy of Russian vehicles on the road to Kyiv, which appears to be stuck in a week-long traffic jam.

That’s not to say the situation for Ukraine isn’t grim. Russian troops appear to be occupying Kherson, a major port city in the south, and are pressing an offensive in that area.

Putin shows no sign of changing course. He told French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that Russia remains committed to its war goals, and that its “tasks will be fulfilled no matter what.”

An aide to Macron told reporters that the French president told Putin that he was making a “major mistake” in Ukraine and that he was “lying to himself.”

According to the Kremlin readout, the war is “going according to plan.”

Notable Replies

  1. Russia must be made to pay reparations down to the very last Kopek.

  2. Show trials and public executions?! Is Putin crazy??

  3. This is madness. Ukraine is outdoing what was expected, regardless of the posturing.

  4. Sadly, it was reparations and other certainly justified impositions on Germany after WWI that led directly to WW2. Victors making extractions from losers, even losers who instigated wars and who violated humanitarian conventions, seems only to lead to more anger and more war.

  5. Avatar for fess fess says:

    If Putin manages to kill Zelensky, they will create a martyr of extreme proportions. Revered martyrs inspire hundreds of thousands to fight even harder, the elderly, the too young, anyone without a nursing infant will be hiding in the shadows to pick off the enemy and then fade away. No Russian occupier will ever be safe.

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