 |
| A military trainer with Ukraine’s 112th Territorial Defense Brigade works with civilians during a military exercise outside Kyiv on February 5. The Ministry of Defense created defense brigades in Ukraine’s main cities because of the risk of invasion by Russia, which is amassing troops at the border. Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images |
International Military - Since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine on February 24, the situation on the battlefield has always attracted the world's attention. Russia, as the second largest military power (US first, if you agree), shows caution during its military operations.
The war that has been going on for more than two months, Russia has not yet found a bright spot of victory. Apparently there are three factors that influence the course of Russian military operations. Quoted from Defense View, here is the full explanation.
First, Ukraine's complex geography increases the difficulty of Putin's forces deploying their forces. As a reminder, Ukraine is located in the middle of Europe, most of its territory is land with an average elevation of 175 meters above sea level. And the highest point is located in the Hoking Plateau at 5,151 meters above sea level. The Dnieper divides Ukraine into two parts, east and west, and on the right bank are the Podoliya and Warren plateaus.
In particular, the eastern part of the Ukrainian military operation includes the southwestern branch of the Central Russian Plateau, the Donets Plateau and the coastal highlands of the Sea of Azov. This plateau severely limited the speed of movement of the large-scale mechanized troops of the Russian army. Including, the western part of Ukraine is mainly the Carpathian Mountains, and the southern part has the Crimean Mountains. These "high" conditions have caused great difficulties for Russian military operations.
Second, reinforcements from both the US and Western countries are steadily increasing, and this is very detrimental to Russia. The two countries (Russia-Ukraine) have taken political and diplomatic paths to resolve this conflict, although they have not found a bright spot.
Admittedly, one of the reasons Zelensky's "indecision" in making decisions was caused by US and Western intervention. And in the end the negotiations between Zelensky and Putin always stopped at a stalemate.
According to the TASS news agency, President Putin has lost patience with Ukraine's "uncertain" attitude towards negotiations. For example, Zelensky at one point informed Biden of the progress of his negotiations with Russia. And Biden retaliated by sending $500 million in aid to Ukraine. And the latest transfer of the US aid package to Ukraine was US$800 million, the Jakarta Zone quoted Daily Sabah as saying.
Third, the pressure of international public opinion is so real, that Russia cannot be careless. It must be admitted that the global media is largely controlled by Western countries, so that Putin cannot even create a narrative of his military aggression. And in the end, the world hated Russia and supported Ukraine.
And there is a reason why President Putin is campaigning for "this" as a special military operation, as a differentiator for US military operations that have occurred in the past. Historically, nearly all of the wars the US has waged have been a form of mass murder. After they succeeded in gaining air supremacy, US forces bombarded the targets on a large scale.
Then, the ground fleet entered on a large scale to "clean up" and eventually occupy enemy territory. The battles the US participates in usually cause large numbers of civilian casualties and major humanitarian catastrophes.
Unlike the US, Russia has chosen its focus and has attacked important targets such as military assets since February 24. This is to avoid casualties from civilians. Therefore, since this war began, the number of civilian casualties has been far less than in wars related to the US in the past.
Of course, one of the reasons why Putin is so wary of launching his attacks is that the global media is controlled by the West. If there was one chance Russia made a "mistake" on the battlefield, it would be food for the media and could be used as US propaganda to sway public opinion.
And in the end, this war is not only a battle of weapons strength, but also a battle of morals.