As Russian forces claim nearly full control of eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian military is persistently pleading for more support from its western allies.
Military analysts from the Donbas region have reported that as Ukraine runs low on ammunition, Russia is rapidly taking advantage to start a war of attrition. A Ukrainian field commander by the name of Andrii revealed in an interview with Sky news , “they do not spare ammunition. Their drones fly, even if they see that there is only one or two people, they will send a barrage of rockets.” As claimed by ABC News’ Britt Clennett, reporting from Ukraine, heavy artillery from Russian troops near the eastern city of Severo, Donetsk is increasing the number of casualties on both fronts. Analysts estimate Russia’s artillery to be 10 times more than that of Ukraine, thus slowly resulting in massive gains for the Kremlin.
The lack of advanced ammunition has prompted the Ukrainian army to start using dogs as a warning defense mechanism. From the interpretation of Commander Andrii, the dogs sense incoming rockets, and give them signals to hide.
A former Russian troop under the alias Sergey, has disclosed to the BBC how he and many others were blindsided to fight in the war. From his understanding, Sergey was sent to perform military drills near the Ukrainian border in January. On February 24, his unit was commanded to cross the border as Russia launched the invasion. He recounted his commander telling them “Well, as you will have worked out by now, this is not a joke” (BBC). Sergey’s mistrust in their army’s leadership got heightened from the shortage of equipment. As he told the BBC, they were thrown into battle without basic equipment like night vision goggles. “I had thought that we were the Russian army, the most super-duper in the world” (BBC).
Both Ukraine and Russia have lacked sufficient and sophisticated weaponry from the start of the war, and Russia has emerged to attritional war to weaken the opposition as much as possible by any means necessary.
Recently in Ukraine, the remaining residents of the Donbas have begun migrating, leaving behind their belongings. An elderly woman interviewed by ABC grieved on her family’s situation stating, “our houses are destroyed. We don’t know where we’re going, but we’re going.” Why these residents have remained for so long is a loaded question with many answers. Some are patriotic and would rather stay in the lines of fires no matter the cost, while others are simply bombarded with the thoughts of losing property and livestock.
On June 11th, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky met with European Commission president Ursula von de Leyen to discuss the acceleration of the country’s membership into the EU. From the beginning of the war, Zelensky has demanded that the EU move faster to cut out Russian energy, an economic policy predicted to be finalized at the end of the year. EU membership is an extensive process, and it seems unlikely that Ukraine will integrate in time to affect its position in the war against Russia.
Russia is utilizing its upper hand in Ukraine’s slow membership status into the EU and NATO to acquire as much territory as possible before the country receives on ground military support from its prospective allies.