Russia Continues to Escalate

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Russia Continues to Escalate

Russian hypocrisy has no limits. They routinely warn the United States and Europe about steps that might escalate the conflict. Yet Russia continues to escalate the conflict with seeming impunity. Last Tuesday President Biden announced plans to provide Ukraine four HIMARS systems able to launch rockets a distance of 50 miles. But they came on the condition that they cannot fire rockets into Russia, because that would constitute an escalation of the war. Meanwhile, Russia does not view continued missile attacks on Kyiv as an escalation. Still, Ukraine must worry about whether their attacks extend beyond the Donbas.

Yesterday The New York Times reported Russia is selling Ukrainian grain to African countries. On the one hand, this will help alleviate the world’s grain shortage. However, it is perverse to think Ukraine’s own grain harvest is used to finance a war upon its people. Moreover, Russia has not allowed Ukrainian grain to leave its ports or allowed access over land it controls. Its goal is not to alleviate world hunger, but rather to loot the Ukrainian nation as it kills its people.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers find themselves overwhelmed from Russian artillery fire. As quoted in The New York Times, Sergeant Goncharenko says, “It’s a weapon that I, as a rifleman, cannot fight.” Ukraine will eventually need to expand the combat zone to win this war. They will need to attack Russian targets inside of Russia. Otherwise, Russian forces will concentrate in the Donbas and consolidate their hold over at least some territory. The same article also quotes Russian analyst Michael Koffman as saying, “This is a war where territory is going to change hands, there’s no logical stopping point in the conflict and there’s no stalemate.” In the meantime, Russia will continue to escalate the conflict as the war evolves

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