Putin is weaponizing Ukrainian civilians

Russian President Vladimir Putin The bell rang in the new year In Ukraine, it “launched nearly 100 Shahed loitering weapons against cities across the country.”

What is his target? Ukrainian civilians – men, women and children.As President Putin's counterattack stalls Avdiivka, Kupiansk Elsewhere in Donbass, the Kremlin has also targeted its beleaguered forces by putting Ukrainian noncombatants in the crosshairs of Iranian-supplied shaded drones, Kinzhal missiles, and Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers. seeking to gain military superiority.

On the surface, Putin's targeting of apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals has no real military value. Although these are also war crimes and clear violations of the Geneva Convention protocols, Russia and China are blocking UN Security Council efforts to condemn Russia.

But as retired Navy Lt. Chuck Farrar points out in the Kiev Post, distorted military law Putin's attack on humanity in Ukraine. By weaponizing Ukraine's non-combatants, President Putin is forcing Kiev to deploy most of its Patriot and other missile defense systems in and around major population centers.

As Farrar puts it, it's “murderous madness.” But it is acquiring the Russian military in time and space in the Donbass and the south. The war also undermined the efforts of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his generals to create the conditions for an offensive to remove Putin's forces from Crimea, a crucial terrain in the war. I keep ruining it.

Putin's sadistic attitude and willingness to kill civilians to achieve his goals not surprising. His wars and military interventions in Chechnya, Georgia, and Syria all also demonstrated Putin's determination to weaponize civilians.promoted by Russia sarin gas attack In Syria, Russian-backed separatists shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight to support Bashir al-Assad regime MH17 In 2014, 298 people were killed in the skies over eastern Ukraine.

It is true that President Putin's governing style on the domestic front is one that we have had for a long time. explained As Murder Inc., he assassinates political opponents, journalists, rebellious oligarchs, and anyone he perceives to be in his way. addiction British Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

In the early stages of his “special military operation” in Ukraine, the killing of civilians began almost immediately.Putin's crimes against humanity Bucha In the first months of the war, the war was no accident, and no isolated Russian military units failed. It was “part of a deliberate and systematic effort to ruthlessly secure the route to the capital Kiev” and was intended to send a message to Ukrainians: submit or be slaughtered. This is also why Russian artillery destroyed once vibrant and prosperous cities. Bahmut and Avdiivka.

As the US Department of State does, Decided“Russian forces committed execution-style killings of Ukrainian men, women, and children; torture with beatings, electrocutions, and mock executions of civilians in their custody; rape; and other Russian officials; Forcibly returned hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who were forcibly separated from their families.”

Zelenskiy and his generals are reaching a critical turning point this winter, as the war in Ukraine devolves into World War I-like trench warfare along much of its 600-mile front. This is largely the work of Washington.

One major factor is the inability of the Reichstag to provide sufficient military and economic funding for the war in Ukraine. So too has the Biden administration's failed military strategy in properly assessing what Zelenskiy and his generals need in terms of military capabilities and the protection of Ukrainian civilians.

Defending Ukraine for as long as necessary is a recipe for eternal war. That won't win the war. It is also a recipe for ensuring that Putin continues to target civilians. The former allows Putin to do the latter, even if he does not unintentionally encourage him to do so.

Washington must change course quickly. Farah is correct in his assessment that the Biden administration must allow Kiev to “take back its airspace.” It covers not only the main population centers of Ukraine, but also the front lines of Donbass Oblast and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya Oblasts. The Ukrainians need weapons systems to attack Russian launch sites, crews, and missile and drone storage facilities.

Until the latter is achieved by Ukraine, as Farrer candidly assesses, “Ukrainian ground commanders will [are] Forces and supplies are forced to disperse, making it difficult to concentrate troops, move to the front lines, and even engage the enemy, and in some cases lead to suicidal behavior. ”

Until Ukraine can move Patriot missile batteries and other U.S. and NATO surface-to-air missile systems closer to the front lines, Kiev's ability to launch a counterattack will remain severely handicapped. Mobile combat with Bradley and Abrams tanks remains extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Anything less will only continue to encourage Putin to continue targeting and weaponizing Ukrainian civilians as a means to win the war. Biden and Congress must end Putin's brutal insanity by giving him full control of Kiev's airspace and allowing him to carry the fight against him all the way to Crimea.

Colonel (retired) Jonathan Sweet He served as a military intelligence officer for 30 years and led the U.S. European Military Intelligence Operations Division from 2012 to 2014. mark tothAn economist and entrepreneur, he is a former director of the World Trade Center in St. Louis.