Two months after the attack: "Russia's blitzkrieg failed"
Created: 04/24/2022, 05:05
Two Months of War in Ukraine: Can Negotiations Stop the Bloodshed?
© Alex Chan Tsz Yuk/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Two months ago, Putin ordered an attack on Ukraine.
However, the expected quick victory turned into a tough fight with thousands of dead.
How can the bloodshed end?
Kyiv/Moscow - Thousands of dead, millions fleeing, destroyed houses and shot-up tanks: the balance sheet after two months of Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is devastating.
And peace is nowhere in sight.
The fighting in the Donbass and in the devastated port city of Mariupol continues unabated.
Many analysts and probably also the war strategists in Moscow had counted on just a few days after which the leadership around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would capitulate.
It turned out differently.
"The Russian blitzkrieg has failed," says the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, summing up the situation from a Kiev point of view.
"Our army and the people have frustrated the Kremlin's plans." In the early morning of February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the start of a "special military operation" in a televised speech.
"The aim is to protect people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide for eight years," he added, as Russian units crossed the border into the neighboring country from three sides.
Russia only militarily successful in southern Ukraine
Two months later, Putin is a long way from many targets - even though he has ruthlessly fired on apartment blocks and industrial plants.
From a military point of view, the invasion was probably only successful in the south.
There it has managed to take a large part of the coastal areas.
The Crimean Peninsula, annexed in 2014, now has land access to Russia.
The most important trophy is the city of Mariupol, which Moscow says it largely controls - despite the ongoing resistance in the Azovstal steelworks by the Ukrainian fighters who remained there.
More than 400,000 people lived in Mariupol before the war, but only a third of them remained after the destruction.
Kyiv estimates that more than 20,000 residents were killed.
Capture of Kyiv not in sight
In the east, where the largest units of troops were assembled on both sides, the advance was sluggish.
After two months, Russia has captured about 80 percent of the Luhansk region and half of the Donetsk region.
Previously, the separatist republics occupied about a third of the area of both areas.
In addition, there are larger gains in territory in the Kharkov region, which means that there is still a risk of Ukrainian troops being surrounded in the region.
In the north, on the other hand, the Russian advance reportedly ended in disaster.
After weeks of heavy fighting with probably high losses, the Russian troops had to withdraw from northern Ukraine and the region around Kyiv - surprising for observers.
A conquest of the capital is not in sight.
Kyiv: Damages worth 100 billion euros
But the destruction is not only immense due to direct combat operations, but also due to Russian rocket attacks deep in the Ukrainian hinterland.
The Ukrainian economy has collapsed by more than 30 percent.
The leadership in Kyiv estimates the direct damage at more than 100 billion euros.
Severe destruction is reported from the cities of Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv, which have been under siege for weeks.
The infrastructure is broken.
It is completely unclear when and by what means this can ever be rebuilt.
Then there are the many dead and injured.
The extent of this is difficult to assess.
The UN has so far recorded around 2,500 civilians killed and around 3,000 injured.
However, due to the lack of access to large areas, the organization assumes that the number of civilian victims will be higher.
Images of more than 400 civilians killed in the Kiev suburb of Bucha had caused horror around the world.
Again and again there are reports of possible mass graves.
Military losses and massive economic consequences
Military casualties are also difficult to estimate.
The Russian military leadership claims that more than 23,000 Ukrainian soldiers have already been killed.
President Selenskyj speaks of about 3,000 killed Ukrainians.
On the other hand, Moscow admits a little more than 1,000 of its own casualties, while Kyiv estimates Russian losses at more than 21,000 soldiers.
As with most other information on wartime events, independent verification is hardly possible.
more on the subject
War against Ukraine: That's the situation
No barrage of fire in eastern Ukraine: Observations show Russian strategy during the advance
War against Ukraine: That's the situation
The war of aggression also has massive economic consequences for Russia.
The sanctions are expected to push inflation to more than 20 percent and cause gross domestic product (GDP) to fall by about 10 percent.
Half of the currency reserves are frozen.
In addition, there are potential supply problems due to the withdrawal of Western companies.
A diplomatic agreement is still not in sight.
Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv are faltering.
Although UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wants to mediate next week, he is not credited with greater influence.
Other intermediaries before him have failed.
And so it seems that even after two months of war, both sides continue to rely on a military solution to the conflict - despite the devastating losses.
dpa
