ukraine war - Zoe Dune2024-03-28T17:58:44Zhttps://zoedune.com/opinion/feed/tag/ukraine+warUkraine War: Smalls Gains, Great Hopehttps://zoedune.com/opinion/eastern-ukraine-war-smalls-gains-great-hope2022-05-11T10:37:31.000Z2022-05-11T10:37:31.000ZJon Markhttps://zoedune.com/members/JonMark<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10479291268?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>What a relief it is to learn that Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russia is <strong><a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-kyiv-europe-d38703c060c6b066f2bd9012d147c6e1" target="_blank">making small gains</a></strong>.</p>
<p>If you haven't been keeping up, Russian troops have reportedly been unable to <strong><a href="https://tass.ru/armiya-i-opk/14446141" target="_blank">establish a corridor</a></strong> into Ukraine that would guarantee control. </p>
<p>After the Russian invasion on February 24th, I was certain that the world would soon see Ukraine fall. Russia's power posturing made this a good possibility but months later, we see that Ukraine has really handed Putin's ass back to him, sending a great many Russian soldiers to Hell and pushing the rest of them back across the border.</p>
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<p>The "small gains" that are reportedly being made are actually much greater given the bigger picture of Eastern Ukraine. </p>
<p>Many of us remember when the Euromaidan protest made news in 2013. It was very upsetting to see protesters who were demanding independence being shot and killed in the streets. While the uprising forced <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Yanukovych" target="_blank">Putin's puppet</a></strong> to flee, he was <strong><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-russia-aksyonov-idINL6N0M93AH20140313" target="_blank">able to annex Crimea</a></strong> in early 2014 and hold territory in the East. </p>
<p>Despite that, the rest of the world <strong><a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brookings-now/2014/03/19/nato-secretary-general-russias-annexation-of-crimea-is-illegal-and-illegitimate/" target="_blank">saw this as illegitimate</a></strong> and Ukraine troops were able to get some target practice on Russian separatists in the East. </p>
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<p>The world would be rattled again when Putin tried to invade in February making the war in Ukraine the central issue that could start World War III. </p>
<p>Now with NATO prioritizing this war in order to teach Putin a lesson, the rest of the world seems to have caught up with our support of Ukraine perhaps, guaranteeing success against Russia's invasion.</p>
<p><small><em>[Featured image: "<strong><a href="https://flic.kr/p/2njJzxL" target="_blank">Hope Blooms Eternal</a></strong>" by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkom/" target="_blank">Don Komarechka</a> via Flickr / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" target="_blank">Public Domain</a>]</em></small></p>
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