The Russia-Ukraine war seems to be dragging on endlessly. This can have extremely dangerous consequences for both sides as modern wars have no real victors. Victories, if at all they can be called so, are pyrrhic and obtained at a cost that would not be worth the while for any winner.
So, what is prolonging the Russia-Ukraine conflict? Russia, which sees Ukraine allied with the NATO powers as a threat to its security, seems to have miscalculated by launching a war which it apparently thought would result in an easy victory for Moscow. Nothing of the sort has happened. Now, the protracted war has turned into a prestige issue for President Putin. Moscow has other compulsions as well, but there is no denying the ego part.
Ukrainians are holding out despite having sustained heavy damages. Entire cities have been laid waste by the Russian army, but Ukraine – led by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy – continues to resist the invasion. Supported by NATO powers and some other sympathetic nations, Ukraine too has inflicted damages on Russia.
But the real losers in this war are the common people of the two countries. There are reports of regular explosions in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other cities such as Lviv. The Mayor of Kyiv recently stated that rescuers and medical staff were working at the site of the blasts that must have claimed human life as well.
By President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s own admission, 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in the seven weeks of war with Russia and about 10,000 injured. But the exact count of the civilian casualties is still not available. Moscow had said last month that 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed and 3,825 wounded.
So, no one seems to be winning this war even as both sides scale up hostilities. Russia has pledged more strikes on Kyiv and claimed to have used cruise missiles to hit the Vizar factory on the edge of Kyiv which reportedly made and repaired missiles, including anti-ship missiles. The Russian attack followed the much-publicized sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet.
Claiming that one of its missiles has sunk the Moskva, Ukraine is projecting the event as a powerful symbol of its resistance to a better-armed enemy. On the other hand, Moscow claims that the ship sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an explosion of ammunition. More than 500 sailors were evacuated. The United States believes the Moskva was hit by two Ukrainian missiles and that there were Russian casualties, although there is no clarity on the numbers. Under the prevailing circumstances, it is nearly impossible to verify such claims independently – but what is absolutely clear is that the war is taking a heavy toll on both sides. The sooner it ends the better.
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