Jed Babbin
American Spectator, Jan. 16, 2023
“All this stuff about COVID this, parts, supply chain this, I just don’t really care. I need [Standard Missile]-6s delivered on time. I need more [torpedoes] delivered on time.”
The Russian war to conquer Ukraine is nearly 11 months old. The U.S. media, which demands instant gratification, has grown bored with it. Nearly the only media mention of Ukraine occurred when top-secret intelligence information about Ukraine (and Iran and the U.K.) was found at President Biden’s “think tank” in D.C. and in his Delaware home and garage.
We need to pay a lot more attention to Ukraine — and give it the resources it needs to keep fighting — because Russia shows no sign of wanting to end the war despite its heavy losses and internal dissension.
Both sides are underreporting their military losses. Ukraine claimed to have lost about 13,000 troops — and tens of thousands of civilians — as of December. Russia claims that only about 22,000 of its soldiers have been killed, but the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff says that over 100,000 have been killed and an equal number have been wounded.
Many Ukrainian cities have been bombed nearly out of existence, resulting in tens of thousands of civilian deaths and perhaps eight million refugees who have fled, many to other countries. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of civilians, including children, have been forcibly resettled in Russia. As I write this, more Ukrainian civilians are being killed by Russian missiles. That and other Russian war crimes are commonplace.
The war in Ukraine will continue, as this column has noted, at least while Russian President Vladimir Putin lives. It may outlast him because at least two of his principal supporters — Wagner Group creator and commander Yevgeny Prigozhin and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev — are positioning themselves to succeed him. Both are eager to conquer Ukraine. … [To read the full article, click here]
