The Ukraine military announced on Tuesday that they had retaken Makariv, a town 30 miles outside of Kyiv, after a fierce battle.
“Thanks to the heroic actions of our defenders, the state flag of Ukraine was raised over the city. … The enemy was rejected,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted on Facebook.
“The regained territory allowed Ukrainian forces to retake control of a key highway and block Russian troops from surrounding Kyiv from the northwest,” explains The Associated Press.
Russia’s inability to take control of the capital city in the first three weeks of the war is a major humiliation for President Vladimir Putin, who planned on capturing Kyiv in a matter of days. The Washington Post describes a revealing joke about the failure:
Garry Kasparov reported on Saturday that a joke is making the rounds on what is left of the Russian Internet: “We are now entering day 24 of the special military operation to take Kyiv in two days.”
Russian forces are still bent on capturing the capital city, according to British defense officials, who called Kyiv Russia’s “primary military objective.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry acknowledged Tuesday that Russian troops have made inroads in Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin – all Kyiv suburbs. In the capital itself, reporters noted the constant presence of gun fire and explosions. On Monday, a Russian missile struck a shopping mall in Kyiv, killing at least eight.
That attack is consistent with Russia’s reckless targeting of civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, bomb shelters, and at least one maternity ward. Experts have long feared that Russia will grow more brutal as its conventional military efforts are stymied. The logic is diabolical: as more Ukrainian civilians die, the remaining population will lose the will to fight.
But the Russian plan appears to be backfiring. In Kherson, a southern city that has been controlled by occupying forces since March 3rd, Russian troops fired at Ukrainians protesting the war on Monday. The violence galvanized the local population. Now, Ukraine thinks it could use the groundswell of anti-Russian sentiment take back Kherson. The New York Times reports:
Ukrainian officials are hoping that public resistance — peaceful and more violent — will act as a force multiplier. With each report of soldiers looting a store, kidnapping a government official or engaging in other criminal activity, public anger swells.
While it is impossible to independently verify every claim made by Ukrainian officials, President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly seized on many of the more disturbing episodes to rally people in occupied territories.
“Resistance for Ukrainians is a feature of the soul,” he said on Monday. “And I really want you, all our Ukrainians in the south, to never think even for a moment that Ukraine does not remember you. Whenever you are in pain, when you resist in spite of everything, please know that our hearts are broken at this time, because we are not with you.”
Zelensky’s defiance is more than just war-time bravado. Military experts believe the conflict is headed toward a stalemate, which would be a stunning outcome given the vastly superior resources at Russia’s disposal. But despite that advantage, Russia has been plagued by low morale, poor communication, and a shockingly high death toll. According to Western estimates, approximately 1,000 Russian troops are killed or injured in Ukraine every day.
On Monday, Zelensky said he is unwilling to surrender Mariupol, where some of the worst violence of the war has taken place; Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, called the Russian attack there “a massive war crime.” Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday that they’re focused on evacuating civilians from the embattled port city. Buses are being sent to nearby towns to ferry escapees to safety.
“We understand that there are not enough places for everyone.… We definitely will not leave anyone behind and will continue the evacuation everyday … until we have transported everyone out,” said Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk.
U.S. President Joe Biden is traveling to Europe later this week to meet with NATO allies. Among the topics of conversation: how will the alliance react if a desperate Putin turns to biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons?
