Russo-Ukrainian War Rages On

By Peri Newman ‘24
    Fighting in Ukraine continues to intensify as the Russian Federation pursues their goal of gaining control over the Donbas region, an area in Southeastern Ukraine with cultural, historical and economic ties to Russia. 

The former communist superpower recently increased the number of troops in the Donbas region, which it has occupied since 2014, with convoys traveling towards the front lines. 
    In the past month, Russian President Vladimir Putin has named Army General Alexander Dvornikov commander of the military campaign in Ukraine, allegedly due to previous generals’ failure to take Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital city. Given this lack of success, Dvornikov has planned to focus on Donbas, along with the similarly occupied Luhansk region, rather than continue the invasion, in order to solidify a minimum of Russian control over war-torn Ukraine.  
Russia additionally has accused Israel of supporting “the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv,” increasing pressure on Israel and elevating this high-diplomatic altercation into an argument over anti-semitism and the legacy of the Second World War. Yet Russia’s accusations are not random, as Israel voted in the United Nations to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, and Yair Lapid, Israel’s Foreign Minister, has accused Russia of war crimes. 
However, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has attempted to moderate relations between Ukraine and Russia. 
    In contrast, Ukrainian foreign relations have improved since the invasion, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanking surrounding nations for their help in this horrible predicament, particularly the United Kingdom for their military aid in helping to train soldiers. 
President Zelenskyy specifically noted that the UK will go down in history, saying that, “we [the people of Ukraine] are thankful for this help, and I am grateful to you Boris [Johnson, U.K Prime Minister].”
    The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) worked with the UN to help evacuate trapped people from the besieged Azovstal steel plant and Mariupol, a city on Ukraine’s Northern Coast. President Zelenskyy confirmed the successful evacuation in a tweet, updating the public after the first group of one hundred people had been moved to a safe area under Ukrainian control. 
However, the Azovstal steel plant faced heavy Russian fire immediately after the rescue, and it is unclear whether or not this setback will jeopardize the attempts to evacuate remaining civilians, some of whom have been stranded at the plant for two months. 
As these unprecedented attacks continue, at least nine people have been killed by airstrikes and shelling across Donetsk, a Ukrainian coastal city particularly hard hit by Russian airfire. The head of Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, reported that the town of Avdiivka, a residential area in the city center, had been bombed by Russian planes in another example of Russian aggression bordering on war crimes. 
It has been months since Russia invaded Ukraine, yet the conflict seems far from over. This war has left many people dead, cities destroyed and international relations in shambles.