War in Ukraine

The ongoing Russian war in Ukraine now spans over four years. Putin had signified that his invasion of Ukraine would be over in a week or was it a few days? Either way he was wrong. His war  has probably caused many Ukrainians who were  supportive of Russia to become extemely critical of Putin and Russia. 

Putin seems to have litlle regard for the huge losses of life his war is causing, with thousands of Russians fallen in battle as well as many Ukrainians. Reports have it that he will soon be issuing mandatory call-ups on a national basis having already encouraged civilian prisoners to fight by releasing them from jails and allowing them to forgo their prison sentences.

Recently, with USA support for Ukraine apparently in decline, the latter country's stock of defence weapons has substantially reduced though European countries are endeavouring to supply more for them. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine has designed and is producing some very advanced drones which have attacked a number of strategic Russian oil installations far inland and on the Crimea. 

On the other hand, Russia   with support from its   allies, has its own weapons of war, drones and rockets which are playing havoc and far worse, on Ukrainian battle fronts as well as in Kyiv and other towns and cities.

There is a large report in The Times newspaper today illustrating some frightening events for Ukraine in its attempts to mainatin supplies to a vital front line town:

The grinding battle for Donbas remains the epicentre of the war in Ukraine. Yet the plethora of drones and their vastly increased range have widened the “kill zone”, making much of the eastern region almost inaccessible to journalists.

This summer other events have diverted attention from the war in the east: Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign against Russian infrastructure, the escalation in Russia’s ballistic missile attacks in response, and Ukraine’s internal political upheavals. 

Yet the fate of this 30-mile arc of territory, commonly known as “fortress Donbas”, linking four Ukrainian cities from north to south — Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka and Kostiantynivka — is of grave importance to both Russia and Ukraine. As a result, the area is exposed to more fighting than anywhere else on the front. 

Pope Leo has sent his top peace negotiator  Archbishop Paul Gallagher formerly of Liverpool, to Moscow in an attempt at least to mediate a peace settlement though sadly, so far without any apparent success.