First the Ukraine said it would use force to recover the renegade Donbass region as well as Crimea. It then moved heavy troops towards the contact lines. The ceasefire at the contact line was broken multiple times per day. Several Ukrainian soldiers died while attempting to remove a minefield in preparation of an attack.
It became clear that a war in Ukraine’s east was likely to soon braek out. A successful war would help Ukraine’s president Zelensky with the ever increasing domestic crises. A war would also give the US more influence in Europe. The US and NATO promised “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty”.
Russia gave several verbal warnings that any Ukrainian attack on the renegade provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk or Crimea would cause a serious Russian intervention. There was never a chance that the US or NATO would intervene in such a war. But it was only after Russia started to move some of its troops around that sanity set in. It dawned on the Ukrainian leadership that the idea of waging war against a nuclear armed superpower was not a good one.
Late yesterday it suddenly decided to file for peace (machine translation):
The Armed Forces ruled out the use of force to “liberate” Donbass
KIEV, April 9 – RIA Novosti. “Liberation” of Donbass by force will lead to mass deaths of civilians and servicemen, and this is unacceptable for Kiev, said Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak.
“Being devoted to universal human values and norms of international humanitarian law, our state puts the lives of its citizens in the first place,” the General Staff’s press center quoted him as saying.
According to Khomchak, the Ukrainian authorities consider the political and diplomatic way to resolve the situation in Donbass a priority. At the same time, he added that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready for an adequate response both to the escalation of the conflict and to “the complication of the military-political and military-strategic situation around the country.”
Zelensky himself chipped in (machine translated):
Zelensky spoke for a truce in Donbass
MOSCOW, April 9 – RIA Novosti. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the need for a new truce in Donbass after visiting the contact line.
The head of state wrote on Facebook that shooting at the front lines had become “a dangerous routine.” “After several months of observing a complete and general ceasefire, we returned to the need to establish a truce,” Zelensky said.
As the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak emphasized earlier, the use of force to “liberate” Donbass is unacceptable for Kiev, as it is fraught with casualties among the civilian population and military personnel. At the same time, last week he said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will strengthen the grouping of troops in the Donbass and in the Crimean direction – in response to the “build-up” of Russian forces on the border with Ukraine.
It seems that order has come from Washington to stand down – at least for now. US reconnaissance flights near Russia’s border continue. One should therefore consider that the sudden call for a renewed ceasefire might be a ruse.
But if it is not why was all of this allowed to happen in the first place?
Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.
