This week saw the next atrocity in a long series of horrific events to occur in Ukraine. Russian artillery was used to rain down on people in a crowded shopping centre that was located far from the front lines of a conflict that is now in its fifth month.
It seems quite unlikely that the timing was a coincidence.
The brutality of Russian missile strikes on a mall in the central city of Kremenchuk and on residential buildings in the capital city of Kyiv unfolded in full vision of the world, as well as especially of Western politicians gathered for a trio of summits in Europe. While much of the attritional war in Ukraine’s east is hidden from sight, a significant portion of the conflict is taking place in the country’s east.
Is it possible that Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to send a message by carrying out these strikes at a time when the West was trying to provide the Ukrainian opposition with more powerful weaponry and put Ukraine on the route to becoming a member of the European Union?
When missiles targeted the capital city of Kyiv on June 26, three days after EU leaders unanimously decided to make Ukraine a candidate for membership, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko hinted that this may have been the case.
He described it as “perhaps a symbolic strike” at a time when the leaders of the Group of Seven top economic nations and subsequently the leaders of NATO were getting ready to meet and impose greater pressure on Moscow. The attack in Kyiv, which targeted an apartment block, resulted in the deaths of at least six individuals.
The retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who served as the previous commanding general of United States Army troops stationed in Europe, went even farther in linking the assault to the meetings.
At least 19 people were killed when Russia fired missiles at a crowded shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk, which is located in the central region of Ukraine, a day after the attack in Kyiv. This took place while the leaders of the G-7 were meeting in Germany for their annual summit to discuss further support for Ukraine.
The timing of both attacks appeared to be coordinated with European meetings attended by leaders who support Ukraine, including the President of the United States, President Joe Biden, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
Putin and his officials continue to contradict the facts by claiming that Russia did not strike any residential areas. Putin has said that Russian soldiers were aiming for a neighbouring weapons stockpile, despite previous claims that they were targeting the Kremenchuk mall. However, Ukrainian authorities and witnesses have said that the mall was struck directly by a missile.
It wasn’t the first time that outbursts of violence were taken to be a sign of Moscow’s disapproval; in fact, it wasn’t even the second. A little over an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy conducted a press conference in late April with visiting United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russian missiles attacked the capital city of Kiev.
Recently, the president of Russia issued a warning, stating that his country would attack targets it had hitherto avoided in the event if the West provided Ukraine with weapons that were capable of reaching Russia. Putin warned that Russia would “draw suitable conclusions” and “use our weapons of devastation, which we have enough of” in the event if Kiev obtained long-range missiles.
At least 21 people, including two children, were killed when Russian forces bombarded residential areas in a coastal town near Odesa on Friday. This occurred one day after Russian forces made a high-profile retreat from Snake Island near the Black Sea port city of Odesa following what Ukraine called a barrage of artillery and missile strikes.
While Russia’s messages may be direct and terrible, Ukraine’s signals under Zelenskyy have concentrated daily on aiming to highlight Moscow’s brutality to a world that risks becoming sick of the conflict day by day. This is in contrast to Russia’s communications, which can be direct and devastating.
If there is a decline in interest, the coordinated support that has been shown at global summits may also disappear. along with the resulting sense of urgency to provide Ukraine with the heavier weaponry it so desperately needs.
It was a strong remark of some exaggeration in the background of terrorist assaults with huge killings in Paris, Nice, Brussels, Madrid, and London in this century alone. Despite the unquestionable agony that the Ukrainian people have endured, it was a brave assertion.
In his nightly public lectures, Zelenskyy makes it a point to portray the horrific toll that the conflict is taking on regular life in Ukraine, therefore appealing to a far larger audience than just the world’s top leaders.
