Since early morning there have been reports of air strikes on targets in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities. Russia communicates little about the fighting.
Security forces work at the site of the crash of a Ukrainian military plane in the Kiev region.
The second day of Russia’s attack on Ukraine has begun with air strikes on targets in the capital, Kiev. At least two explosions were reported. One of them apparently stemmed from the shooting down of an “aircraft” – a missile, a cruise missile or a drone – by the Ukrainian air defense. Photos and videos distributed in Telegram channels and on Twitter showed not only the moment shortly after the object was shot down, but also a block of flats in the Darnitsia district of Kiev, where the debris fell. Fire brigade and rescue units are in action. Early in the morning, Ukrainian authorities also reported attacks from the south-west of Ukraine, the city of Zaporizhia, and from Sumi in the north-east of the country.
Zelenski compares attacks with 1941
During the night, President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered general mobilization. He reported that 137 military personnel had died so far and praised the army’s will to resist. In the morning he appeared again in front of the cameras and reported on large-scale attacks on military and civilian targets across the country. He tried to strengthen the Ukrainians’ courage and will to resist. At the end of the four-minute performance, Selenski addressed the Russians again in Russian. The Russian attack on the “hero city of Kiev” is reminiscent of 1941 – the bombing of Kiev by Nazi Germany.
According to what is known about the course of the fighting, the Ukrainian forces are putting up resistance against the Russian troops and have recorded several successes, including the alleged recapture of the strategically important Hostemel airfield near Kiev. At the same time, the news caused a stir that Russian troops now controlled the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
During the night Selenski also appealed to the West to impose sanctions that were as severe as possible and to clearly state its colors: is the country wanted in NATO or not? He is ready to negotiate a neutral status with Russia if there is no NATO perspective. The conditions are security guarantees – and first of all the end of the war. The Russian strategy expert Fyodor Lukyanov wrote slightly smugly that sensible and realistic ideas come when it is already too late.
trivialization of war
There is no official Russian information about the course of the war. However, the head of the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, reported with satisfaction that the water supply via the Crimean Canal had been restored thanks to the successes of the Russian army in the hinterland. Again and again this was seen as one of the most important goals of a possible Russian military action. The message cannot be verified.
Russian state television avoids anything that would give the appearance of a large-scale military intervention in the neighboring country. The censorship authority Roskomnadzor warned the media to rely exclusively on official information when reporting on events in Ukraine. It’s a tightrope walk for the few remaining independent media outlets that don’t hide their disgust at President Putin’s decision and report around the clock.
In order to avoid serious consequences, they must use the official designation “special military operation” and should not speak of “war” in direct connection with what is happening. The State Department spokeswoman said it was not a war. Rather, it is about ending a war that has been going on for eight years. This is in line with the Kremlin’s view that Russia never starts wars but acts to “enforce peace” and “liberate.”
Putin justifies himself to business representatives
Russia simply had no choice but to act in this way, Putin assured leading representatives of Russian business on Thursday evening. No progress was made in the negotiations with the West; he himself was surprised that the interlocutors had not moved at all. However, the situation had become so threatening that sooner or later the existence of Russia was being called into question. To what extent this attempt at justification made sense to the business representatives affected by the collapse in prices on the stock exchanges, the collapse of the ruble and the sanctions that are now becoming more and more specific, they did not indicate.
For many of them, a world is collapsing, and not only economically. But under these circumstances, even those who in their hearts look with disgust and shame at what is happening dare not stand up to a President who threatens the world with nuclear weapons. The chairman of the business association RSPP, Alexander Shokhin, tried to present the resilience of the economy positively. But he also asked Putin not to make the situation even worse with counter-sanctions. Russia must remain an economy open to the world. The Kremlin boss promised to take that into account. But in his reply he also packed a threat to the West not to take the measures too far.
The USA, Great Britain and the European Union seem to be refraining from excluding Russia from the Swift international payment system and from refusing Russian raw material deliveries for the time being. But the restrictions in the banking sector are already leading to great uncertainty among Russian customers and will make business more difficult; Hard times will also dawn for the raw material extraction industry, which is heavily dependent on Western technology, and for aviation. Russian experts are certain that the impact of the sanctions will be less cushioned than in 2014 – also because the past eight years have been anything but rosy economically.
Anti-war protests in Russian cities
Several thousand demonstrators gathered in numerous Russian cities on Thursday evening for unauthorized rallies against the war. Anyone who takes part is taking a big risk – demonstrations have become practically impossible since the beginning of the pandemic, the police are immediately cracking down on participants. More than 1,700 people are said to have been arrested across Russia, some of them in response to or en route to calls for protests.
One Online petition against the war over 300,000 people signed in just a few hours. In open letters, scientists, experts and journalists demanded an immediate end to the Russian attack on the neighboring country. However, anyone who exposes themselves in this way risks being branded a traitor by “patriotic” forces. Many are inclined to support the state power, even if they have doubts about the sense of a war against the “brother people” in Ukraine. However, there is no sign of the euphoria about what was happening during the annexation of Crimea.
These protests are not dangerous for the leadership in this context. Dealing with them and with resistance to the war and its consequences in general will also provide indications of how the Kremlin will use the measures taken by the West to isolate Russia to further harden the domestic political climate. The thought that this suits the regime in order to suppress the last resistant nests in civil society is certainly not far off.
The fact that there are now reports from the Committee of Soldiers’ Mothers and directly from concerned parents about the transfer of recruits – and not just professional soldiers – to the borders with Ukraine is certainly few known, but has potentially serious societal consequences. If these reports are correct, however, it also shows that the Russian leadership and armed forces may be preparing for a longer and less easily fought war than they had imagined.