Standing with Ukraine during unjust Russian invasion

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The fog of war, as stated by Carl Von Clausewitz is, “War is the realm of uncertainty; three-quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. A sensitive and discriminating judgement is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth.”

We’re sure everyone knows about the developing situation in Ukraine by now, and we’d like to clarify that not everything written here may be fact in a few weeks, days or even hours. The fog of war is a very real thing, and it is incredibly hard to weed out the facts from propaganda, hear-say, and first-hand reports.

Starting on Thursday, Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine from three fronts. An amphibious invasion to Mariupol at the south end of Ukraine, Kharkiv at the east and through the Chernobyl exclusion zone in the north. At the time of writing, most fronts have stalled while explosions are being heard in Kyiv. Early Monday saw Ukraine and Russia both send delegations to the border of Belarus for talks and returned home for consultations. These explosions have not ceased.

War is terrible, and we don’t think we’re stretching too far in saying that. Most people will agree. War. Is. Terrible. And Putin is currently acting like a schoolyard bully that has nothing to lose and everything to gain. We say Putin because if you haven’t heard already there are a mass amount of protests in Russia that are against the invasion. The people are rising up against Putin’s decisions and currently, our favourite quote is by a United Kingdom Member of Parliament that called Putin a, “rambling wreck of a neo-Nazi sitting in the Kremlin.”

The world is imposing serious sanctions on Russia, which further puts pressure on their economy and currently, the ruble is worth less than some online currencies that you can purchase in video games. Things aren’t good over there, but as it stands, Putin still carries on, even in some cases threatening to push his little red button if any other countries get involved militarily.

All-in-all, this invasion has been a serious disaster for Putin. Russia has been touted as a global superpower for decades, however now we believe the Ukrainians are showing Russia’s true colours.

Putin has an active military of around 900,000 personnel with the ordnance to match it, while Ukraine has around 200,000 with absolutely minuscule levels of combat vehicles compared to Russia’s, but Ukraine has and is continuing to hold the line. We don’t know if it’s propaganda or actual accounts, but we’ve seen vastly more videos showcasing entire Russian armoured columns destroyed and abandoned than we’ve seen Ukrainian and there are some accounts that say Russia really didn’t expect to experience the losses they have and that may be why the delegations met earlier today.

We don’t know if the situation will escalate to a full-scale World War, and we don’t know if within a couple of hours we will be experiencing peace and Russia will be pulling out of Ukraine. It’s just impossible to tell, and whether you support the war or don’t, I hope you think of the thousands of people that are being displaced from their homes. Ukraine isn’t just a small country led by warlords or an extremist group. It’s a bonafide sovereign democracy and they are currently under more stress and hardship than many of us may experience in our lifetimes. Possibly even our children’s lifetimes. We implore you all to send your thoughts to those who have been displaced, and those who have lost their lives in this meaningless conflict. Take solace in those you have around you, and if you have family in Ukraine, we hear you and we stand with you.

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