Installment 4 by Emily Keaveney
The United States intelligence circle has said the fighting in Ukraine has slowed down, but this does not mean the end is near for the war. Advances and retreats keep occurring for both sides; and it looks like the war will drag on for a while longer. Russia switched its tactics back in October to attack Ukrainian cities with missile strikes. The goal of the attacks on the cities is to wipe out Ukraine’s infrastructure, causing mass blackouts (Ukraine in Maps: Tracking the War With Russia, 2022). Many Ukrainians are struggling to get power as the winter months draw near.
In early November, Russia suffered defeat, having to withdraw from the Western Kherson region, which is located in the South of Ukraine. This defeat is a big setback for Russia, as the city of Kherson has been liberated by Ukrainian troops. Russia has been controlling the city of Kherson for a while, as they have been guarding and controlling the bridges in and out of the city (Ukraine in Maps: Tracking the War With Russia, 2022). Ukraine is still fighting in the city of Donetsk, and Russian troops are advancing towards Bakhmut.
As of now, Russia has control of Luhansk, Donetsk, Mariupol, and Crimea. President Vladimir Putin stated that “[Russia] will use all of the forces and resources it has to liberate all four regions” (Ukraine in Maps: Tracking the War With Russia, 2022). Putin later then threatened the use of various weapons of destruction, which he has threatened for a while now.
Putin is now making false claims that Ukraine is planning on using a “dirty bomb” as a false-flag operation to then blame Russia. Russia also recently threatened the use of nuclear weapons to discourage Ukrainian allies from supplying weapons and intelligence. It is anticipated that there will be another Russian defeat around the city of Kherson (Beaumont, 2022). Satellite imagery shows Russian troops have been digging trenches east of the Kherson region. Russian
officials have ordered the troops to pull out as far as the Dnieper River. Ukraine officials claim to be taking out hundreds of Russian troops per day (Beaubien, 2022).
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