Look at this man’s face. Look at his eyes. This is a man who has lost all hope, and has no other option but to await his fate:
Kiev is officially in a state of emergency, and the Ukrainian President knows all hope is lost.
At this point, all he can do is hope Putin shows him mercy when Kiev is surrounded–unless, of course, he takes off before the Russians arrive.
Which would probably wise. Wouldn’t want to leave anything to chance.
I am seeing claims on Twitter that Politico is reporting the Russian invasion will begin at 4am “local time,” which I assume means either Moscow or Kiev time. Moscow is an hour ahead of Kiev, and as I write this it is currently 7pm US eastern time, 3am Moscow time and 2am Kiev time.
I don’t know if that means 4am Moscow time or 4am Kiev time–I would assume it means Moscow time.
However, I have not been able to find anything on Politico’s website about the supposed 4am claim.
I was able to find this tweet from a Bluecheck™ Guardian reporter:
It does not sound like Ukraine will put up much of a fight. It seems as if they are pretty much resigned to their fate.
I was able to find the following on Politico, however:
Russian military forces arrayed around Ukraine have reached a point where “they are literally ready to go now, if they get the order to go,” a senior Defense Department official warned Wednesday.
Around 80 percent of the forces the U.S. estimates Russia would need to launch a large invasion of Ukraine are in place, including ground, air and sea assets. “They have uncoiled,” said the official, who spoke with reporters anonymously in order to describe military assessments.
The view from Washington that Russia intends to launch a major invasion has remained the same for much of the past week, but the new comments underscore how immediate the Biden administration thinks the threat is.
And that’s the thing. We have to take the claims of “IMMINENT INVASION!” with a grain of salt because Washington has been making these claims for weeks now.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday he intends to implement a 30-day state of emergency in the country, if the legislative Rada approves. He also plans to call up military reservists in the wake of Russia recognizing two separatist regions in the east as independent.
The leadership in Kyiv has been more reluctant than its Western allies to say publicly they expect an attack from Russia, but Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the breakaway territories has appeared to spark a sense of urgency in the capital. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday that “the beginning of a large-scale war in Ukraine will be the end of the world order as we know it.”
The main thing that’s changed here is that Ukraine has done a complete 180 on the prospect of a Russian invasion. Last week they were denying it and even joking about the idea of it, now they have taken a grave tone and reality appears to be setting in for them.
I guess the world now plays the waiting game.
I hope this is a quick war with minimal casualties. Ukraine essentially stands no chance against Russia, and it would be foolish for them to fight back, honestly.