The human cost of war – Voice From Ukraine

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting darker. People here are now accepting blackouts as part of everyday life. When they come home there is no hot water, no electric, no lights, no surprise.

It is 6.06pm at the time of writing, there is barely any light left in the sky, and we are in the midst of a blackout. My apartment is lit with candles. Hopefully it is just energy rationing and the electric will go on in a few hours. But you cannot really be sure.

The infrastructure is significantly damaged, there is no doubt about that, even if the Iranian drones did not fully deliver their desired effect of throwing the whole country into darkness.

I’ll start by explaining a bit about Iran’s growing involvement in the war, then I’ll tell you how the city of Kyiv currently perceives how the war is unfolding in the rest of the country.

Iran and Israel

DESPITE the increasingly regular power cuts, the Ukrainian air defences seem to have worked quite well against the Iranian drones, especially around Kyiv, where somewhere between 80 and 90 per-cent of the explosives intended for the capital were shot down.

It now seems clear to the Ukrainians that it is not just the Russian Ministry of Defence firing these Iranian ‘kamikaze’ drones. Iranian operators now seem to be on the ground too.

Providing equipment is one thing, providing ‘boots on the ground’ help is another.

Meanwhile, as Iran intensifies its support for Russia and strengthens military relations, there is a clear reluctance from Israel to come out and provide any substantive backing for Ukraine. However, if we believe that people are created equal and wish to preserve innocent lives, just as Israel afford themselves an ‘iron dome’ (an extraordinarily sophisticated and effective missile defence), Ukraine should also be offered the same protection.

Genocidal

THERE is no doubt in my mind that we are witnessing a Russian campaign with genocidal intentions. The civilian killings, the attempted eradication of the Ukrainian culture, the deportation of thousands of people, and the forced evacuations that show no sign of stopping unless they are stopped by force.

What we are seeing here is an attempted genocide against the Ukrainian people.

War in the east

ACROSS the country, the fighting has been incessant, bitter and attritional. We have seen more attempts in the east to attack Bakhmut, particularly in Soledar. That’s were I was in early August as the battle began. Those attacks have been repelled, but there is still heavy fighting going on.

War in the south

IN the south, in Kherson there has been a forced evacuation (due to Putin’s Martial Law) of the population and there is also talk that a hydroelectric plant could be detonated by the Russians to flood some planes in an effort to create a barrier.

Those planes, sadly, are not barren. They are home to many people and a lot of infrastructure. This could spell doomsday for Kherson. I doubt the area could be repopulated after such an extensive battle has rolled through, devastating it, compounded by the potential flooding that is to come.

That would be another tragedy. We have seen how Mariupol was all but sunk, now lying in a near post-apocalyptic state. Nowhere else should suffer this same fate.

On a more positive note, the Ukranians have made massive gains on the southern front and the Russians seem to be adopting a defensive strategy. Also in the East, Putin’s private army, ‘Wagner’, are building a long defence line behind the front.

Kherson could well be the centre of a large battle, and it could temper or embolden Russia’s ambitions in the south. If they are pushed back cross the Dnieper River, it will be a very hard fight for them to get back to the other side.

Funerals – lots of funerals

FUNERALS have been a prevalent feature this week. Obvious, awful and far too real. Many young soldiers returned home to their families this week – almost all for burial.

Some young Russian men who were conscripted over the the course of last week are confirmed killed. Far earlier than they or their familes expected them.

The human cost.

By Jonathan Baynard