Circumventing Established World Conventions

"Russian army is firing from all sides upon Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe."

"Fire has already broke [sic] out ... Russians must IMMEDIATELY cease the fire, allow firefighters, establish a security zone!"

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister

 

"The expectation of the president [Emmanuel Macron] is that the worst is to come, given what President Putin told him."

"There was nothing in what President Putin told us that should reassure us. He showed great determination to continue the operation."

Senior French presidential aide 

Two women hold posters during a demonstration outside the embassy of France in Lisbon, in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, Friday, March 4, 2022. Demonstrations were organized outside a number of embassies Friday. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

 

"We've continued and consistently shared a significant amount of detailed, timely intelligence on Russia's plans and activities with the Ukrainian government to help Ukrainians defend themselves."

"This includes information that should help them inform and develop their military response to Russia's invasion. that's what's happening, or has been happening."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki

The fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station appeared to have been in a training building outside the perimeter of the plant following an attack by Russian troops, according to the Ukraine state emergency service. Radiation security had been assured at the site, according to the plant's director. Background levels of radiation had not undergone any change. One of the station blocks had been switched to off. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency stated it was "aware of reports of shelling" at the power plant. The situation led them to remain in contact with Ukrainian authorities. There are six Soviet-era-designed 950-megawatt reactors dating 1984 to 1995, with a 5.7 gigawatt capacity, sufficient to power over four million  homes. The plant's output is responsible for roughly 20 percent of the electricity generated in Ukraine.

 

A view shows a damaged administrative building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Enerhodar, the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine in this handout picture released March 4, 2022 (National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom/Reuters)

 

Fierce fighting between Russian invaders and Ukraine defenders had been going on in the area, about 550 km southeast of Kyiv, resulting in casualties. The defunct Chernobyl plant had already been taken by Russia. Russian troops have obviously been given orders by the Kremlin to take possession of the two plants in a strategy to deprive Ukrainians of any semblance of normal life. 

President Vladimir Putin's strategy of marching his troops into Ukraine with the intention of swiftly removing its current government to replace it with one taking orders from Moscow hasn't worked out quite as he imagined it would, at this juncture. He evidently had given no thought to the indomitable resolve of Ukrainians at every level of society to protect their country and themselves from his malign intentions.

 

Surveillance camera footage shows the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after shelling in Enerhodar, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine on Friday. (Zaporizhzhya NPP via Reuters)

 

The world at large is shocked and angry at the perfidy, speed and violence at which the invasion has unrolled. For the most part, the outside world is sympathetic to Ukraine's plight and views the Russian invasion for what it is a criminal act of war that threatens dire destabilization in all of Europe. Further afield, the echoes of this war will impact globally, from basic agricultural crop availability to energy shortages needed to run everything from municipal services to factories, farms and service industries.

Ukraine's plight, unlike in an era before the rise of the internet and social media, is on full view with uploaded media; photographs, videos and personal narratives detailing impressions of the invasion and the encirclement, bombardment and sieges of cities across the vast country. Infuriated by the numbers and depth of the sanctions being imposed against Russia, and the resolution carried in the UN by the majority of the General Assembly, he wanted to ensure that Mr.Macron understood there was no intention on Putin's part to stand down on his Ukraine position.

President Macron's response was quoted as informing President Putin that he was committing a "major mistake" in Ukraine; that "You are lying to yourself. It will cost your country dearly, your country will end up isolated, weakened and under sanctions for a very long time." According to Ukrainian officials, the price for the invasion among Russian troops is already steep, with 9,000 Russian soldiers dead so far.

European leaders are set to meet in Versailles on March 10 for a discussion on the potential of pooling military resources in line with plans for the assembly of an integrated European Union military. This, following the Russian president's address to his internal security council in the wake of increased criticism by influential Russian groups, upset over sanctions and their increasing isolation from global activities. 

The morale of Russian servicemen called to action in Ukraine under false pretenses of 'practise drills' before they were ordered to invade, leaving many confused and unwilling to carry out orders, as well as videos surfacing of Russian soldiers taken as prisoners of war by the Ukraine military, showing the Russians tearfully calling on Russians to rise up against their president impelled Putin to promise 'compensation' packages for injured personnel and the families of those killed in action.

None of which will mollify the tens of thousands of citizens within Russia who protest at risk of arrest and charges leading to prison terms of up to 15 years. What's more, legislation is being brought forward to enable the government to conscript Russian war protesters into the military and send them to active duty on the front lines in Ukraine. "I will never give up on my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people", he reiterates, willing to have both ethnicities comprising the 'one people' die for his conviction.

Ukrainians are still fleeing the country by the thousands, seeking safety as Russian forces continue their assault on key cities, including Kharkiv in the north and communities around the capital Kyiv. Here, a woman reacts as she stands in front of a burning house after it was shelled in Irpin, outside Kyiv, on Friday. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

 

Not only is he considering the imposition of announcing martial law at an extraordinary session of the Russian parliament, there are concerns he is planning a "false flag" rocket attack in justification of the clampdown on public dissent. A convoy of Russian ships moved to the Black Sea coast, close enough to be viewed from shore in a signal that an amphibious invasion of Odessa may be in the offing.

The lengthss to which Putin will go to force his will on Ukraine have no limit; reports are circulating of his planning to carry out public executions to break Ukraine's morale even as the wholesale killing of civilians continue in besieged cities, where apartment blocks, schools, government buildings and hospitals are all seen as 'legitimate' war-time targets, defying the Genera Convention and protocols.

The mayor of Kherson, the fist city in Ukraine to fall to Russian troops -- organized mass graves to be prepared to enable the collection and burial of bodies from the streets of those blown to bits by Russian bombardment. And nor have Russians been spared mass casualties mounting, along with the death of Russian Major General Andrey Sukhovetskiy, deputy commander of the 41st Army, based on Novosibirsk. 

 

Displaced people rest at a makeshift shelter in Mlyny, near the Korczowa border crossing, in Poland, Thursday, March 3, 2022. More than 1 million people have fled Ukraine following Russia's invasion — the swiftest refugee exodus in this century, according to the United Nations. (Markus Schreiber/AP)

 

"If you look at Grozny during the Second Chechen War, and if you look at Aleppo during the Syrian war, Russia is experienced in this."

"It is, on the one hand, unimaginable that Russia would do this to Kyiv because Kyiv is part of Russian mythology, this is where Russians situate their own origins. But if you see what's happening in Kharkiv right now, it is looking more and more like the Russian military is fighting a war of attrition against defenders that have dug in to draw a very painful concession from Ukrainians."

"For [those who lived through the 90s], the Russia they live in today is the making of Putin. Even though more correctly speaking, it is the making of a serendipitous increase in the prices of crude oil and gas that allowed Putin to fund a state which is still extremely volatile."

"It is starting to get difficult to justify not implementing a no-fly zone, and the no-fly zone could—and this is the fear and it's probably not misplaced—lead to an armed conflict between Russia and NATO allies with European countries."

"And that is scary to imagine because right now Russia is only using a fraction of its air force over Ukrainian airspace… But if there's an all-out war between the air forces allied with NATO and the Russian Air Force, that is as big as it gets. And that is inconceivable. But at this point, nobody would rule it out."

Florian Gassner, senior instructor, German and Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies, University of British Columbia