Putin publicly declared war on Ukraine, and soon after the news of the destruction of the Ukrainian air base, the total destruction of the navy, the bombing of the National Guard command, and the report that the Russian army directly took Kiev. However, from the current point of view, although it is certain that a considerable part of the Russian army has entered the outskirts of Kiev, the Ukrainian army is still holding on in Kiev, and the battle is extremely fierce.
According to the speed of the Russian advance, the news of the fall of Kiev should soon come out. However, it is clear that the Ukrainian side will not be tied down. After Ukrainian President Zelenskiy announced the creation of the Supreme High Command, he had demanded that Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 not be allowed to leave the country, and that Kiev citizens who were willing to resist the Russian army could be assigned weapons.
According to foreign media sources, 18,000 sets of guns have been distributed in Kiev. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry says Ukrainians, who are now under the age of 18, can also participate in the fighting. The combination of information illustrates the fact that Kiev is in a precarious and urgent situation, but the defenders of Kiev are still fighting Russian troops.
The outside world is very messy, roughly divided into two parts:
1, some students in Ukraine on the Internet to tell the situation in Kiev, from time to time the sound of explosions is the norm, and the Kiev people have been notified that they are now fighting, please stay away from the glass windows of the house to avoid injury, while asking the people to go to the nearest shelter or subway to seek self-protection.
That is to say, in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, the Ukrainian army and the Russian army have exchanged fire.
According to the russian Defense Ministry, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers have now voluntarily surrendered, blowing up 13 headquarters of the Ukrainian army, destroying 36 radar stations, destroying 5 Ukrainian fighters and destroying 41 tanks. But the words did not reveal how many Ukrainian soldiers were killed or injured.
To be honest, Russia's war report is basically true, as to why we do not disclose the casualties of the Ukrainian army, we will talk about it in detail later.
Thus, in a state of long-term inability to conquer Kiev, the Chechen army embarked on the road to Ukraine.
2, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said in a briefing on the 26th that a group of Russian special forces put on the uniforms of Ukrainian soldiers, and then tried to enter Kiev for sabotage and reconnaissance through armored vehicles snatched from the Ukrainian army, and the result was wiped out by the Ukrainian army.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry claimed to have killed thousands of Russian troops, destroyed more than 130 Russian armor, and shot down a total of 7 Russian fighters and 6 helicopters.
There is a big gap between the war reports issued by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense of Russia, which is like Russia's march to Ukraine, which is completely the momentum of Ukraine to break into Moscow. In fact, public opinion propaganda on the battlefield is also a means that can affect the morale of the enemy. Although Russia's military strength is strong, even the United States believes that Kiev cannot hold out for two days, and as a result, the Russian army is now in big trouble.
It can be said that this battle is more intense than imagined, at least not as quickly as Putin expected. The mayor of Kiev stepped forward to take up arms and go to war, while Zelenskiy rejected the offer to flee, and the Ukrainian army is still holding out. If the battle continues, subsequent casualties will be difficult to estimate, along with more and more civilian casualties that no peace-loving person wants to see.
At this stage of the war, Ukraine did not see substantial assistance from the United States and other Western countries, and it also knew that it was abandoned, so talking with Russia was the best choice. The Russian side failed to crush Ukraine in a blitzkrieg, and the longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it will be to Russia. In this case, the Russian side released a message on the 25th, saying that it was willing to send representatives to negotiate with the Ukrainian side in Minsk, but the Ukrainian side expressed its hope in Warsaw. Although the two sides have not been able to agree on the specific details of the peace talks, the two sides have at least shown that there is a possibility of peace talks, and the next battle will be when they each fight for chips at the negotiating table.
Falcon Watch has some observations:
1. Kiev has not been able to conquer for a long time, and Putin is facing a lot of pressure.
The first is the sanctions from the West, although Russia has been sanctioned by the West for so many years, but this time is different. The Western countries led by the United States have listed all aspects of sanctions against Russia, not only involving finance but also high-tech industries, such as chips and other fields. At the same time, it is also necessary to freeze all Russian assets abroad (including the assets of Russian citizens abroad), and under this sanctions plan, the Russian economy will regress needless to say, depending on how many years it will be reversed.
Second, Putin also has pressure from home, and now there are anti-war demonstrations in Russia, which will become a destabilizing factor in the situation in Russia, and at the same time prevent the United States from creating chaos.
The longer the Ukrainian army in Kiev persists, the greater the confidence in the Russian army, and it also creates conditions for western reinforcements to Ukraine. From the current point of view, the weapons and equipment aided by Poland have come in handy, France has announced $300 million in aid, the United States has promised $600 million, and the possibility of Ukraine receiving aid under the leadership of these countries has greatly increased. If the war between Ukraine and Russia is protracted, Russia will outweigh its losses.
2. Let's talk about why Russia is so powerful but has not been able to take Kiev for a long time.
When Putin declared war on Ukraine, he made it very clear that the purpose was not to occupy Ukraine, but only to de-militarize Ukraine. Therefore, this time, the Russian military used limited military power, and the weapons used were precision-guided munitions to blow up Ukraine's military facilities.
When attacking a large city such as Kiev, it was impossible to bombard civilian areas with artillery shells and destroy the city, and it was inevitable to fight with the Ukrainian defenders in this situation. This explains why it has long been rumored that Russian troops have reached the outskirts of Kiev, but have not been able to capture it so far. Then it makes sense to let Chechnya move, the Chechen army has maintained combat effectiveness for many years, completed the difficult tasks assigned by Putin several times, and made great achievements in Crimea. So the arrival of the Chechen army indicates that the Russian army is ready for a street battle with the Ukrainian army.
Then there is another important reason, the attack on Ukraine only uses a small amount of Russian military force, and a considerable part of the military force must also be vigilant against the chaos of the US-led NATO.
3. Why does the Russian Ministry of Defense only talk about how many Ukrainian soldiers surrendered, but not how many Ukrainian soldiers died?
This involves psychological warfare, in which Russia claims to be fighting back in self-defense, an attack to preserve national security. But the Russian army entering Ukrainian territory to fight, no matter what, will make the Ukrainian people feel bullied and "invaded". If at this time Russia still has a lot of publicity about how many Ukrainian defenders have died, the Ukrainian people will only regard the sacrificed Ukrainian soldiers as heroes, and even more stimulate the fighting spirit of Ukrainian soldiers for revenge, and at the same time will intensify the hatred of the Ukrainian people against the Russian army, which is very unfavorable to the Russian army. On the contrary, the propaganda that many Ukrainian soldiers surrendered and obtained security in their lives had a great psychological impact on Ukrainian soldiers.