Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine with two main military and strategic goals in mind. One. The country is barred from joining NATO and two. Establish a loyal government acceptable to Moscow. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was considered a possible head of government.
Though it was thought that Russia would win this war easily, in reality the opposite happened. The military operation was so disastrous that Moscow was forced to change its initial tactics and launch reckless attacks on civilian installations and towns. The aim is to force Ukraine to surrender by following the terracotta policy. As a result of this tactic, war crimes charges are now being leveled against President Putin in the West. There is talk of removing him and establishing a different government.
*Putin's three mistakes
President Putin has so far failed to achieve any of his political or military goals, but he himself is under tremendous pressure. There are three big mistakes behind this failure.
At first, Putin did not think that the Ukrainians would show such deadly resistance against the Russian invasion. It was said that most of the people in Ukraine were pro-Russian, so the Russian soldiers would immediately greet them with flowers. Ukrainians greet Russian soldiers with Molotov cocktails, not flowers.
Second, Putin thought that Europe, which was dependent on Russia's oil and gas, would not bow to Washington's pressure and impose a comprehensive economic embargo on him. He relied especially on Germany, with the exception of Russia's oil and gas, where many people do not catch fire.Nevertheless, Germany not only fully supported the economic blockade against Russia, but also suspended the implementation of the Nord Stream-2 pipeline, built specifically for direct gas exports to that country. Russia has also increased its military budget to counter military aggression and agreed to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Third, Putin thought that it would not be difficult for him to deal with the economic blockade of the West, because he had taken adequate precautionary measures, fearing danger. After the occupation of Crimea, Washington imposed sanctions, albeit on a limited scale. Learning from that experience, he built up a huge reserve of six hundred and fifty billion dollars. It is now clear that the bulk of that money is in the West Bank, and there is no way to get involved because of the sanctions.The ruble has plummeted due to the imposition of restrictions on financial transactions, and the stock market has collapsed. Big Western companies are withdrawing their investments in Russia in protest of the attack. In addition, the country has become isolated due to the ban on air travel. Putin has rightly said that the economic sanctions imposed by the West are in fact a declaration of war against his country. The only thing he did not say was that the West's declaration of war came as a complete counter-attack on Ukraine without provocation.
*The rationale for Russia's allegations
Putin's main demand was that he never allow Ukraine to become a member of NATO, as this would endanger Russia's own security. Some Western European leaders have begun to acknowledge that his claims are not unreasonable. At a security conference in Munich last month, French President Emmanuel Macho agreed.
One of the prerequisites for NATO membership is the unanimous opinion of all allied countries on this issue. Several countries, including Germany and Hungary, have already stated their opposition to Ukraine's NATO membership. In this situation, no matter how many requests were made from Kiev, the reality was that there was no immediate possibility for him to gain membership in this alliance. Instead of exploiting Europe's potential split with the United States over the question of NATO membership, Putin invaded Ukraine.
In retaliation, Putin claimed that Ukrainians were involved in genocide against Russian-speaking people in the Donbass region. True or false, he claims that if he had simply given up on Donbass, there might not have been such a strong backlash against Russia. The attack inside Ukraine proved that Russia is in fact a major security threat to its neighbors, which is why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky applied for NATO and EU membership.Russia's two neighbors, Finland and Sweden, say they too want NATO membership. Even neutral Switzerland has backed economic sanctions against Russia in protest of the attack.
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