The Russian blitzkrieg on Ukraine has been met with extraordinary courage and determination by its people. While sanctions have been imposed and negotiations are ongoing, the attack continues. What President Putin seemed to have thought would be a "quick" operation is turning out to be a frustrating, protracted war on the ground for each city and suburb of Ukraine.
Bombarding the suburbs and cities with firepower, almost indiscriminately, has resulted in civilian casualties and the destruction of hospitals and other civilian buildings. The attack invokes memories of earlier Russian attacks during the Syrian and Chechen Wars, when the Russian military paid little attention to sparing ordinary citizens. The invading army had asked the citizens of Kyiv to leave the city. General David Petraeus, the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, stated on a radio show that this is a repeat of the "depopulating" tactic used by the Russians before they laid siege to the capital of Ukraine.
