I’m pretty sure that a majority of Americans are probably unaware that there is still “something” going on in Ukraine.  Although I keep a close eye on things by reading assorted online sources, it is very, very rare when I hear anything about Ukraine on the radio or television.  So it was something of a surprise to hear two recent stories out of Ukraine on NPR.  Both stories represent major events in that war — just from the past week — and it’s unfortunate that only the particularly “big” things make it into the US news consciousness.

The first item was the bus of civilians that got hit by one of the indiscriminately fired rockets that have been used (by both sides) throughout this war.  In some ways, the shelling of this bus — which killed 12 people and left as many injured — is remarkably similar to the downing of the Malaysian airplane last year.  Namely, that the rebels took credit for the attack before they realized how badly they had screwed up.  Last year, they were crowing about taking down a military jet, then quickly deleted their posts when it was determined to have been the passenger jet. This time, they were congratulating themselves on their attack on a “military transport” before it was shown to have been an intercity bus.  Then, of course, the fake alternatives and finger pointing took off:  maybe it was the Ukrainian military (nope, the rocket came from the wrong direction), or maybe it was a mine (again no, the OSCE, plus video of the attack, indicate it was a rocket), or whatever else they can think of to shift blame.  Of course, Russia is going with the “shift blame” approach.

Russia crops up again in the other big story, the major offensive at the Donetsk Airport.  The airport has been the scene of fighting for months — all throughout the supposed cease fire — and in this past week, the Russian started a major offensive, collapsing what was left of the control tower, stepping up the fighting at the main terminal, and even preventing Ukrainian wounded from being removed from the battlefield.  Although Poroshenko and his military lead have ordered reinforcements, it could be “too little, too late.”  The Russians and the rebels are already saying that they control the rubble pile that used to be an international airport, which means they would have killed dozens of Ukrainian soldiers.

Isn’t it very curious how new onslaughts by the “rebels” always seem to happen right after a “humanitarian” convey illegally goes into Ukraine?  The correlation is pretty inescapable.  This, despite Russia’s increasingly laughable denials of any sort of military involvement or support in Ukraine.  Seriously, if the “rebels” were using ONLY arms and munitions that they captured from the few military posts in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions — as has been claimed in the past (and maybe is still being said), they would have run out of ammunition months ago.  But according to Russia, those convoys only have water and potatoes…

There are estimates that the collapse of the Soviet, oops, I mean Russian economy will be manifest in the spring.  I don’t know if Ukraine can wait that long.  Plus, as has been demonstrated countless times throughout history, a country will sacrifice the welfare of its people in order to keep its military in top form.  Given that Russia is keeping its people in the dark about its involvement in Ukraine (polls show that a majority of Russians do not want their troops fighting in Ukraine), I have reason to believe that they would halt their ongoing invasions.

I only hope that everything goes well for my wife this week, so that she gets her visa and I am able to get her away from there, before Russian moves their amassed armaments along the border into southeast Ukraine in another drive for Mariupol.