The counterattack of Ukraine

9th grade 1st class 윤서현

The Russian-Ukrainian war has been going on for months. When the war broke out, many
experts had predicted that Ukraine would be defeated by Russia’s powerful armaments.
Expectations were low, and some in fact assumed Russia would become one of the world’s
biggest threats after conquering Ukraine. Unlike what the world has expected, Ukraine
seems to be overpowering Russia for now.
Ukraine restored most of the eastern region of its original territory recently. The Ukrainian
army’s operation in Khariv has changed the flow of the war. President Zelensky stated
Ukraine had retaken 1,000 square kilometers in a week, freeing over 30 villages from the
Russian army. During the beginning of the war, Russia had stated they would conquer
Ukraine’s capital city, Kyiv, in a week. Despite their expectations, Ukraine had fought very
well. The operation Ukraine succeeded was basically attacking the Russian troops on the
north as soon as they attacked those on the south. When they attacked the south army,
Russia sent more troops to the south, and therefore the alertness on the north decreased.
Doing so, the Ukrainian troops were able to restore lots of land in the north area. Even the
authority appointed by Russia commented that Ukrainian forces had won a “significant
victory”. The Ukrainian army’s target had been to cut off supply lines heading to the
strategically significant city, Izium, and they recently succeeded in entering the city of Izium.
Now their goal is to retake most of the southern Kherson areas by the end of the year.
However, there still remains a significant threat to Ukraine. Vladimir Putin, the president of
Russia has recently announced a military draft of 300,000 men, which seems to be
unfavored by its people. In fact, many Russian men suitable for the draft age are fleeing
abroad. Although Russia has declared that one who attempts to escape from the draft will
face 10 years in prison, all the international flights are sold out, and its price seems to keep
ascending. While announcing the conscription, Russia implied the use of its nuclear
weapons. Russia recently performed an annexation poll of Ukrainian regions which it had
conquered. When the poll’s result is favorable towards the annexation, Russia can claim the
territory as theirs. If so, Russia can assert that Ukraine is in fact attacking ‘their’ territory,
which gives Russia its permission to use nuclear weapons according to its law. Although
some experts consider the actual use of nuclear weapons unlikely to take place, since the
eastern territories of Ukraine are far too close to Russia’s major cities such as Moscow, the
fact that the jeopardy of an actual nuclear war breaking out is perturbing the entire world
doesn’t change. Joe Biden, the president of the United States of America, warned Vladimir
Putin that if Russia commits a nuclear attack, it will have a price to pay.
Russia’s egotistical and arrogant actions of attacking Ukraine have been criticized all over
the world. Also, the world was able to find out that Russia’s military forces which they were
so proud of weren't, in fact, unbeatable. This meaningful win by Ukraine is definitely worthy
of international praise. However, it won’t help to overlook the more possible upcoming
menaces of Russia, since the president, Vladimir Putin can’t dare to lose this war either.

(Sources below)
1. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/09/europe/zelensky-north-east-ukraine-kharkiv-regio
n-intl/index.html

2. https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-09-16-22/index.ht
ml
3. https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/09/28/men-fleeing-russia-georgia-border-b
ell-pkg-intl-vpx.cnn
4. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-62866456
5.