On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. This unprovoked invasion mobilized sentiment among NATO and its partners alongside Kyiv.
The conflict was presented as the clash between autocracies against democracies. Russia and President Vladimir Putin were the autocrats, while Ukraine and its allies symbolized the democracies.
The idea, according to the Ukrainian camp and its supporters, was to avoid signaling to autocrats that they could invade a free and independent country with impunity.
For Putin the war had to be fast. What he called the "special military operation" in Ukraine was intended to bring about regime change in Kyiv, and then what he called the "denazification" and demilitarization of the country. The war objective would evolve toward "liberation” of the entire Donbass and finally the annexation of the occupied regions.
Putin's Huge Miscalculations in Ukraine
But this offensive, scheduled to last a few days, faced strong resistance from the Ukrainian army. The Russian army progressed rapidly in the first weeks, but a year later it occupies only a sixth (16.7%) of Ukrainian territory (of which 6.45% had already been occupied since 2014, the year Russia occupied Crimea, according to official data.
The exact number of victims on both sides of the conflict is extremely difficult to assess. No more official figures are circulating. But surely the conflict has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
The belligerents give no figures, undoubtedly to support the morale of their populations and to ensure that the enemy gets no advantage from the numbers.
In a statement issued on Feb. 17 the UK’s ministry of defense said that "Russian Ministry of Defence and private military contractor forces have likely suffered 175-200,000 casualties since the start of the invasion of Ukraine."
It added that: "This likely includes approximately 40-60,000 killed."
The ministry concluded that: "By modern standards, these figures represent a high ratio of personnel killed compared to those wounded. This is almost certainly due to extremely rudimentary medical provision across much of the force. Artillery has almost certainly inflicted the majority of Russia's casualties."
These figures and the fact that the war is continuing show that Putin had either overestimated Russian power or underestimated both Ukrainian resistance and the military and strategic support that NATO would provide to Ukraine.
'There Are No Pure Angels in War': Musk
NATO has just sent a propaganda message on Twitter, clearly aimed to demonize Russia and boost the morale of Ukrainians and their supporters.
In this message, rolled out in a thread comprising 10 tweets, the organization uses personal stories of Ukrainians and popular cultural references, particularly cinematographic ones.
NATO uses images of Harry Potter, Avatar and Star Wars to boost sympathy for the Ukrainians.
"Ukraine is hosting one of the great epics of this century," the organization posted on Feb.23. "❝We are Harry Potter and William Wallace, the Na’vi and Han Solo. We’re escaping from Shawshank and blowing up the Death Star. We are fighting with the Harkonnens and challenging Thanos.❞ "
The message did not particularly please Elon Musk, one of Ukraine's major supporters, who has been calling for a peaceful solution for several months.
"While there is relative good & bad, there are no pure angels in war," the billionaire reacted. "Beware those who say they are."
The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) seems to be saying that while Russia is clearly the aggressor in the current conflict, one can't rule out that within the ranks of Ukraine and allies, some leaders and fighters are no less warmongers than the Russians are. Crimes have been committed on the Ukraine side as well as among the Russian, the serial entrepreneur suggests. Portraying Ukrainian forces as angels is, Musk seems to say, an illusion.
Musk rejects NATO's portrayal of this war as bad Russians versus nice Ukrainians. In a war, he indicates, such a description is inappropriate. This is right in line with the billionaire's previous remarks.
"There are no angels in war," the tech mogul said in December during a debate on Twitter about the casualties on both sides.
The billionaire, who provides Ukraine with Starlink, a secure satellite internet access service, was not the only one pushing back against NATO's propaganda message.
"This tweet is reason enough to abolish NATO," commented a Twitter user.
"Utterly disgusting tweet," slammed another user.
"William Wallace was a real person. Please don't trivialize the suffering and death in Ukraine in this way. Even if a Defender did put it like that, this does zero service to the cause of @DefenceU. This isn't a movie. This is war," blasted one Twitter user.
