Russia’s military campaign against Ukraine has been widely condemned as a war of aggression. In Moscow’s narrative, Ukraine has no real or legitimate existence as a separate country – and they portray the military operations as a means to reunify Russia.
But the staunch and effective resistance by Ukraine against the invaders has produced a strange paradox in which the Ukrainian population, which has now largely unified in opposition and resistance against Russia, is not willing to accept absorption into Russia. This situation has created major obstacles for Russia to achieve its objectives because it means that the population essentially has to be subdued and that Russia will need to occupy and forcefully control the territory.
This is exacerbated by the sheer incompetence of the Russian armed forces and the severe difficulties they have encountered in their military campaign that has resulted in massive attacks on civilians.
