Mackinaw Mail

Despite Russian claims of not targeting civilian targets, a 26-story building on 6A Lobanovskoho Street in Kyiv, with no suggested military value, was hit by a Russian missile strike.

New Cold War Is Running Hot

After spending more than a month amassing Russian soldiers near the Ukrainian border, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced, on February 24th, that “special military operations” had begun in eastern Ukraine under the pretext that his forces will “denazify” regions that fall under Russian control. Missile and artillery attacks began on Ukrainian air bases and the capitol Kyiv, along with Ukraine’s second largest city of Kharkiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to the international community for further sanctions on Russia, as well as shipments of arms to keep the Ukrainian military fighting. Many countries responded, with Germany - who just days before had halted the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas line project with Russia - said they would send 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. This move was significant for Germany as it meant a reversal of their policy to not send weapons into war zones. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson committed similar military aid, including helmets and body armor.

After failing to take key objectives for more than a week, Russian military forces appear to have switched their strategy and assaulted Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. As the battle continued, a fire erupted somewhere in the plant, but was under control the next morning. Not long after dawn, Ukrainian authorities announced that Russia had taken control of the power plant. Russia also claims to have control of the port city of Kherson, a city of over a quarter million inhabitants. In a nod to how future wars will play out, the battle for Zaporizhzhia was live-streamed and has 5.2 million views as of the time of this writing.

In his first State of the Union address, President Joe Biden promised to “inflict pain” on Putin going on to say “We are choking off Russia’s access to technology that will sap its economic strength and weaken its military for years to come.” Leaders of other NATO nations have made similar proclamations, while also taking steps to remove certain Russian banks from the SWIFT system - an international network that financial institutions use to securely transmit information and instructions through a standardized system of codes. 

As fighting continues, International Amnesty estimates that over 1 million Ukrainian civilians have been made refugees due to the conflict. The BBC reports that over 400,000 of those refugees have made their way into Poland, with Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania also being preferred countries to seek refuge.