When President Putin of Russia embarked on, perhaps, the annexation or extinguishing of the government of Ukraine, he targeted the capital city, Kyiv.
Like the Russians planned, a multi-pronged attack on Ukraine, took on Kyiv as being the climax – then he will wind down the invasion. Or so Putin thought. It was not to be.
Falling short of plucking his target, Kyiv, Putin must have felt unfulfilled. For him, the retreat of his army became inevitable. But the men in military fatigues thought otherwise.
The realization that the movement was a minus to them for the size of their army and the sophistication of their arsenal threw up something unpleasant.
The idea of butchering defenseless Ukrainian citizens at Bucha was born. That suburb of Kyiv had its ecores of its residents – old and young – paying for the wounded ego of retreating Russian soldiers with their lives. War crime was born.
Several visiting top diplomats and heads of government, who came to pay a courtesy call on President Zelensky were taken to see the mass grave where they were dumped.
This was recorded late in March, a few weeks after the military bullying against Ukraine set in motion.
It would have been another kettle of fish if the victims were only soldiers – that is what war brings; combatants engage themselves and casualties follow as a result.
Bucha, a city near Kyiv, recorded several hundreds of civilians including children shot at, killed and others wounded.
Overall, of about 7,000 civilian casualties, 3400 were killed and 2600 injured. This is according to UN’s Matilda Bognor in a statement.
Ms Bognor is the head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine. Of all these figures, the United Nations agree that there’s a very significant number expected from places like Mariupol.
It is being estimated that thousands more will be added to the death toll so far.
Of great concern, too, will be the additional numbers from several other fronts of fierce military engagements.
It is known that an estimated more than 2,000 Ukrainian military defenders were tied down at the sprawling steel mill town of Azovstal.
The Russians are not letting any part go without being pounded to force a complete annihilation.
It goes without saying that Putin’s men will go for an overkill if only to score a point of total face-saving victory.
This is against the backdrop of its experience in Kyiv.
It will be recalled that several civilian residential areas in various cities were mauled by the Russians. There were human casualties which have not been accurately accounted for.
At Izium, in the Kharkiv region, a five-story building collapsed as a result of Russian bombardment and dozens of civilian deaths unaccounted.
The story is the same around Ukraine where the Russians engage in battle without recourse to Conventions of War.
The battle of Odessa
In an all out siege to take over the important port city of Odessa, the Russians are said to deploy heavy military weapons.
It is reported that their Black Sea naval base is dotted with several naval carriers.
Alongside the use of other weapons, hypersonic missiles known as Kinzhal (Dagger) have been implicated.
This is on one side of the divide.
On the other hand Ukraine military have received considerable weapons from the US and the west including NATO countries. These include long-range M777 field howitzers and hundreds of thousands of ammo.
Whatever the game plan, it remains clear that there will be untold human (military and civilian) casualties to bear the brunt of these intense military engagements.
But life is too sacred to be wasted on the altar of human ego and the testing ground of bizarre military contraptions built by military ‘who is who’ around the world.