The Ukrainian defiance in the face of overwhelming numbers in the Russian invasion of their country is impressive and inspiring. The Ukrainians have at least 3 reasons going for them which will help them win.
- They are truly motivated. The Russians are not. There is no stronger motivation than to fight for your country and family.
- The Ukrainians are equipped with highly effective armaments supplied by, for instance, the UK and USA. The Russian equipment is clunky – typical Russian-built stuff. They just don’t have the attitude and mentality to build sophisticated, precise and elegant machinery. It is the same attitude which pervades their tactics in this fight: clunky and cumbersome, as mentioned. It is a WW2 mentality. The Russians are rooted in the past.
- Ukraine has a true leader who will lead until it is all over. Zelensky is smart and resilient. Russia has Putin, a living relic of the Stalin era. A dictator who lies so much he can’t distinguish fact from fiction. He has reprogrammed his brain to lie with alacrity. He lied to his troops telling them they were on exercises. No wonder they are not motivated and morale is rock bottom. They run away whenever they can, back to Belarus.
The Ukrainian defiance is evident in the cat art graffiti on buildings and walls (and in tattoos). Why did they choose the cat? I guess because the cat is resilient – nine lives – and they make you smile. They inject levity into the doom and gloom of war and in doing so the artists cock a snook at the Russians. Cats have often been chosen as iconic images for sports teams named after cats such as jaguars and wild cats. And cats and dogs have helped the Ukrainian troops psychological. The Russians prefer to shell animals to smithereens as they are doing for the citizens of Ukraine.
For those unfamiliar with the phrase ‘cock a snook’ is means ‘up yours!’ in modern English.
