The Editorial Analysis: Fall of Mariupol

Russia Ukraine war UPSC: Relevance

• GS 2: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

Russia Ukraine conflict: Context

• Recently, the surrender of an estimated 1,000 defensive forces who were holed up in Mariupol likely marks the end of fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city that has been under a long Russian siege.

Fall of Mariupol: Key points

• Earlier, Russia had announced a few weeks ago of having taken over the city. But hundreds of Ukrainian fighters remained in the steel mill of Mariupol.
• With many of them ending the fight and allowing themselves to be evacuated to the Russia-controlled territories of Donbas, the whole city is now in the hands of the Russians.

About Mariupol

• Mariupol, before the war began, had a population of half a million, most of them Russian-speaking.
• In 2014, the region was taken over by pro-Russian separatists in 2014, immediately after Russia annexed Crimea.
• However, Ukrainian nationalist forces, including the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, took the city back and drove the separatists further towards east.
• Ever since then, the city has become a flashpoint in Ukraine’s civil conflict — for Ukrainian nationalists, a symbol of resistance, but for Russia-backed Donbas militias, a part of their claimed territories.
• It took almost three months for Russia’s better-equipped military to take Mariupol that speaks a lot about Ukraine’s resistance.

संपादकीय विश्लेषण: मारियुपोल का पतन

Setback for Russia

• Russia started a three-front war but was met with fierce Ukrainian resistance in the north and east.
• Later, Russia gave up its attempts to envelope Kyiv in the northern front and, at least for now, retreated from Kharkiv, the northeastern city.
• Its battleground focus is now almost entirely on the Donbas region where Russian troops are making incremental advances.
• The invasion has already prompted Finland and Sweden, which have historically stayed out of military alliances, to formally seek NATO membership.

Setback for Ukraine

• The tragedy of Ukraine is that it has got stuck in a larger power rivalry between the West and Russia.
• Despite the West’s massive financial and military support, Ukraine keeps losing territories.

Russia Ukraine war: Conclusion

• So, in less than three months since the invasion began, there are no clear winners.
• While Ukraine is losing territories, Russia is witnessing another round of NATO’s enlargement.
• Due to the ongoing war, coupled with inflation and an energy crisis, Europe is likely to be facing prolonged instability and conflicts.

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