I stumbled upon this article, entitled “The fall of Avdiivka: The beginning of the end”, by Alan Woods, on the marxist.ca website. The title of this article should give you a hint of the catastrophizing angle that Mr. Woods takes. He seems determined to paint the fall of Avdiivka as a much more dire situation than it really is. Also, whether on purpose or not, Mr. Woods is repeating much of the same disinformation about the war in Ukraine that Russia has been pushing since the invasion began.
Mr. Woods tries to paint Avdiivka as a crucial stronghold in Ukraine. I’ve not seen anything which indicates this. Ukraine didn’t choose to stage a battle in Avdiivka because of its strategic importance; rather they persisted in defending Avdiivka because Russia seemed determined to take the city, despite staggering Russian losses. Ukraine losing Avdiivka has had little effect on the battlefield, because Ukraine has simply reformed their defensive line just west of the city. Other than for the universal reason of defending their homeland, Ukraine persisted in defending this small city (population of only about 33,000 prior to the war) for the same reason that they doggedly defended Bakhmut - not because of any particular strategic importance of the city itself to Ukraine, but rather because of Russia’s apparent willingness to sacrifice an inordinate amount of both its own equipment and the lives of their own soldiers in order to take these relatively unimportant locations. Quite simply put, if Russia seems determined to bash itself to death upon this rock, Ukraine will happily oblige. Indeed, Russia lost more men in the battle for Avdiivka than they did in the entirety of the Soviet-Afghan war. Given the staggering Russian losses that Putin sacrificed in the taking of Avdiivka, only to have Ukraine reform their defensive line just west of the city, this so-called Russian victory is made hollow at best, and inhuman at worst.
Mr. Woods goes on to cast doubt on the idea that Putin was the one responsible for having opposition leader Alexander Navalny killed. There is as much doubt in the fact that Putin killed Navalny as there is plausibility that all the Russian oligarchs who have met their untimely ends since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion have been throwing themselves out of windows of their own volition. Putin tried to murder Navalny once already by poison, and it was only after surviving this assassination attempt that Navalny bravely chose to return home to fight for the cause of freedom and democracy in Russia, to then have Putin imprison him under false charges, and finally murder him while in captivity.
Further on in the article, Mr. Woods claims that Russia has no shortage of ammunition. If that were the case, then why would Russia be turning to purchasing weapons from Iran and North Korea? Their choosing to buy ammunition from these pariah states is clearly indicative of their desperation, as well as a reminder of the effectiveness of the current western sanctions. Mr. Woods tries to paint a picture of Russia as an unstoppable war machine. Russia is nothing compared to the West. The economies of the collective West dwarf Russia, at a size of about 60 to 1. If the West chose to unleash its full economic might to the rescue of Ukraine, Russia would be swept aside like tissue paper.
Most despicable of all, Mr. Woods claims that NATO forced Ukraine into this conflict against their will. This is preposterous. NATO didn’t force Ukraine into this war - Russia did. Russia started this illegal war of aggression when they invaded the free nation of Ukraine. The war would end today if Putin ordered Russia’s withdrawal. Ukraine isn’t fighting at the behest of their Western supporters, they are fighting for their very lives. Remember the daily missile strikes and bombings that Russia has subjected Ukrainian schools, hospitals and residential areas to. Remember the double-tap strikes, where Russia fires once to kill civilians, then once again to kill first responders. Remember Bucha. Remember the defiled and burned bodies of Ukrainian women which lined the streets. This is the price of allowing Russia to persist in its invasion. This is the price of Western delays of arms shipments and support.
Russian propagandists and purveyors of Russian disinformation like Mr. Woods would have you believe that ceasing support to Ukraine and allowing Russia to keep the land they’ve conquered thus far would somehow be of a benefit to the Ukrainian people. The dead cry out from the streets of Bucha in opposition to this view. Russia would not be sated with the lands they have conquered so far, just like they were not satisfied with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. They used the time after the annexation of Crimea to build up strength for the full scale invasion in 2022. If we allow them to keep the lands they have conquered since the full scale invasion, they would do the same again, and use the time to build up strength to conquer the rest of Ukraine. And if we allow the Ukrainian army, the most battle-tested army in Europe to fall, what makes you think Russia would stop there? What would prevent them from continuing to roll over Moldova? Or Poland? Or Czechia? Lithuania? Latvia? The line must be drawn at Ukraine, and it must be drawn now.
Victory for Ukraine.