Here in Britain, we are constantly fed the narrative that Ukraine is on the verge of winning, spring offensive, just another billion bucks in aid and some Chieftain tanks yadda, yadda yadda. From what I can see the jury is out on that narrative and the media, in war – even when it is not your war – is always wrong. So, try out this twitter search and see what you think.
Back in January President Zelensky presented the ghastly Nancy Pelosi in Congress with a Ukrainian flag signed by defenders of the town he calls Bakhmut. He said he just wanted more weapons and some billion bucks in aid and Fortress Bakhmut would hold.
I ama afraid that while he got the dosh and the weapons Bakhmut is now 80% in Russian hands and the “road of death” the one remaining Ukrainian supply line has now been cut. The average life expectancy of a Ukrainian fighter arriving in Bakhmut since the Zelensky speech has been 4 hours and 30 minutes. It has been a meat grinder for both sides, a pointless waste of life. But Russia looks set to take the fortress, it is certainly advancing block by block day by day. So how is the battle going according to twitter?
First search #Bakhmut and you will see Western and Ukrainian media image after image of Russian soldiers being killed in various ways. That is it. One might almost think that the Russians are being wiped out.
Then search #Artemovsk which is the old Russian name for the City for this is in the Russian speaking part of the post USSR Ukraine. And in that feed you see maps showing Russian advances, pictures of Ukrainian casualties etc.
It is almost as if there were two different battles underway.
Are we allowed to be objective and say that both sides have suffered horrible casualties but that Russia is clearly advancing and, at the current rate, will be in control of the whole City within weeks. At that point we will be told that this was the 57th largest City in Ukraine and is irrelevant. We will be told to ignore the thousands and thousands of Ukrainians who died there and Zelensky’s Fortress pledge and to believe that it was an insignificant town that does not really matter. And anyone who challenges this narrative with inconvenient facts is a Putin apologist.