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Geopolitics Hub

Policy Backgrounders

CED’s Policy Backgrounders provide timely insights on prominent business and economic policy issues facing the nation.

The Weekly Round-Up: Developments on Ukraine 6

May 27, 2022

As the war entered its fourth month, strong fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, including attacks around Kharkiv and Severodonetsk, as Ukrainian officials said Russia has the “upper hand” in the war in the east, with only about 5 percent of Luhansk oblast remaining under Ukrainian control. A poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology revealed that 82 percent of Ukrainians oppose territorial concessions to Russia to end the war. The war has been costly for Russia, with the Pentagon estimating the loss of about 1000 tanks, 350 artillery pieces, “three dozen fighter-bomber aircraft,” and over 50 helicopters, and the UK Ministry of Defence claiming that Russia’s deaths in three months of war in Ukraine nearly equal its losses in its war in Afghanistan, thanks to “a combination of poor low-level tactics, limited air cover, a lack of flexibility, and a command approach which is prepared to reinforce failure and repeat mistakes [.]” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that 20 countries in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group had promised new military and security assistance, including artillery ammunition, coastal defense systems, and armored vehicles. Belarus announced checks on military equipment in long-term storage and established a new military command for southern Belarus, bordering Ukraine.

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