Russians Continue To Face Determined Resistance

Welcome

We are incredibly limited so far in proof of how the Ukraine conflict is going for either side. Reliable western accounts are primarily limited to statements from the Ukrainian government in Kyiv and what reporters can see from their balconies. But one CNN reporter, Matthew Chance, did venture out to a battle zone near the capital where he found an incredible scene of destruction; the remains of Russian military vehicles from a recent attack. Warning: the video contains graphic images.

There is also this account from the BBC of military activity on Sunday:

So while each side pushes its version of the truth, we found this summation from CNN’s Brian Stelter to be noteworthy.

We’re seeing only a small fraction of the action in Ukraine and Russia right now. And some of what we are seeing in social feeds and faraway commentary is distorted. So it’s important for news outlets to recognize this knowledge gap and underscore the known unknowns in the minute-by-minute coverage.

I hate to fall back to the “fog of war” metaphor, but it exists for a reason. The fog is thick right now. Military officials know it. During a Sunday morning press briefing with Pentagon reports, an unnamed senior defense official said something about “humility” that stood out to me. “The Ukrainians are putting up a very stiff and brave and heroic resistance,” the official said. “But we are only on day four. And I would be reluctant to provide an estimate of how many more days there are here.” The point: Predictions are a fool’s errand. Combat is ugly and unpredictable. “Everybody needs to look at this with a bit of a sense of humility here,” the official said…