Winter in the Ukraine

The Russian incursion to the Ukraine aka Winter War II has stalled before several strong defensive positions held by the Kiev troops and Putin had better get it together, since after Monday the weather is predicted to be snow for five consecutive days.

Armored tanks ran like mud tractors in the snow. A roadside ditch traps them in their clutch, but troops are there to defend the tanks.

I was wrong about No War between Russia and the Ukraine. Yesterday Boris Putin ordered the invasion of the Ukraine. The President for Life claimed that steppes always had belonged to Russia. His troops made quick advances. No one wants a war. Especially not in winter like the USSR's failed attack in 1939. Covid has sucked the fight out of most everyone in the world.

And the Russian army marches down winter roads. Boots scrunching the snow. Their breaths a furl of steam and paper-thin boots. Warmth is a forgotten luxury. Food comes as a scarcity. Shelter offers cold ground. Armies disintegrate in bad weather.

And the nights are still long.

"What are we fighting for?" To be cold. To conquer a nation. To prove Putin is a god-king.

The tank is clear. The crew fire a round into the taiga or forest. The shell explodes behind thousands of trees.

All Russians know snow. There are Americans who have never seen the white stuff. It's cold. Even for the Russian Heirless Tsar.