Military attacks cannot be stopped by UN resolutions. Military attacks cannot be stopped by so-called diplomacy. Sadly, the response of the Western liberal democracies falls short of what is clearly required to stop the monster of Moscow from achieving his goal of taking over Ukraine and returning it to domination by Russia. Diplomacy, while important will not solve the problem. Setting up facilities to handle the over 2.5 million refugees who have fled the country is important, but will not solve the problem.

The first war correspondents were actually soldiers sending dispatches back home from the front lines, reporting from inside the war zone. The 19th century saw the first professional reporters taking on the job, and eventually soldiers were no longer permitted to act as both fighter and reporter. Women entered the profession in the early 20th century, often bucking official prohibitions against their participation. The Vietnam War was the first war to be truly televised, in nearly real time, as opposed to the edited reels shown to drum up morale at home during World War II.

The western and northern half of the country has a strong Ukrainian cultural identity, mostly Ukrainian-speaking, with nationalist and pro-Western leanings. The eastern and southern half of the country on the other hand is culturally strongly Russified, largely Russian-speaking, with pro-Russian candidates having regularly won elections in this half of the country before 2014.

Source: Winston & Strawn LLP

The EU has issued five packages of sanctions or restrictive measures on February 23, 25, 28, March 2, and March 9, respectively. The March 9 package also includes additional sanctions on Belarusian entities, specifically adding three banks to the SWIFT restrictions on Russian financial institutions.       

First Package imposing additional transferable securities and money-market instruments restrictions and prohibiting new loans or credits.

1. Abbott Labs
2. ABBVie
3. Accor
4. ADM
5. Amway
6. Baker Hughes
7. BBDO Group
8. Bridgestone Tire
9. Bunge
10. Cargill
11. Citi
12. Citrix
13. Cloudflare
14. Cummins
15. DDB
16. Dentsu International
17. Deutsche Bank
18. Ferragamo
19. General Mills
20. Greif
21. Halliburton
22. Herbalife
23. Intercontinental Hotels
24. International Paper
25. Interpublic Group
26. IPG Photonics
27. Leo Burnett
28. Marriott
29. Mohawk Industries

So far, it is still Russia’s war against Ukraine. But World War III has never been closer. Senior Western government officials, diplomats and military analysts acknowledge that there is now a grave danger that the United States and other NATO allies could be drawn into the war at virtually any moment, as the result of any number of scenarios.

If Putin were to succeed in gaining full control of Ukraine, there would be significant strategic and geopolitical consequences. The first would be a new front line of conflict in Central Europe. Russian forces would be able to station forces — land, air and missile — in bases in western Ukraine as well as Belarus. Russian forces would thus be arrayed along Poland’s entire 650-mile eastern border, as well as along the eastern borders of Slovakia and Hungary and the northern border of Romania.

The Russian economy has sunk into a crisis that it may not recover from for years, if ever. Even if the war in Ukraine were to end tomorrow, it is unlikely that Western companies and investors who have seen billions of dollars wiped out will rush back into Russia.

Many analysts and strategists believe it is only a matter of time before Ukraine is overwhelmed by Moscow’s military might. What comes next for Ukraine could be bleak, these experts say, with many expecting a long and drawn-out conflict, noting that even in the most positive scenario — that Russia withdraws its troops and Ukraine remains a sovereign nation — Europe is unlikely to return to the pre-war status quo.

Possible outcomes for Ukraine and what might happen

1. Patchy control

The Russian campaign is going to turn Ukrainian cities into rubble, creating a refugee crisis, overwhelming the borders and the border nations, and destabilizing Central and Eastern Europe. Russian forces are going to target government infrastructure and then means of command and control -- public communications, internet, radio towers, cell phone towers -- anything they can do to disrupt communications, so they separate the people from the government.