The military conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been ongoing for nearly four months, and the military conflict has caused a total of 8,809 civilian casualties in Ukraine, according to the OHCHR(the office of high commissioner for human rights) . And the NATO allies keep sending military aid to Ukraine to help the Ukrainian troops defend their homeland. The term “asymmetric warfare” was used in multiple articles to describe the military conflict in Ukraine. Will the Ukrainians defend their homeland or even force the Russian to withdraw from Ukraine?
The term “asymmetric warfare” was described as “warfare that is between opposing forces which differ greatly in military power and that typically involves the use of unconventional weapons and tactics.” In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
An example of the Asymmetric Warfare in the 1979 – 1989 Soviet-Afghan War, the Afghan insurgent groups called the Mujahideen, fought a guerrilla war against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. “Foreign support propped up the diverse group of rebels, pouring in from Iran, Pakistan, China, and the United States. In the brutal nine-year conflict, an estimated one million civilians were killed and 90,000 Mujahideen fighters, 18,000 Afghan troops, and 14,500 Soviet soldiers.” According to Alan Taylor’s article “the Soviet war in Afghanistan, 1979 – 1989”. The conflict resulted in the victory of the Mujahideen and the Soviet Union’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Will the conflict between Ukraine and Russian turn into a disaster like the Soviet-Afghan War? The NATO-backed Ukraine has received billions of military aid from NATO countries. According to the U.S. Department of State fact sheet “U.S. Security cooperation with Ukraine” by the Bureau of political-military affairs. Since 2014, the United States had provided more than $6.6 billion in security assistance for training and equipment to help Ukraine, including over 1,400 stinger anti-aircraft systems, over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems, and over 700 Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial systems, etc. The NATO allies’ Military aid has arrived in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian force can now use that equipment to hold their frontline against the Russians. As long as the conflict in Ukraine continues, it will produce more casualties to the civilians and soldiers. Two possible ways to end this conflict are either the Ukrainians completely defeat the Russians or produce enough casualties to force the Russian side to sign a ceasefire or even withdraw from Ukraine. So, the NATO allies need to send more military equipment to help the Ukrainian defeat the Russians or help both sides agree to uphold a ceasefire similar to the ceasefire back in September 2014 between Ukraine and pro-Russia rebels. If everything goes well it will put a period to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.