When Russia invaded Ukraine in late Feb. of 2022, the war appeared all over the headlines and devastated millions worldwide. However, the war in Ukraine is no longer a top story.
While the media attention has slowed, Russian forces have not. The sovereign state has been flexing its muscles as of late and the list of Ukrainian cities captured continues to grow; Russia recently captured the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. However, Ukraine has been fighting back with admirable determination, reporting 10 Russian aircrafts shot down in 10 days. Unfortunately for Ukraine, new troops are sparse. The lack of recruits for the Ukrainian Military is proving costly to Ukraine’s attempts to counterattack on Russia’s failed sieges.
The subject of Russia’s latest attack is on the Ukrainian city of Odesa. On March 2, 2024, Russia aimed a drone strike at the city, killing seven people, with eight more injured. Odesa is just one of several major cities currently on the border of free Ukrainian territory and land captured by Russia, so it is not surprising that they are targeting the city.
While Ukrainian soldiers are fighting intensely to prevent Russia from capturing their country, the Russian military’s sheer size has been overwhelming for the much smaller Ukrainian military, and Russia has gained ground on Ukraine over the last two years. Major cities like Donetsk, Luhansk, and Horlivka have all been forced to submit to Russian control. Russia even attempted a strong offensive towards Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, but Ukraine gained back all the territory Russia had conquered during its push.
Ukraine even attempted a counteroffensive with Russia on the back foot in June of 2023, but was relatively unsuccessful. Since then, the war has largely been at a standstill with neither side surrendering much ground.
While this has been without a doubt the most intense conflict between Ukraine and Russia in a long time, it is not the first time the two countries have butted heads. In fact, this war started over a decade ago in February of 2014. Russia began to occupy Crimea, officially marking the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war. The conflict became somewhat of a standoff for six years, with minor conflicts occurring but no large scale invasions from either side. Ukraine and Russia remained in this state until Feb. 2022 when Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that most of the public recognizes as the official start of the war.
So now, 2 years after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war is receiving little to no headline coverage from mainstream news outlets. But why? The conflict itself certainly hasn’t subdued. Part of the reason may be the fact that war between HAMAS and Israel has reared its ugly head.. This separate war stole some of the spotlight from Ukraine and Russia.
“News about the war is competing alongside other news stories, so its probability to maintain itself on the news is constantly dependent on public engagement,” sophomore Henry Lopez-Flores said. Most people tend to gravitate towards new topics and flashy headlines, so as time passes, the public starts to lose interest.
Ultimately, the stalemate is set to continue. Russia has been taking Ukrainian cities slowly, and Ukrainian cities are dealing with heavy damages. Unfortunately, no real end to the war is in sight, and without major intervention from foreign countries, there likely won’t be an end for some time.
