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Can Ukraine Defeat Russian Winter? Printer friendly page Print This
By Dallas Darling
Submitted by Author
Monday, Sep 29, 2014

Since Russia’s winter has proven to be one of its greatest deterrence, Moscow does not have to worry about top secret scientific programs to weaponize climate and weather. This was no more evident than when Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk accused Russia of wanting to freeze his turbulent country by cutting off oil and gas supplies. Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Yatseniuk declared: “The ultimate goal of Russia is to organize, to orchestrate another frozen conflict in Ukraine.”(1) After asking for an increase in pro-Western economic aid and military intervention, he then begged for more oil.

Situated near the Arctic Lowlands and icy Arctic Ocean, Moscow’s wintry weather has always been its greatest asset in its arsenal. As Arctic air sweeps southward without any mountainous impediments, extreme sub-zero temperatures have devastated threatening and invading armies. And since Ukraine is a continuation of the Arctic Lowlands and Russia Plain, it too has had to either suffer from the icy cold and brutal winters or adapt. Another important climatic-political factor is involved. Since Ukraine and Russia are located in central Eurasia, subtropical air has little opportunity to penetrate either nation, producing undependable rainfall and short growing seasons.

During World War II, Germany met its Waterloo at Stalingrad. What at first appeared to be an easy target, German armies soon found themselves trapped by both Russian forces and a brutally cold winter. While icy conditions devastated Germany’s military vehicles, even making aerial drops impossible, the same conditions favored Russian forces, sent over the frozen Volga en masse. Supported by an Arctic front and falling snow and freezing fog, Russia’s counteroffensive destroyed German forces. Forces that had resorted to eating horses, dogs and rats. Stalingrad’s streets were no longer measured in meters but frozen corpses, victims of frostbite, dysentery, typhus and starvation.(2)

Although numerous theories abound as to what went wrong when Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia, one fact remains: the Russian winter destroyed the emperor’s army and dreams. Even before reaching Moscow, hunger, dysentery and typhus had killed 5,000 to 6,000 men a day. Horses with little to graze on also died by the thousands. And despite trying not to repeat the folly of Charles XII of Sweden, who was killed in a blinding snowstorm while attacking Russia, Napoleon lost over 500,000 troops while retreating back to Paris. Like Stalingrad, soldiers and the pride of France, or Grande Armey, had to eat grass, tree bark, leather and the frozen flesh of horses. Some resorted to cannibalism.

With the Russian winter approaching, Ukraine has reason to be concerned, as does the European Union. Last year, Russia supplied Ukraine with most of its gas. Half of Russian gas exports to the EU were via Ukraine. Should Ukraine and the West reconsider their stance towards Russia? Just as geopolitical forces of land, history and culture prevail over time, so do weather patterns. Russia’s successive climate will continue to favor Ukraine’s secessionists. Russian-speaking and Eastern Orthodox Ukrainians will benefit from Russia’s aggregate weathering systems. Neither is Russia politically isolated. Hungary announced that it has suspended delivery of gas to neighboring Ukraine indefinitely.

Ukraine is a continuation of Russia, marked with Russia’s wintry footprints. Adolf Hitler was unable to understand this reality. After being told that German troops had no more rounds and had been reduced to eating the frozen brains of their dead horses, he muttered, “Man recovers very quickly.”(3) But millions of men never did recover from the Russian winter. Since then, has anything really changed? Perhaps Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, was correct in announcing that the West’s Cold War genetic code needed changed. If not, the Cold War is about to get much colder. And since no nation has yet conquered Russian winters, what makes a pro-Western Ukrainian regime any different?


Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John‘s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace.

(1) www.reuters.com. “Ukraine prime minister says Russians ‘want us to freeze.’”, by Louis Charbonneu. September 25, 2014.
(2) Wright, Michael. The World At Arms. New York, New York: The Reader’s Digest Association Limited, 1989., p. 240.
(3) Ibid., p. 243.



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