{"id":1345372,"date":"2022-02-26T12:34:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T17:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1345372"},"modified":"2022-02-26T12:38:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T17:38:16","slug":"ukrainian-president-zelenskyy-declines-to-evacuate-i-need-ammunition-not-a-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ukrainian-president-zelenskyy-declines-to-evacuate-i-need-ammunition-not-a-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian President Zelenskyy Declines To Evacuate: \u2018I Need Ammunition, Not A Ride\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fukrainian-president-zelenskyy-declines-to-evacuate-i-need-ammunition-not-a-ride%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1345372&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Screen-Shot-2022-02-26-at-11.33.01-AM-1024x580-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Russian assault on Ukraine is now three days old with sharp fighting seen in the capital city of Kyiv overnight. Yet, Kyiv stands.<\/p>\n<p>America offered to evacuate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UkrEmbLondon\/status\/1497506134692970499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1497506134692970499%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Fukraine-zelenskyy-rejects-us-evacuation_n_621a117ae4b0afc668c0eac4\">replied<\/a>, \u201cThe fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"JO7fwlNMb8YHT3VayCt0c\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.\u201d \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZelenskyyUa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ZelenskyyUa<\/a> on the US evacuation offer. <\/p>\n<p>Ukrainians are proud of their President\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9b<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ukraine&#8217;s Emb. to UK (@UkrEmbLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UkrEmbLondon\/status\/1497506134692970499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 26, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Zelenskyy\u2019s reply was reminiscent of past heroes in times of war: Gen. Anthony McAuliffe who replied in \u201cNUTS\u201d in response to the German demand for surrender at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944; and the Texans striving for independence from dictator Santa Anna\u2019s Mexico with their \u201cCome and Take it Flag,\u201d which was itself appropriated from Spartan King Leonidas and his response the Persian surrender demand at the Battle of Thermopylae.<\/p>\n<p>This bravery, in a day when modern communications allow all Ukrainians and the world to see it, has rallied Ukrainians to defend their nation. And now that the fighting has gone on for three days, what might that mean?<\/p>\n<p>Russian President Putin is said to have assembled 200,000 troops for the invasion. It is estimated that half of them have been committed so far. Further, Putin has called on 10,000 battle-hardened Chechen mercenaries. More than half of Russian forces are likely committed to the battle of Kyiv.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine has 245,000 active-duty members, but most are in the east, facing the Russian-led and equipped militia in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine also has another 220,000 reservists. Many of these are spread across the nation slightly larger than the state of Texas. <\/p>\n<p>The strategic target is Kyiv and its independent government. To move the reservists to the fight, they must contend with Russian air superiority, slowing their march. More importantly, given this struggle for national survival, 7,000,000 men of military age and fit for military service are taking up arms. Every day, many more older men \u2014 and many Ukrainian women \u2014 are also being issued weapons, making Molotov cocktails, and joining the fight.<\/p>\n<p>The ongoing Ukrainian mobilization means that the Russian military will soon be outnumbered most everywhere on the battlefield. The Ukrainians may not have the same level of modern equipment \u2014 missiles, jets, helicopter \u2014 but they have numbers and will power. And, the Russians need to eat, they need fuel, and ammunition \u2014 their resupply trucks must get through. They won\u2019t, not in large enough numbers; everyday Ukrainians will see to that.<\/p>\n<p>Kyivians need to eat as well. Perhaps Putin\u2019s operational plans are to surround the city of three million and starve it into submission, forcing Zelenskyy to surrender to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Of note, images of fighting overnight show streetlights still working in the capital city meaning refrigeration is still working, stretching out food supplies by a few days.<\/p>\n<p>But as Putin\u2019s offensive falters and his strength back home is questioned, there\u2019s another, more sinister possibility: He\u2019ll unleash <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-10552743\/Furious-Putin-prepares-use-father-bombs-brave-Ukrainians-hold-advance.html\">thermobaric bombs<\/a> on Kyiv. These massive conventional weapons would destroy entire city blocks, killing 10,000 civilians and soldiers at a time. But terror bombing rarely cows the target into submission. Rather, the use of these superweapons will further spur Ukraine and the world against Putin.<\/p>\n<p>Putin would fall shortly after his use of the thermobaric weapons, or he\u2019ll try to take the rest of the world with him.<\/p>\n<p>The war in Ukraine is likely to expand beyond Ukraine. War rarely unfolds as intended.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Chuck DeVore is vice president of national initiatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a former California legislator, special assistant for foreign affairs in the Reagan-era Pentagon, and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army (retired) Reserve. He&#8217;s the author of two books, &#8220;The Texas Model: Prosperity in the Lone Star State and Lessons for America,&#8221; and &#8220;China Attacks,&#8221; a novel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Russian assault on Ukraine is now three days old with sharp fighting seen in the capital city of Kyiv overnight. Yet, Kyiv stands. America offered to evacuate Ukrainian President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1345372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}