The following is a status report of what appears to be happening at this time (2022. 02. 27 at 12:00 noon Kiev time) in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

I am trying to be as realistic as possible. I mean no disrespect or animus to either the Ukrainian side or the Russian side. I am not in any sense questioning the bravery of the soldiers of any nation, nor do I mean to give any offense. I live permanently in Ukraine, I love the Ukrainian people, and my children are Ukrainian citizens. In what I am about to say, I am trying to give a realistic, sober assessment of the current state of play.

The Russians have entered the center of Kharkiv, I know this from eyewitness accounts of people that I know there. There is small arms fighting, but generally light resistance. In the south, Kherson has fallen and the Russian army seems to have captured Zaporozhia. It seems clear that Dnipro will be reached within 3 to 5 days. At this time, Kiev is being surrounded by Russian tanks. There is sporadic small arms fire outside the city, but no big battles.

The Russian strategy seems to be to encircle the cities, while destroying military installations. The vast majority of civilian infrastructure in the areas under attack have been untouched and are functioning normally. It also seems very clear that the Russians have used their older equipment and less experienced soldiers in this initial assault. Very few of the high-tech modern weaponry that the Russians possess are being used in this first push. This would lead one to believe that the Russians want to probe and exhaust Ukrainian defenses before bringing out top-tier men and materiel.

The Russians are being incredibly disciplined insofar as their information management is concerned. The only information coming out of the Russians comes directly from the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Their information so far has been 100% accurate, which I think is a deliberate strategy. There has been a great deal of Ukrainian propaganda that turned out to be complete fantasy, but even after these stories have been proven to be false, people cling to them.

At the current pace of operations, the Russians will completely capture Ukraine within 7 to 14 days. They are winning, and winning decisively. Maps comparing the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 to this current mechanized invasion show that the Russians are outpacing the Americans by a substantial margin. And as I said, they are using their second-tier men and weapons, and they did not use air power to soften Ukraine for several weeks, as the Americans did in 2003. Any claims that the Ukrainians are winning or holding back the Russians is complete fantasy.

This is the current state of play as I perceive it at this time.

Gonzalo Lira
Kiev, Ukraine