Next Ukraine city in Russia’s sight

Ukraine citizens face the prospect of street-to-street fighting against Russian forces as the Kremlin now declares the next city it is targeting.

Ordinary Ukrainians face the prospect of street-to-street fighting against Russian forces as the Kremlin now declares the strategic Ukrainian city of Mariupol within its puppet “republics”. But an extraordinary “resistance and resilience” attitude in Ukraine will do as much to defeat Russian forces as NATO’s tanks, rockets and guns a leading Ukrainian analyst has said in a rally call to her people.

Ukrainians have been told to be inspired by the port city of Mariupol that was invaded then occupied by Russian-backed rebels in 2014 for three months before street-by-street battle saw them repelled.

University of Sydney lecturer on information warfare Dr Olga Boichak said Mariupol and more broadly Ukrainians again living under the threat of occupation for eight years, had created an extraordinary civil movement.

Citizens walk back home from the trenches in Mariupol, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

A serviceman stays in guard as he boat patrols water area of Ukraine's Black Sea port of Mariupol. Picture: AFP

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She said Russia had tremendous advantage in 2014, particularly with little Ukrainian military forces based on the east of the country.

“But they underestimated the volunteers army, what they miscalculated was strength of resistance that ordinary Ukrainian population would demonstrate in the face of the occupation and that is the wonder or miracle or amazing case of Mariupol,” Dr Boichak said.

“It is the one case study out of many … but Mariupol encapsulate what is possible to do when all of the public stands behind the state. The role the volunteers played in cementing that legitimacy of the Ukrainian state in a place where people were not as concerned about their national identity, they were not politically active, these are large industrial towns so historically more concerned with who had a job.

A patrol boat casts off the border base in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Mariupol. Picture: AFP

An employee works at the gun counter of a tactical equipment shop in Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

28 year-old Anton Lytvyn packs his military equipment at his house after he was called up to active duty in Kyiv, Ukraine. Picture: Getty Images

“But from 2014 people grasped the significance of what it means to be Ukrainian.”

Her comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week in his redrawn boundaries for Donetsk and Luhansk, new Russian “republics” in Ukraine, includes Mariupol.

Dr Boichak who interviewed many of the frontline soldiers for a study said years of facing off against Russia had created a new community.

“It has led to the emergence of new norms and values of civic society and they really have reconstituted what it means to be Ukrainian citizen in the face of this almost ontological existential threat,” she said.

“It has and will inspire the country.”

Originally published as Next Ukraine city in Russia’s sight