{"id":78112,"date":"2022-02-28T12:15:54","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T18:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=78112"},"modified":"2022-02-28T12:15:54","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T18:15:54","slug":"78112","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=78112","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Are Ukraine’s armed citizens making a difference?<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the go-to arguments of gun control advocates who try to portray our Second Amendment as an outdated anachronism is that armed citizens just wouldn\u2019t stand a chance against the might of a modern military force bristling with tanks, missiles, and even nuclear weapons (looking at you,\u00a0Eric Swalwell<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The armed citizens of Ukraine, however, are helping to put that argument to rest. So far the nation has defied expectations and has continued to to resist the Russian invasion, repelling many of the attacks against the country\u2019s biggest cities, and the country\u2019s Territorial Defense Force, which includes many individuals who were simply private citizens a couple of weeks ago, is\u00a0having an impact<\/a>, according to Ukrainian officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the city itself, the territorial defense detachments are working quite effectively,\u201d Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential chief of staff, said in a statement Saturday morning. \u201cIt turned out that people are coming out, defending their homes. It wasn\u2019t expected by analysts of the Russian General Staff.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t think it was expected even for some of those who\u2019ve shown up to volunteer, many of whom may never have thought about defending their country with a gun until last week but who are now heading down to their nearest recruitment center.<\/p>\n

Men from their 20s to late 50s, from a range of backgrounds, showed up. Igor, 37, an economist for an online retailing company, who didn\u2019t want his last name published for safety reasons, stood in line for his gun. He spoke at barely a whisper and his lips trembled. The dull thud of bombs or artillery could be heard in the distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never served in the army or with the police or anything,\u201d he said. He said he hoped to be able to figure it out. He was worried, he said. \u201cBut people who are really afraid are sitting at home. They aren\u2019t out here now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in our country needs to defend \u2014 women, girls, everybody,\u201d said Denis Matash, 33, the manager of Milk, a Kyiv nightclub, standing in line with about 50 other men at the recruitment center. \u201cI don\u2019t think they understand where they came,\u201d he said of the Russians. \u201cLook at what is happening here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grigory Mamchur, 40, who works as a male strip dancer at the Milk nightclub, part of the now shuttered but once booming nightlife scene in Kyiv, was also in line for a Kalashnikov.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t even anything to think about,\u201d Mr. Mamchur said. \u201cWe will defend the country however we can. This could be our last chance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Territorial Defense Force and the private citizens who are taking up arms against their country\u2019s invaders can\u2019t thwart the Russian military on their own, but they can and have made life hell for Russian troops. In addition, the massive mobilization of civilian volunteers serves as a psychological boost for Ukrainians and is\u00a0helping to obliterate<\/a>\u00a0the argument made by Vladimir Putin that the Ukrainian campaign is about \u201cliberating\u201d a grateful populace from their democratically-elected overlords.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The popular resistance raises a real prospect for Moscow of a protracted nationwide war against counterinsurgent fighters that could drain Russian resources, embarrass the Kremlin and make its leaders even greater international pariahs as civilian deaths mount.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian and Western officials say the Russian assault on the capital aims to kill or capture the country\u2019s leaders and install a puppet government. But they also say Mr. Putin has misjudged the will and ability of Ukraine\u2019s army and citizens to fight.<\/p>\n

At Polish border posts in the country\u2019s southeast, a steady stream of Ukrainians who have been living in Poland have crossed over on foot and in cars, answering calls on social media to join the fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery truck company in Europe has Ukrainian drivers, and we are organizing ourselves to go,\u201d said Vitalis Kos, a 38-year-old trucker, waiting to drive across the border. The car behind him, and another in front, were also carrying men to the front.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to let him turn our country into Syria,\u201d said Mr. Kos.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And those Ukrainians will soon be getting reinforcements from citizens of other nations, with the establishment of an international legion that has already\u00a0drawn the interest<\/a>\u00a0of some American special forces veterans.<\/p>\n

A group of 10 special operations forces veterans are staging in Poland and preparing to cross into Ukraine, where they plan to take up President Volodymyr Zelensky on his offer to \u201cjoin the defense of Ukraine<\/a>, Europe, and the world,\u201d according to a US Army veteran arranging their passage.<\/p>\n

The group, composed of six US citizens, three Brits, and a German, are NATO-trained and experienced in close combat and counterterrorism. They want to be among the first to officially join the new International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine that Zelensky announced Sunday, according to text messages reviewed by BuzzFeed News. Two former American infantry officers are also making plans to come to Ukraine to provide \u201cleadership\u201d for the group, the Army veteran recruiter said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ukraine\u2019s armed citizens aren\u2019t just serving as a check on the Russian army\u2019s advances, they\u2019re an inspiration to others at home and abroad, drawing in volunteers that might otherwise have sat out the conflict instead of coming to the country\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s military has been brilliantly effective, and I believe the mass mobilization of the general public into a self-defense force has played a major role in keeping the country in the fight. No, armed citizens can\u2019t go toe-to-toe against a cruise missile, but if Putin wants to occupy Ukraine and not merely destroy it, then he\u2019s going to need boots on the ground. As long as the soldiers wearing those boots are meeting resistance from average Ukrainians armed with everything from AK-47s to Molotov cocktails, subjugating that nation is going to be an impossible task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are Ukraine’s armed citizens making a difference? One of the go-to arguments of gun control advocates who try to portray our Second Amendment as an outdated anachronism is that armed citizens just wouldn\u2019t stand a chance against the might of a modern military force bristling with tanks, missiles, and even nuclear weapons (looking at you,\u00a0Eric … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,29,17,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba","category-safety","category-self-defense","category-slugs-for-thugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78113,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78112\/revisions\/78113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}