A Dead Russian General Walking: A Ukrainian government run by amateurs and through PR

For a country at war with a superpower, its leaders should be realistic and steady. So far, the leaders of Ukraine, both political leaders and military officers show no sign that they are up to the challenges they are facing. In the span of one week, the Ukrainian leadership committed two serious unforced errors that must be deeply embarrassing and, importantly, costly.

First, Ukrainian president visited Canada after his trip to the UN. In Canada, he ended up standing to honor a Nazi who fought Russia (these words should have made a middle school child realize that there is a problem in this narrative--since Russia was on the side of the allies against Germany then). 

Given that Russia’s main justification of its military operation in Ukraine was to stop Nazis from killing ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine, the optics of honoring a Nazis who “fought the Russians” should be the last thing you want to do.

Second, after launching their first missile attack on a military installation in Crimea, Ukrainian leaders released the results of the strike: destruction of the building and the killing of 33 Russian officers, including the commanding general.

“After the hit of the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers were killed, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Viktor Sokolov.” the Ukrainians said Monday, adding that more than 100 other Russian servicemen were wounded.

You don’t have to be an experienced leader to know that you must be certain that the person you are naming is actually dead. Because if the person is not dead, the entire narrative collapses and so goes the credibility of the entire government.

Sure enough, Russia treated that mistake as a gift, and casually released footage of the General alive, without even commenting on Ukrainian claim, as if to say: Russia gives no attention to Ukrainian leaders.

The real problem for the world now is this: If Ukrainian leaders make such untrue claims about things that are easily proven wrong, how serious should the world take their claim of taking back all of the territory they lost, including Crimea?

The answer to this question could help put that crisis on the right path to a resolution and stop the killing.