Battlefield Ukraine

Volodymyr

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman was looking over an economic development plan the European Commission on Economic Development had provided to his office on how he could look to improve the farming and logging industry of western Ukraine. In general terms, it recommended massive investments in the infrastructure of the region; paved roads, additional rail lines, and a widening of bridges to enable heavy trucks and additional vehicle traffic. The report also had some excellent ideas on shipping management and ways to bring their crops to the market faster and to more markets outside of Ukraine.

General Popko rushed into the PM’s office and immediately interrupted his train of thought. “Mr. Prime Minister, there has been an incident with the Russians,” he said with a sense of urgency the PM had not seen often from Popko. He could tell something serious must have happened.

The PM stood up slowly, “What kind of incident?” He was not sure if he really wanted to know, but he also realized that he had better stay on top of whatever it was.

“About forty-five minutes ago, four NATO aircraft entered the no-fly zone that the Russians are trying to impose. There were two American and two German aircraft. The Russians hailed them multiple times, warning them to turn back; then they locked the aircraft up with their ground radars and warned them again. When the NATO aircraft continued to ignore the warnings, the Russians fired at them,” the general spoke quietly, almost as if he wasn’t sure to believe what he was saying himself.

“Did they shoot down the NATO fighters?” the PM asked. Suddenly, his stomach hurt.

The general nodded. “Yes Sir. They shot down the four NATO aircraft, killing two of the pilots. The other two managed to eject and were recovered by the search and rescue teams. The Russians also shot down all seven of the American and NATO surveillance drones.” Popko was in a daze himself; he was still trying to come to terms with what this all meant.

Groysman’s throat suddenly felt dry. He took a sip of water, and then asked, “What about a response? Did the NATO aircraft respond to the attack?”

“Once the Russians had fired on the NATO fighters, Allied forces fired four HARM anti-radar missiles towards the Russians in retaliation. Unfortunately, their missile interceptors shot all four missiles down,” the General explained. He was clearly angry that the Russians had committed this latest act of aggression.

Volodymyr’s thoughts began to race. “How will the Russians respond to this? How will NATO and the Americans react to this? What do I need to do right now to get things ready in case this escalates?”

“General, right now we do not know how NATO or Russia is going to act in response to this situation, and unfortunately, we are stuck in the middle. I want you to issue an order to all our units in the field to stand down military operations for the moment. I also want you to raise the alert level of the rest of our military. While I don’t want to antagonize the situation any further, we need to be ready in case the Russians respond by invading us or carrying out further attacks. Should NATO decide to attack Russia in response, we should also be ready to support them in that effort.”