The Russia-Ukraine war seems to be prolonging with no end in sight. Attempts by global leaders to bring a truce have failed from time to time. At best those efforts too appeared to be ad hoc. During the period of more than three and a half years since the outbreak of this war on February 24, 2022, we recount how attempts were made by Turkey’s President Erdogan and most recently by the US President Trump to stop the protracted war. But it has not stopped. It is showing no signs of stopping either. Every day we hear fresh news of strike and counter strike by the warring parties. It doesn’t really seem to be going in a very clear direction. On occasions, Russia appears to be gaining a decisive edge, only to be followed by fresh declarations and movements of arms supply by EU and USA to Ukraine. It is not an isolated war between two countries. It is a war between two global blocks in which several countries are involved—directly or indirectly. They are fanning the flames of this fire by continued supply of weapons apart from provocative pronouncements.
Wars have been fought throughout the course of long history of human civilisation on this planet. The war between Rama and Ravan spanned 87 days, according to the Padma Purana, with 72 days of actual fighting and 15 days of ceasefire. The war started on Magha Shukla Dwitiya and concluded on Chaitra Krishna Chaturdashi with Ravan’s death. The war was decisive and conclusive. The Mahabharata epic battle of Kurukshetra occurred in Dwapar Yug. The war lasted for a total of 18 days. This duration is a significant number within the epic, as it also corresponds to the number of chapters in the Mahabharata epic. This battle was also decisive and produced a clear result.
Let us now look at some more recent wars between nations. The First World War lasted for over four years, from July 28, 1914, to November 11, 1918. This global conflict, also known as the Great War, was fought between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers and involved nations from Europe, the Middle East and beyond. This war also ended decisively with the Allied Powers being victorious.
The Second World War officially lasted for approximately six years, from September 1, 1939, to September 2, 1945. The conflict began with Germany’s invasion of Poland and concluded with Japan’s surrender. This war too ended decisively with the victory of Allied Powers comprising mainly the UK, France, Russia and USA.
In the war that India and China fought between October 20 and November 20, 1962, India not only suffered a humiliating defeat but also lost a chunk of territory in Aksai Chin in Ladakh in eastern Jammu and Kashmir. The 1971 India-Pakistan War officially began on December 3 and ended on December 16, lasting just 13 days. The war ended with the surrender of Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
The above examples do convey that wars are meant to end in a result and supposed to be decisive. But the Russia-Ukraine war has been going on for more than 1315 days. There is no visible end. There are two main reasons for this. One, the war is not being fought between Russia and Ukraine alone. Some European countries along with the USA are the active arms supply sources for Ukraine. The other reason is that this war is multi-dimensional and advanced technology war. It is a war which has information, cyber and economic dimensions. And it is a war which is being fought with high tech weapons like drones, missiles, advanced air defence systems and even robot soldiers. These embedding reasons, complexity and strategic alignments beyond the two warring parties are making it a herculean task to end the more then three year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict.
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