Until recently, local and foreign journalists alike have been reticent to openly discuss their conflict with authorities, for different reasons. Local journalists — many of whom have joined the military or left the country — have, at times, hesitated to criticize the government, split between allegiance to their profession and to their nation.
Ukrainian journalists “feel that they are part of this, part of the Ukrainian nation struggling for survival,” said Kyrylo Loukerenko, executive director of the independent Hromadske Radio, “so this is a very difficult situation for us.”
At first glance this seems like a relic of an old system. Much like the clear split between officers and regular troops in the soviet/russian system. A system that is heavily controlled by few might seem like a safe option in comparison to the alternative, where where responsibility has to be distributed among many possible “points of failure”.
Some of it I can understand. The government of Ukraine seems very much afraid of loosing the mental image that western help is highly effective and more should be provided. Hiding tactical failures and other decisions that could be interpreted as incompetence, could be seen as an attempt to preserve that image.
good take, it does sound like the long promised offensive hasn’t yielded much, lets see if the recent strife had any if at all impact on the theaters
To me it seems that the same “carefulness” is being exercised in the counteroffensive. AFAIK majority of the reserves aren’t being used. Maybe the government is concerned about the repercussions that a failed counteroffensive could have in terms of the long term support from western countries. In such case they would have every reason to be conservative when doing maneuvers and letting information go public.
What I’m saying that in our world appearances matter (arguably too much), and Ukraine is stuck playing a game to keep foreigners happy. Also note that I have no merits to back up any of these thoughts and I’m pulling them out of my behind.
