War Escalation

Confused thinking at times accuses Ukraine of escalating the Russo-Ukrainian war. This is wrong and is merely a Putin talking point.

War is regrettable.

Ukraine won’t escalate to Russian level of genocide. The term escalation is incorrectly used by Putin sympathizers.

An increase in violence that doesn’t reach a new kind of violence is not an escalation of war violence. A territorial expansion in opposition to territorial expansion is also not an escalation. It’s not that it’s new, but is it new in kind. All the “escalation” is on the Russian side.

Example, one guy pulls a gun on an unarmed man and opens up. Is it an escalation for the unarmed man to grab a gun and return fire? It’s an increase in total violence, but not an escalation of the kind of violence used.

Russia used drones to attack Ukrainian power plants. Ukraine response was drone attacks on Russian refineries. Was the Ukrainian response “an escalation”? The best argument is no, as Russia first started drone attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. One would be hard pressed to find a true Ukrainian escalation in the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Even naval drone use was a drone use attacking military assets that Russian first started. Russia invaded Ukraine and the escalation was Russian. Russia is the aggressor invading a peaceful neighbor.