On the final day of a major music festival near Byron Bay, I’ll be chatting to a crowd of hungover adults and chaperoned minors about the invasion of Ukraine.
Splendour in the Grass — like most major events — didn’t go ahead in 2020 and 2021 but has got the go-ahead this year, running from this Thursday to Sunday at the North Byron Parklands in Wooyung. The event will host up to 50,000 people a day across three days of music and four nights of camping. Along with headlining acts, there’s also comedy, yoga, Q+A live, and art installations.
I’ll be there too, sitting on a panel with three others to discuss “War in the Modern Age”, as well as the military technology used in the invasion of Ukraine and the impact this has on the humanitarian crisis.
The panel will be hosted by radio announcer Adam Spencer. It consists of University of Melbourne associate professor Toby Murray, who worked building defence tools for the Australian Defence Force, University of Melbourne cybersecurity professor Dr Suelette Dreyfus, Ukrainian anti-corruption NGO head Oksana Nesterenko appearing via video link from Kyiv, and me, Crikey’s investigative journalist and associate editor who spent three weeks on the borders of Ukraine covering the refugee crisis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initial plan to take over the capital Kyiv via air attacks quickly failed as Ukraine launched counter-offensives. Russia has been unable to establish air superiority with Ukraine, pushing them into small-scale clashes. While this has worked in Ukraine’s favour — they don’t have anywhere near the military resources of Russia — it’s led to a more protracted, more brutal war targeting urban areas over military bases.
The invasion has transformed into a war of attrition, with each side attempting to wear down the other. It’s just entered its fifth month, and many cities of Ukraine have been completely flattened as Russia continues its relentless bombardment.
It’s a 21st-century war, yet many tactics haven’t changed since this time last century. Frontline fighters have described it as more brutal than the war in Afghanistan, describing the turmoil of trench warfare and ruthlessness of combat-to-combat fighting.
Russia is relying on its huge number of soldiers over its quality of warfare, knowing Ukraine likely can’t keep up with manpower alone. As dictator Joseph Stalin said in World War II, “Quantity has a quality all its own.”
Both sides are using Soviet-era weapons, tanks from both world wars, and tactics from the Viet Cong, with Ukrainians hiding in the woods to covertly attack the Russians. Ukraine has received weaponry donated by NATO and allied forces — though as a Crikey investigation revealed, there are concerns about how this weaponry is being utilised.
Just like in World War II, propaganda is rife. Russians are being fed lines about a neo-Nazi movement Ukrainians want to be saved from, and those Crikey spoke to said they have family in Russia who don’t believe the invasion is real — despite being sent real-time footage of artillery strikes. Ukraine has also waged its own propaganda war, refusing to release data on military casualties and instead hyping up everyday acts of courageousness across multiple languages to help raise funds.
The impact this street warfare, disinformation and protracted fighting is having on Ukrainians is colossal. The humanitarian crisis is deepening. Since February 24 more than 5.8 million refugees have fled Ukraine with millions more displaced internally. Thousands of civilians have been killed with key infrastructure from transport to sanitation devastated across the nation. Many Ukrainians want to return home, but it’s not clear what awaits them when they do.
Across a weekend of revelry, light and music, the Splendour Forum Tent will host a discussion, panels, debates and philosophical talks. For those taking a break from the bass, Murray, Dreyfus, Nesterenko and I will be explaining why this invasion is so unique in its brutality — and why Australia needs to keep up its support for a country under siege.
War in the Modern Age will be held from 1.30pm to 2.45 pm on Sunday, July 24 at the Splendour Forum Tent at the North Byron Parklands, NSW.
