International Politics professor Dr. Ryan spoke to the Jackson Rotary Club about the war in Ukraine

JACKSON, TENN (WNBJ)-

Union universities international politics professor Dr. Greg Ryan spoke to the Jackson Rotary Club about the war in Ukraine, what led up to it, how it's being fought, why it's being fought and how its effecting the world.

“It's really turned into a very brutal and bloody war because the initial war of movement stopped and it's a war of attrition and we'll see who gives in. It's a terrible thing for everybody that lives there, though,” said Dr. Ryan.

According to Dr Ryan \ Ukraine has implemented guerilla warfare tactics that have proven to be very effective at slowing Russian attacks, "I think he's [Putin] willing to take less now anyway. But he's not going to leave without getting something. The surest way that he would be overthrown is simply to back out and say, I made a mistake. That's what would get him overthrown. Then he knows that he's got to get something he can spin.”

Dr. Ryan said that we cannot know how the war will end but Putin may have in mind what he wants, “I think he would like to maybe just keep the Donbass region and Mariupol and be able to link the Crimean peninsula to the Donbass region and demand that Ukraine not be a member of NATO and not be a member of the EU. That might be enough now, whether Ukraine would agree to that, I don't know.”

The war is having impacts globally, “Rising fuel prices, obviously. But rising fertilizer prices because so much fertilizer comes out of Ukraine and Russia. And this will be a bigger impact elsewhere, particularly in Africa and India,” Dr. Ryan said.

Regardless of how the war ends, Dr. Ryan says it is devastating for the countries involved and the world economy.