Map of Ukraine
Helen Livingstone Mon 23 May 2022 01.01 BST – THE GUARDIAN
Kyiv says it will not agree to a ceasefire that involves handing territory to Russia; Ukrainian president says up to 100 Ukrainians dying every day on eastern front
- Ukraine has said it will not agree to any ceasefire deal that would involve handing over territory to Russia, as Moscow intensified its attack in the eastern Donbas region. “The war must end with the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” said Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
- The comments came as Russia said it was willing to resume peace negotiations – but its lead negotiator also said on Sunday that the initiative to continue them was with Kyiv. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky claimed in an interview with Belarusian TV that “Russia has never refused talks”.
- Polish president Andrzej Duda became the first foreign leader to address the Ukrainian parliament in person since the invasion began, backing Ukraine’s stance on territorial concessions and warning the international community that ceding any territory to Russia would be a “huge blow” to the entire west.
- Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said 50 to 100 Ukrainians were dying every day on the war’s eastern front in what appeared to be a reference to military casualties. The heaviest fighting is focused around the twin cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Luhansk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbas. Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, said in a local television interview that Russia was using “scorched-earth” tactics in the region.
- Ukraine is set to top the agenda at the four-day World Economic Forum in Davos, which kicks off on Monday with a video address from Zelenskiy. This year Russia’s “house” at the event was transformed by Ukrainian artists into a “Russian war crimes house”, portraying images of misery and devastation.
- The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, spoke with Zelenskiy on Sunday evening about Russia’s blockade of Odesa, Ukraine’s largest shipping port. The blockade of Ukraine’s ports has been a growing concern for world leaders as many continue to warn about global food security, in particular for developing countries.
- The Moscow-installed mayor of Enerhodar, a southern city of Ukraine and the location of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, has been wounded in an explosion. Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that Andrey Shevchik was in intensive care.
- A bid by Ukraine to join the European Union would not be finalised for “15 or 20 years”, France’s Europe minister said. “We have to be honest. If you say Ukraine is going to join the EU in six months, or a year or two, you’re lying,” Clément Beaune said. “It’s probably in 15 or 20 years. It takes a long time.”
- Zelenskiy has extended Ukraine’s martial law for three months through to 23 August. Ukraine’s parliament also banned the symbols “Z” and “V”, used by Russia’s military to promote its war in Ukraine, but agreed to Zelenskiy’s call to allow their use for educational or historic purposes.
- Olena Zelenska has given a rare interview with Zelenskiy, only their second public appearance together since Russia launched its invasion. She recounts the “anxiety and stupor” she felt on 24 February, and says that even though she has barely seen her husband since, “no one, not even the war, could take him away” from her.
- Technicians linked to the Syrian military’s infamous barrel bombs that have wreaked devastation across much of the country have been deployed to Russia to help potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war, European officials believe. Intelligence officers say more than 50 specialists have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials from president Vladimir Putin’s military.
- YouTube has taken down more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels related to the war in Ukraine for violating content guidelines, including removal of videos that referred to the invasion as a “liberation mission”.
Comments
Prepare for World War III
From Geoff Burrowes
The actions or rather inaction of the Western leaders and yes, I include our own prime minister and President Biden, who should be leader of the free world but who has failed miserably in standing up to the schoolyard bully Putin, have condemned us to face another World War! I don’t want to say this any more than you want to hear it! I have been studying the late 1930s and the phenomenal rise to power of Adolph Hitler. Had England and France stopped Hitler at the Sudetanland and Austria we might never have seen the slaughter of 90,000 that characterized the Second World War! Make no mistake Putin is Hitler without the cowlick and toothbrush moustache! And what has he learned from the reaction of the western leaders?
That he can perform any egregious act of war and then threaten nuclear war and the western leaders will doff their caps, tuck their tails between their legs and slink away to threaten sanctions and ship too few and too late weapons that the Ukranions desperately need to defend themselves against the cowardly attack by the Russians.
Putin understands one thing! Superior force and resolve. So far he has seen none of that from the west!
The one thing that the Ukranions have asked for repeatedly is a No Fly Zone over Ukraine. Could we make it stick? I don’t know but it might make Putin pause his brutal, cowardly attack on the Ukranians. What kind of people are we that we would allow a dastardly attack on a nation that does not want to be a Russian vassal?
Would Putin press the red button? I don’t know but I can’t imagine that he would want himself or his people to fry like overcooked slices of bacon!
Neither would I, but I think the time has come to put up or shut up. Do you think Putin will rest until he has restored the Soviet Union to it’s former power?
There are lots of unanswered questions but what sort of nations will we be if we don’t attempt to stop this tyranny on a defenceless country?
World War III is unlikely:
1) The League of Nations, formed after WWI, was tasked with keeping the global peace. But it proved to be totally ineffective and useless. It could control small nations but did nothing against larger nations;
2) NATO, created after WW2, is much feared by Vladimir Putin. Hitler did not respect the LoN;
3) No nation or group of nations is actively involved in a policy of Russian appeasement, as did Italy, France, England et al;
4) The world is a vastly different place today than it was in the 1930s. Information travels at lightening speed and everyone knows the horrible implications of war. And that in itself serves as a deterrent;
4) Geoff Burrowes speaks of the need for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, implying that that would serve to both protect Ukraine from Russian aerial bombardment while limiting Putin’s range.
In fact, a no-fly zone could quickly escalate tensions in the area and draw the world into battle with Russia. It’s therefore not advisable;
5) Mr. Burrowes speaks of the slaughter of 90,000 people in WW2. I think he means 90 million.
Let’s hope that the war in Ukraine is contained and soon fizzles out without further expansion into Europe. The good thing is, Putin is unlikely to invade another of his neighbours, as Hitler did, with NATO right on his doorstep.