President of Ukraine asks to strengthen sanctions against Russia
2023.02.02 15:14
President of Ukraine asks to strengthen sanctions against Russia
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, urged European leaders who were in Kyiv on Thursday to impose additional sanctions on Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin rallied his nation by citing a well-known victory over the Nazis in World War II.
Since Russia’s nearly one-year invasion of Ukraine, which has demolished cities, killed tens of thousands, forced millions of people to flee their homes, and shaken the global economy, the West has enacted extensive punitive measures.
According to police, a Russian missile destroyed apartments in Kramatorsk in the most recent violence, killing at least three people and trapping others beneath the rubble.
Moscow claimed to have struck rocket launchers made in the United States in the area about 55 kilometers (34 miles) northwest of Bakhmut, the center of the fighting in eastern Ukraine right now, where Russia has been making small gains in recent weeks.
Putin predicted a new victory in Ukraine while speaking in Volgograd, formerly known as Stalingrad, where the Soviet army defeated Nazi forces 80 years ago. He blasted Germany for contributing to Kyiv’s arming and declared that he was prepared to use Russia’s entire nuclear arsenal.
In a speech, he stated:
“Unfortunately, we see that the ideology of Nazism in its modern form and manifestation once more directly threatens the security of our country.”
“We must continually retaliate against the collective West’s aggression. It’s amazing, but it’s true: We are once more in danger from German cross-painted Leopard tanks.”
Putin describes his “special military operation” in Ukraine as an effort to “disarm” his neighbor, which is also a former Soviet republic, and to protect Russia from an aggressive West. The West and Ukraine describe it as an illegal war to extend Russian influence.
The head of the executive Commission of the European Union made a promise to provide additional assistance to Ukraine after arriving in Kyiv by train for discussions regarding Ukraine’s desire to join the EU.
“Because our sanctions are destroying Russia’s economy and putting it back a generation, it is paying a heavy price. Ursula von der Leyen and Zelenskiy spoke together at a joint press conference. “We will keep increasing the pressure.”
“Moscow was adapting to them during the biggest armed conflict in Europe since World War Two,” he said, urging additional sanctions that had “slightly slowed.” “We will be closer to defeating the Russian Federation’s aggression the faster and better this task is completed,” he stated.
Before the Feb. 24 anniversary of the invasion, Von der Leyen stated that additional political, financial, and military support would be provided. She also said that an international center would be set up in The Hague to prosecute acts of aggression against Ukraine.
She stated:
“We know the future of our continent is being written here… This is a fight between democracies and authoritarian regimes.”
Russia has gained ground on the battlefield, determined to advance before Ukraine receives newly promised Western battle tanks and armored vehicles.
It announced moves to the north and south of Bakhmut, which has been continuously bombarded by Russian forces for months.
Yevhen Dikiy, a Ukrainian military analyst, stated that Russian forces are pushing from both the north and the south to encircle Bakhmut, employing greater troop numbers in an effort to prevent it from receiving supplies and drive the Ukrainians out.
Dikiy stated to Espreso TV, “The enemy is able to use its sole resource, which it has in excess – its men,” describing a “literally covered with corpses” landscape northeast of Bakhmut.
According to Ukraine and its Western allies, Moscow has suffered significant losses around Bakhmut and has sent in waves of poorly armed troops, including thousands of prisoners’ recruits.
According to Reuters, a former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who fled to Norway stated that he regretted fighting in Ukraine and was advocating for the prosecution of those responsible for atrocities. “I want to say I’m sorry, even though I don’t know how it would be received,” the 26-year-old Andrei Medvedev said.
He claimed that he witnessed the shooting deaths of two individuals who did not want to fight in front of newly enrolled ex-convicts.
Ukraine has received promises of new capabilities from the West in the form of weapons, the most recent of which is expected to include rockets from the United States that would nearly double the range of Ukrainian forces.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated:
“We’re focused on providing Ukraine the capability that it needs to be effective in its upcoming anticipated counter-offensive in the spring.”
The new weapons would put Ukrainian forces within range of all of Russia’s supply lines in eastern Ukraine, including parts of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
According to Moscow, these rockets won’t change the course of the conflict, but they will make it worse. It also states that it will increase its arms supply.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated on Russian state television:
“The greater the range of the weapons supplied to the Kyiv regime, the more we will have to push them back from territories that are part of our country.”
In addition to Crimea, Moscow asserts that it annexed four Ukrainian provinces last year.
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