Crucial hours for the fate of Ukraine. Talks between Ukraine and Russia are expected to begin on Monday morning near the border with Belarus, reports the news agency TASS, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the next 24 hours will be “critical “. Zelenskyy says Kiev will send a delegation of officials for talks “without any preconditions” with Moscow on the Ukraine-Belarus border while Russian President Vladimir Putin has put Russian nuclear forces on alert. According to the UN, more than 350,000 people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian assault.
Russia has ordered its army to widen the offensive in Ukraine “from all directions”. This was announced yesterday afternoon by the spokesman of the Moscow Defence Ministry. So more men and more means to try to take Kiev, the capital that resists. The Russian armed forces have instead entered Kharkiv, the second largest Ukrainian city where, among other tarrgets, a nine-storey building was hit by a missile. This is not the only destruction as the Ukrainians themselves are blowing up strategic sites to avoid them falling into Russian hands. The governor of Kharkiv, however, says Ukrainian troops are in full control of the country’s second largest city after fighting street by street with Russian forces. The mayor of Kiev says there are no Russian soldiers in the capital and that the city’s defences are holding firm.
President Zelensky is very active, accused by the Russians of not wanting to negotiate (which Kiev denies – in a war that is also fought with information versus misinformation). Not only on the internal war front: Chancellor Olaf Scholz has defined the Russian invasion of the country as a “turning point”, and it’s clear that Berlin will not stand by and watch. In fact, the German government has approved the delivery of a batch of weapons to Ukraine and will supply Kiev with 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles from its stocks. In the meantime, NATO troops are being mobilised, including Italian troops sent to Romania.
New sanctions to hit Moscow are under consideration. Meanwhile, while Brussels decides to send arms to Ukraine, the world is moving to say no to war. It happens in dozens of European cities with an impressive mobilisation that responds to those who asked “where are the pacifists?”. Even in Russia, demonstrations against Putin’s war continue: thousands of arrests.
Yesterday alone, police in Russia arrested more than 2,000 anti-war protesters on the fourth day of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, in what the Kremlin calls a “special operation” and not a war or invasion. But the protest is growing and the number of arrests is said to have exceeded 5,000. The protest does not stop and people do not seem to be intimidated by the strong reaction of the Russian security forces and continue to take to the streets.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Health has announced that more than 350 civilians, including 14 children, have been killed since the invasion began. And while concern is mounting after the announcement yesterday that the Russian nuclear forces had been put on a state of alert, the governor of Kharkiv – the country’s second largest city – said that Ukrainian troops were in full control of the city after street fighting with Russian forces.
The UN secretary-general opened the latest annual meeting of Earth’s leaders with a sombre assessment of the state of affairs on the planet, Ap agency reported. “Peace. Human rights. Dignity for all. Equality. Justice. Solidarity. As never before, fundamental values are in the crosshairs,” said Antonio Guterres, adding that “a sense of impunity is taking hold”. Guterres’ message to the UN General Assembly is obviously even more relevant with the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army.
Meanwhile, while Brussels decides to send arms to Ukraine, the world is moving to say no to war. It happens in dozens of European cities with a mobilisation that responds to those who asked “where are the pacifists?”.
Updated at 9 a.m. on 28 February
