Under the new arrangement, British soldiers are being placed under NATO’s command “if needed, to address the current situation”. They will form part of the KFOR peacekeeping force, which consists of about 4,500 troops from about 27 NATO and partner countries.
NATO is beefing up its presence in Kosovo with UK troops, amid concerns about a build-up of Serbian forces along the border.
Hundreds of soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment have now been made available to a peacekeeping force.
Tensions rose last weekend after a deadly siege at a monastery in northern Kosovo, with masked gunmen and local police engaging in a standoff.
The assailants barricaded themselves inside with priests and visiting pilgrims – and an officer was killed along with three of the gunmen in a 12-hour shootout.
It one of the worst incidents since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, with the White House National Security Council claiming it was a “well-coordinated and planned” attack.
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti has accused Serbia of orchestrating the attack – allegations that have been denied.
Mr Kurti has welcomed NATO’s decision and claims last Sunday’s attack suggests Serbia, which doesn’t recognise Kosovo’s sovereignty, wants to destabilise the country with Russia’s help.
He said: “They are in search of a time machine. They want to turn the clock back by 30 years. But that is not going to happen.”
US officials are monitoring a large deployment of Serbian troops along the border with Kosovo, with Mr Murti claiming “they have a lot of military equipment” from Russia and China.
Under the new arrangement, British troops are being placed under NATO’s command “if needed, to address the current situation”.
Tensions rise as Belarusian helicopters reportedly cross into Polish airspace during a training exercise.
Belarus military helicopters stray into Polish airspace during training (Image: Getty)
Poland’s Ministry of Defence has reported that two Belarusian military helicopters violated Polish airspace during a training exercise.
In response to the incursion Mariusz Błaszczak, the Minister of Defence has ordered the number of soldiers on the border to be increased.
The Belarusian side had previously informed Poland about the training drills, the Polish Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
The border crossing reportedly took place at a very low altitude, making it difficult to detect by radar systems.
The Polish MoD noted: “Therefore, in the morning announcement, the Operational Command of the Armed Forces Branches informed that the Polish radar systems did not record any violation of Polish airspace.
“NATO has been informed of the incident.”
Belarusian helicopters cross into Polish airspace during training (Image: Getty)
A statement released by the Polish MoD on Tuesday (August 1) said: “After the commanders and service chiefs presented conclusions from the analysis of the situation, it was established that today, August 1, 2023, there was a violation of Polish airspace by two Belarusian helicopters that were training near the border.
Poland has raised the alarm over the presence of Wagner fighters on its border with Belarus, which it says is to “launch a hybrid attack” and “destabilize” it. But Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claims that he is rather restraining the Wagnerites.
They have been itching to go into Poland to stop what Belarus and Russia allege are Warsaw’s “revanchist ambitions” to occupy western Ukraine and Belarus.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference on July 29, “We have information that more than 100 Wagner mercenaries have advanced towards the Suwalki Gap, not far from Grodno in Belarus.” Wagner fighters had arrived in Belarus last month after their short-lived rebellion against Russia’s Ministry of Defense (RuMoD).
Polish Minister of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, announced on July 27 a training academy for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and mentioned its utility against Russia. It came a week after Putin promised to intervene against Poland if Minsk is threatened.
The US ambassador to the United Nations (UN) has meanwhile warned on Monday that any attack on NATO by Russia’s Wagner Group will be treated as an attack by Russia. Linda Thomas-Greenfield made the remarks while briefing reporters in New York.
Asked about the presence of Wagner forces on the Polish border, she said: “We certainly worry that this group, at the behest of the Russian government – because they do not work independently of the Russian government – is a threat to all of us.”
Poland Wields HIMARS To Deter Russia
Establishing the HIMARS Academy and the 1st Rocket Brigade at Toruń in the country’s north, Błaszczak announced that the center would also cooperate with Baltic states like Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, who too have ordered the weapon from the US. He then praised the capabilities of the Polish Army and the HIMARS platform, saying they could effectively deter Russia.
“Today, we saw the HIMARS in action, with a range of up to 300 km. The Polish Army can fire at long distances. Our task is to equip it with proven weapons that deter the aggressor, which will make Russia not dare to attack Poland. In the hands of Polish soldiers, trained both in the United States and Poland, it is a great weapon to deter the aggressor,” Błaszczak said at the training ground in Toruń.
Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak with Polish Army servicemen and HIMARS platforms on July 27
Poland is in the middle of a massive armament buying spree, with the first of the 20 HIMARS launchers from the US, part of a $414 million deal from 2019, reaching the country in May this year. It has also inked a $13.7 billion arms deal with South Korea to buy Chunmoo rocket launchers, K2 main battle tanks, K9 self-propelled guns (SPG), and FA-50 fighter aircraft.
‘Poland Has Revanchist Ambitions’
But Russian officials rather claim that Poland envisages reacquiring what it believes are its historical territories. A meeting between Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on July 23 and Putin’s meeting with his 11-member Security Council on July 21 saw Lukashenko and Russia’s Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin touching upon Polish plans.
While Putin was non-committal on responding to a Polish intervention in western Ukraine, he, however, did promise to rush militarily to Belarus’s aid. The mobilization of Wagner fighters – now based in Belarus, to the Polish border can be seen in this context. This means the Wagner drills are a pre-emptive measure to deter Poland. Also, the Baltic nation of Lithuania has formed the ‘Lublin Triangle’ with Ukraine and Poland to execute the plan on western Ukraine, according to Naryshkin.
[1/3] Police stand guard near the Iraqi embassy ahead of a demonstration in Stockholm, Sweden July 20, 2023. REUTERS/Supantha Mukherjee//File PhotoSweden is the target of a disinformation campaign by “Russia-backed actors” intended to hurt the image of the NATO-candidate country by implying it supported recent burnings of the Koran, its Minister for Civil Defence said on Wednesday.
Sweden’s bid to join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has put it in the international spotlight, while a number of demonstrations at which protesters have burned copies of the Muslim holy book have angered Muslims around the world.
“Sweden is the target of a disinformation campaign supported by state and state-like actors with the aim of damaging Swedish interests and … Swedish citizens,” the minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, told reporters at a press conference.
“We can see how Russia-backed actors are amplifying incorrect statements such as that the Swedish state is behind the desecration of holy scriptures,” he said.
“That is, naturally, completely false,” Bohlin said, adding that such state actors tried to “create division and weaken Sweden’s international standing.”
There was no immediate reply from the Russian embassy in Stockholm to a request for comment about the minister’s remarks.
Swedish Premier Ulf Kristersson also commented on the topic in a post, saying he wanted to correct a common misunderstanding.
“The Swedish state does not issue permissions to burn copies of the Koran. However, the police issue permits for public gatherings – a right that is enshrined in Sweden’s constitution,” Kristersson wrote on Facebook.
He said Sweden had no tradition of burning books just because it was legal.
“The state guarantees the right to freedom of expression, but does not thereby stand behind any political messages,” he wrote.
Mikael Ostlund, a spokesman for Sweden’s Psychological Defence Agency, said Russia was using the Koran burnings as opportunities to promote its agenda in the media.
“Obviously, one such ambition from Russia’s side is to be able to complicate our joining NATO.”
Russian president says his country will retaliate against any attack on its ally with all means at its disposal as Poland denies having any territorial ambitions in Belarus.
Wagner Group fighters are training Belarusian special forces at the Brestsky military ground in Belarus [File: Handout by the Belarusian Defence Ministry/ Telegram/@modmilby/AFP]Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union and said any aggression against its neighbour and ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia itself.
In televised remarks on Friday, Putin warned that Moscow would use any means at its disposal to protect Belarus, which forms a loose Union State with Russia, against possible attacks.
Putin said there were reports of plans for a Polish-Lithuanian unit to be used for operations in western Ukraine – parts of which in the past belonged to Poland – and ultimately to occupy territory there.
“But as far as Belarus is concerned, it is part of the Union State. Unleashing aggression against Belarus will mean aggression against the Russian Federation,” Putin said at a meeting of the Kremlin’s Security Council.
“We will respond to this with all the means at our disposal.”
“It is well known that they also dream of the Belarusian lands,” he said, also without providing any evidence.
‘Pathetic bore from the Kremlin’
Poland, a NATO member and one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in its fight against Russia’s invasion, denied any territorial ambitions in Ukraine or Belarus.
“The pathetic bore from the Kremlin is once again repeating lies about Poland and also trying to falsify the truth about the war against Ukraine,” Poland’s deputy minister coordinator of special services, Stanislaw Zaryn, told the state-owned PAP news agency.
“Vladimir Putin is also using historical revisionism again to spread false accusations against Poland.”
In his remarks, Putin argued Poland’s western territories were a “gift” from former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
“It was thanks to the Soviet Union, thanks to steps taken by Stalin, that Poland got substantial territories in the West – German land. This is a fact,” Putin said. “Western Polish territories are Stalin’s gift to Poland. Have our friends in Warsaw forgotten about it? We’ll give them a reminder.”
Putin’s comments are a message that “Poland has to be grateful to the Soviet Union, to Russia, and instead they are becoming more of an enemy to Russia,” said Nina Khrushcheva, professor of international affairs at the New School and great-granddaughter of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
“Also this is a message to the Ukrainians: ‘Please remember that for many years Ukraine and Poland were not great friends, and so now you’re being duped.’ So this is a multilayered propaganda message on the Kremlin’s part,” she told Al Jazeera from Moscow.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gives the keynote address for the 20th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Caroline Chia/File Photo
Trade and security will be priorities for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on a trip this week to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and attend a NATO summit in Lithuania, Albanese’s office said.
He will meet Scholz on Monday to discuss “deepening cooperation between Australia and Germany” in “trade and investment, the clean energy transition, and defence”, the Labor leader’s office said in a statement late on Saturday.
At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Tuesday and Wednesday, Australia will advocate for “our region’s strategic priorities and advance Australia’s security, economic and trade agenda,” the statement said.
Australia is not a member of NATO but has a decades-long relationship with the Western alliance and attended last year’s summit in Madrid as a non-member participant.
“Alongside our NATO allies, Australia continues to demonstrate our unwavering support for Ukraine, and our condemnation of Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion,” Albanese said in the statement.
Australia, one of the largest non-NATO contributors to the West’s support for Ukraine, has supplied aid and defence equipment and banned exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia.
Last month, Australia promised a new A$110 million ($74 million) package to Ukraine, including 70 military vehicles to defend against Russia’s invasion, taking Australia’s total contribution for Ukraine to A$790 million ($530 million).
The White House is facing criticism for supplying the munitions, which are banned by many allies because they kill indiscriminately – and can remain lethal long after a conflict has ended.
Rishi Sunak has said the UK “discourages” the use of cluster bombs after the US agreed to send them to Ukraine.
President Joe Biden has faced criticism for supplying the munitions, which are banned by many allies because of their track record of killing and maiming civilians.
The prime minister said the UK was one of 123 countries that signed a convention banning their use, and would continue focusing on supplying tanks and long-range weapons to help the fight against Russia.
He added: “We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion, but we’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and most recently long-range weapons, and hopefully all countries can continue to support Ukraine.
“Russia’s act of barbarism is causing untold suffering to millions of people.
“It’s right that we collectively stand up to it.”
Mr Sunak will meet Mr Biden in London on Monday ahead of a NATO summit.
Why cluster bombs decision is controversial
Cluster bombs detonate in the air and release “bomblets” that scatter over a large area.
Opponents say they kill indiscriminately and that some of the smaller munitions can fail to detonate, posing a long-term risk to civilians.
Mr Biden has called it a “difficult decision” but said he had to act as “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition”.
The US says Kyiv has provided assurances it will not use cluster bombs in urban areas, but some NATO allies are likely to be uneasy over their supply.
It’s hoped the weapon will boost Ukraine’s lagging counteroffensive but the UN says they should never be used – and more than 100 countries have banned them.
President Biden has agreed to give Ukraine controversial cluster munitions to use against Russian troops.
The weapon detonates in the air and releases “bomblets” that scatter over a large area.
Opponents say they kill indiscriminately and that some of the smaller munitions can fail to detonate, posing a long-term risk to civilians.
US officials said the cluster bombs it will provide have a low “dud rate” of under 2.35% to minimise the risk.
President Biden called it a “difficult decision” but said he had to act as “the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition”.
He told CNN the cluster bombs were being sent as a “transition period” until it can supply more standard 155mm artillery.
Colin Kahl, under secretary of defense for policy, said “hundreds of thousands” were available but refused to state how many would initially be provided.
He said Russia had been using older cluster munitions with a dud rate of 30-40% since the start of the war.
A Ukrainian serviceman with a defused cluster bomb from a Russian missile
Ukraine is said to have given written assurances not to use them in populated areas, to map where they are used, and committed to a post-war clean-up.
The US put off the decision “as long as we could” due to the risk to civilians, said Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s national security adviser.
But he said there was “a massive risk of civilian harm” if Russia takes more territory because Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said cluster munitions could have an “extraordinary psycho-emotional impact” on demoralised Russian troops.
More than 100 countries are signed up to a convention against the use and manufacture of cluster bombs, but the US, Russia and Ukraine are not part of it.
“We’re not signatories to that agreement, but it took me a while to be convinced to do it,” President Biden told CNN.
He said he’d followed the recommendation of US defence officials.
Cluster munition shells being dismantled in Germany in 2009. Pic: AP
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had no position on the issue and that it was for “individual allies… to make those decisions”.
However, the United Nations has urged both sides not to use them.
UN human rights office spokesperson Marta Hurtado said “the use of such munitions should stop immediately and not be used in any place”.
The International Red Cross said cluster munitions “cause significant numbers of preventable civilian casualties”.
A NATO flag waves at the headquarters of the NATO Mission in Kosovo, June 20, 2023. REUTERS/Fatos Bytyci
Serbia’s army commander urged NATO peacekeepers and other international bodies on Friday to step up measures to protect minority Serbs in Kosovo, adding that “the international community is not fulfilling its obligations.”
The call from General Milan Mojsilovic came a day after the European Union, Serbia and Kosovo failed to make a breakthrough in talks aimed at ending weeks of violence in predominantly ethnic Serb areas of northern Kosovo.
Mojsilovic’s statement came hours after Kosovo’s own soldiers marched through the southern Albanian part of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica, where ethnic Serbs make up the majority in the north.
Mojsilovic in a rare public address said he had asked NATO peacekeeping mission KFOR and other international bodies to undertake urgent measures to protect ethnic Serbs there.
“Because of … professional cooperation we have, I have informed the KFOR commander that we are following events with great anxiety and that urgent measures must be taken to protect the Serbian people,” Mojsilovic told reporters.
“Today it is clear that the international community is not fulfilling its obligations,” he said without elaborating.
Kosovo’s interior minister Xhelal Svecla said late on Friday that in the northern town of Zvecan police had found inside a car with Belgrade registration a large quantities of weapons, including shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, explosive devices, automatic weapons and military uniforms.
“These weapons were intended to carry out terrorist attacks,” Svecla said on his Facebook page, showing photos of what he said were seized weapons. “This is yet another proof that Serbia through such groups and organisations wants to destabilise our country.”
Earlier on Friday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he was “very alarmed” by the situation in northern Kosovo, citing “extrajudicial arrests” of Kosovo Serbs and the march by Kosovo Security Forces “followed by heavy rhetoric from Serbia”.
Borrell met separately with Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Brussels on Thursday to try to defuse the crisis.
“Despite yesterday’s crisis meeting, escalation continues & is becoming dangerous. We will not tolerate it,” Borrell declared on Twitter.
Very alarmed by situation in north of Kosovo: extrajudicial arrests of K-Serbs & Kosovo Security Forces marching in South Mitrovica; followed by heavy rhetoric from Serbia.
Despite yesterday’s crisis meeting, escalation continues & is becoming dangerous. We will not tolerate it.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) June 23, 2023
Violence flared in four northern Kosovo municipalities late last month after ethnic Albanian mayors took office following a local election in which turnout came to just 3.5%.
Ethnic Serbs, who make up the majority of the population in the region, had boycotted the vote.
A number of Serbs were also arrested by Kosovo police during and after the protests.
In response, Vucic in May deployed troops near the Kosovo border.
“The Serbian armed forces, in accordance with the constitution and the U.N. Charter, if they receive an order … will fully carry out all their tasks in relation to the overall security crisis,” Mojsilovic said on Friday without elaborating.
For Vladimir Putin, the state visit to Russia by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which begins on Monday, provides a giant morale boost and a chance to showcase the much-vaunted new world order that the Russian leader believes he is forging through his war on Ukraine — in which the United States and NATO can no longer dictate anything to anyone.
Xi’s visit to Russia, just after cementing his precedent-breaking third term in power, brings together two men who have positioned themselves as leaders for life — and it sets the scene for global confrontation, with Beijing willing to use its partnership with Moscow to counter Washington, even if that means granting tacit approval to Putin’s brutal, destabilizing war.
“The grim outlook in China is that we are entering this era of confrontation with the U.S., the gloves are off, and Russia is an asset and a partner in this struggle,” said Alexander Gabuev, an analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
It remains to be seen whether this confrontation will heat up, pushing three nuclear powers to the brink of World War III, or merely marks the opening chords of Cold War 2.0. But Xi’s visit shows sides being taken, with China, Russia and Iran lining up against the United States, Britain and other NATO allies — in a competition for global influence and for alliances with nations such as South Africa and Saudi Arabia, which seem ambivalent but up for grabs.
In an article published Sunday evening in China’s People’s Daily, Putin gushed about the brotherly friendship between Russia and China, which he said were standing “shoulder to shoulder,” including against Western hegemony.
“Sticking more stubbornly than ever to its obsolete dogmata and vanishing dominance, the ‘Collective West’ is gambling on the fates of entire states and peoples,” Putin wrote. “The U.S.’s policy of simultaneously deterring Russia and China, as well as all those who do not bend to the American dictation, is getting ever more fierce and aggressive.” He also warned that NATO is “seeking to penetrate the Asia-Pacific.”
Xi’s trip, billed in Russia as the signature diplomatic event of 2023, could hardly come at a more useful moment for Putin. With his invasion largely stalled, military casualties mounting, and his personal reputation newly stained by an arrest warrant for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court, Putin is in desperate need of a distraction that props him up.
For the Russian domestic audience, the ceremonial pomp of hosting the Chinese leader will reinforce Putin’s image as a modern-day czar. Crowning the visit, a state dinner will be held in the spectacular 15th-century stone Faceted Chamber in the Kremlin, Moscow’s oldest building, constructed by Ivan III, the grand prince of Moscow, whose reputation as a “gatherer of lands” for annexing neighboring territories inspires Putin.
Given rampant second-guessing of Putin’s military strategy, the display of China and Russia as allies against the United States will also lend credibility to Putin’s assertions that the Ukraine war is the crucible by which Russia is creating the new post-American order.
ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin over war crimes in Ukraine
As the Chinese president lands in Russia, amid Putin’s feverish anti-Western rhetoric, the world is at a dangerous crossroads. The Russian leader has suspended New START, the only remaining arms control accord with Washington, and has staked his country’s future on what is now likely to be a long, unpredictable war, despite the staggering economic costs and misgivings of his own elite. The West, in turn, is sending more powerful arms to Ukraine, including tanks and fighter jets.
The alignment of authoritarian leaders may see the world divided into opposing camps for decades, stymieing cooperation on climate change, choking global action on human rights abuses, paralyzing international institutions and increasing tensions in contested regions.
But while Putin is searching for allies who can send weapons, boost trade or at least support him in global forums, for Xi, the visit seems more about positioning Beijing globally than about Russia or Ukraine, said Aleksei Chigadayev, a China analyst at Leipzig University and former lecturer at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics who left Russia because of the invasion.
“It’s a demonstration to the world, ‘We can mediate in international conflicts, and we are a reliable partner,’” Chigadayev said of Xi’s visit.
It is also a warning, he said, to Washington on the need to negotiate with Beijing and to Europe on China’s importance as a major global power. He added that the visit sends a message to Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East that China is a more viable source of support than the United States.
Xi may also be intent on demonstrating to Putin that if there is a new world order, then China will lead it.
Leaders from NATO, the G7 and the EU convened in Brussels to find ways of supporting Ukraine without pushing the West into an all-out war with Russia. A new US-European energy deal aims to isolate Moscow.
G7 leaders called on Russia to end the war in Ukraine
Helicopters patrolled the skies and security was beefed up in Brussels as leaders of the NATO, the G7 and European Union held consecutive summits in the Belgian capital to address Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The high-stake talks ended with new pledges aiming to isolate Russia further but stopped short of a direct military response to the war in Ukraine.
NATO leaders agreed to activate its chemical and nuclear defense units in light of a potential chemical attack by Russian forces in Ukraine and committed to bolstering the alliance’s eastern flank.
G7 leaders agreed to block financial transactions involving the Russian central bank’s international reserves of gold and ramp up humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
A new transatlantic energy pact, signed by the leaders of the European Union and the US, marked a more robust initiative by the West to isolate the Kremlin for its actions in Ukraine.
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In an effort to reduce the EU’s dependence on Russian energy — the bloc imports 41% of its gas from Russia — the US agreed to increase liquid natural gas (LNG) exports to the EU by 15 billion cubic meters this year.
After announcing the deal, US President Joe Biden highlighted how Russian President Vladimir Putin uses energy to “coerce and manipulate his neighbors.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, welcomed the deal and said it was important for Europe to shift away from Russia and toward energy suppliers that are “trustworthy, friendly and reliable.”
She also urged Western allies to remain vigilant while imposing sanctions on Russia.
“Now all our efforts should be on enforcing these sanctions and preventing circumvention and evasion,” she said following the EU summit.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses French lawmakers via video lin, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 23, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
Ukraine’s leader called for solidarity on Thursday, a month since Russia’s invasion began, warning he would see who sells out at summits in Europe where bolstering sanctions and NATO is planned but restrictions on energy could prove divisive.
U.S. President Joe Biden has arrived in Brussels for meetings of the alliance, G7 and European Union over a conflict that began on Feb. 24 and has caused more than 3.6 million refugees to flee the country.
Biden’s visit could also shine light on a dispute with European allies, some of whom are heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas, over whether to impose further energy sanctions.
The issue has been a “substantial” topic and the subject of “intense back and forth” in recent days, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. The United States has already banned imports of Russian oil.
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Moscow planned to switch gas sales made to “unfriendly” countries to roubles, causing European gas prices to soar on concerns the move would exacerbate the region’s energy crunch.
As the humanitarian toll from the conflict continues to rise, driving a quarter of Ukraine’s population of 44 million from their homes, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on people around the world to take to the streets and demand the war end.
“Come from your offices, your homes, your schools and universities, come in the name of peace, come with Ukrainian symbols to support Ukraine, to support freedom, to support life,” he said in a video address.
The United States planned to announce more sanctions on Russian political figures and oligarchs on Thursday, and officials would have more to say on Friday about European energy issues, Sullivan said.
Ahead of his meeting with Biden, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would boost its forces in Eastern Europe by deploying four new battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia.
Zelenskiy said on Thursday he expected “serious steps” from Western allies.
He repeated his call for a no-fly zone and complained that the West had not provided Ukraine with planes, modern anti-missile systems, tanks or anti-ship weapons.
“At these three summits we will see who is our friend, who is our partner and who sold us out and betrayed us,” he said in a video address released early on Thursday.
Speaking to representatives of the United Kingdom-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) today, Zelenskyy said that we heard for years about the allegedly open doors of NATO, but we have already heard that we won’t be able to join.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on March 15 said that his war-torn country was prepared to accept security guarantees that stop short of its long-term objective of the NATO alliance membership, which Russia opposes.
Zelenskyy said that the country realises that it cannot join the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO).
Speaking to representatives of the United Kingdom-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) today, Zelenskyy said that we heard for years about the allegedly open doors of NATO, but we have already heard that we won’t be able to join.
“If we cannot enter through open doors, then we must cooperate with the associations with which we can, which will help us, protect us … and have separate guarantees,” he added.
He further said that it’s the truth we must recognise, and I’m glad that our people are starting to realise that and count on themselves and our partners who are helping us.
One of Zelenskiy’s top aides said the war would be over by May, or even end within weeks, as Russia had run out of fresh troops.
“We are at a fork in the road now,” Oleksiy Arestovich said in a video. He said he expected either a peace deal within one or two weeks or another Russian attempt with new reinforcements, which could prolong the conflict for another month.
“I think that no later than in May, early May, we should have a peace agreement, maybe much earlier: we will see,” Arestovich said.
In Rivne in western Ukraine, officials said 19 people had been killed in a Russian airstrike on a TV tower. If confirmed it would be the worst attack on a civilian target so far in the northwest where Russian ground troops have yet to tread.
Peace talks have focused so far on local ceasefires to let civilians evacuate and bring aid to surrounding cities.
The worst hit is the southeastern port of Mariupol, where hundreds have been killed since Russia laid siege in the war’s first week. Russian troops let the first column of cars leave Mariupol on Monday but the attempt to bring in aid convoys have failed for 10 straight days. Ukrainian officials said they would try again.
While Russia has failed to seize any cities in the north and east, it has had more success in the south, where Moscow said on Tuesday it now controlled the entire Kherson region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday peace talks were sounding more realistic but more time was needed, as Russian air strikes killed five people in the capital Kyiv and the refug ee tally from Moscow’s invasion reached 3 million.
Moscow has not captured any of Ukraine’s 10 biggest cities following its incursion that began on Feb. 24, the largest assault on a European state since 1945.
Ukrainian officials have raised hopes the war could end sooner than expected, possibly by May, saying Moscow may be coming to terms with its failure to impose a new government by force and running out of fresh troops.
“The meetings continue, and, I am informed, the positions during the negotiations already sound more realistic. But time is still needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said in a video address on Wednesday, ahead of the next round of talks.
In a hint of a possible compromise, Zelenskiy said earlier Ukraine was prepared to accept security guarantees from the West that stop short of its long-term goal of joining NATO. Moscow sees any future Ukraine membership of the Western alliance as a threat and has demanded guarantees it will never join.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it was too early to predict progress in the talks. “The work is difficult, and in the current situation the very fact that (the talks) are continuing is probably positive.”
A barrage of Russian missiles hit a large Ukrainian base near the border with NATO member Poland on Sunday, killing 35 people and wounding 134, a local official said, in an escalation of the war to the west of the country as fighting raged elsewhere.
An injured serviceman is escorted by medical workers, following an attack on the Yavoriv military base, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at a hospital in Novoyavorivsk, Ukraine, March 13, 2022. REUTERS/Roman Baluk
Russia’s defence ministry said the air strike had destroyed a large amount of weapons supplied by foreign nations that were being stored at the sprawling training facility, and that it had killed “up to 180 foreign mercenaries”.
Reuters could not independently verify the casualties reported by either side.
The attack on the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, a base just 15 miles (25 km) from the Polish border that has previously hosted NATO military instructors, brought the conflict to the doorstep of the Western defence alliance.
Russia had warned on Saturday that convoys of Western arms shipments to Ukraine could be considered legitimate targets.
Britain called the attack as a “significant escalation,” and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken responded with a post on Twitter saying “the brutality must stop.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation”, warned any attack on NATO territory would trigger a full response by the alliance.
Regional governor Maksym Kozytskyy said Russian planes fired around 30 rockets at the Yavoriv facility.
Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said Russia had used high-precision, long-range weapons to strike Yavoriv and a separate facility in the village of Starichi.
“As a result of the strike, up to 180 foreign mercenaries and a large amount of foreign weapons were destroyed,” he said.
