Kyiv was bombarded as in the 1941
The capital of Ukraine was attacked with rockets. The adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, compared Russia with terrorists: “Today, Kyiv woke up not by the birds’ singing, but by explosions. 4 “high-precision” RF missiles hit residential buildings in the capital’s downtown. Destroying civilization, “Second Army of the World” is same as the Taliban or Hezbollah. Terrorists have one finale – retribution.”
Concomitantly, the Russian troops launched over 50 rockets of different types – air, maritime and ground – on localities of Lviv, Jytomyr, Sumy, Rivne, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Cernihiv and Mykolaiv regions.
Oleksii Reznikov, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, believes that the only way to resume dialogue between the West and Russia may be the demilitarization of the European part of the aggressor state.
Reznikov explained that the Russians’ most recent missile strikes on Ukrainian cities were carried out from the Caspian and Black Seas and the airspace of Belarus, which is pretending not to be a party in the military conflict. According to Reznikov, this is a strategic threat to the security of the entire European continent. Therefore, Western partners’ rapid response should be to provide Ukraine with modern air and missile defense systems.
Price of peace is paid by Ukrainians
The situation around Ukraine will most like be settled via negotiations, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in his interview for El Pais, published Saturday.
“Most likely, this war will end at the negotiations table,” he said, according to El Pais. “We are responsible for providing the strongest possible position to Ukraine and for helping it to remain a sovereign and independent European nation.
“The best way to do so is to provide a strong military and economic support and to promote harsh sanctions against Russia,” the official said.
According to Stoltenberg, “there is no total war between NATO and Russia.” “Peace can always be achieved if you surrender. But Ukraine is fighting for its freedom, for its right to exist, for the right to be a democratic nation without submitting to the power of Russia. And the Ukrainians are ready to pay a very high price, to sacrifice themselves for these values. It's not for us to tell them how far their sacrifices should go,” Stoltenberg stated.
Bad peace generates other bad consequences
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that he feared Ukraine could face pressure to agree a peace deal with Russia that was not in its interests, due to the economic consequences of the war in Europe.
“Too many countries are saying this is a European war that is unnecessary ... and so the pressure will grow to encourage - coerce, maybe - the Ukrainians to a bad peace,” he told broadcasters in the Rwandan capital Kigali, where he was attending a Commonwealth summit.
Johnson said the consequences of Russian President Vladimir Putin being able to get his way in Ukraine would be dangerous to international security and “a long-term economic disaster”.
Last week Hungry demanded that Europe should start negotiations with Russia.
Dmytro Kuleba, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, says Ukraine will support the people of Moldova and the country’s government in the wake of the latest threats coming from the Russian Federation.
“We stand with the people and the government of friendly Moldova amid renewed threats coming from Moscow. All Russia has left is spitting out threats at other states after decades of failed policies based on aggression, coercion, and disrespect. This only shows Russia’s weakness,” Kuleba tweeted.
Moscow hopes “already damaged” ties between Russia and the European Union will not deteriorate further with EU candidate status granted to Ukraine and Moldova, the Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.
“It is important (that these processes) do not lead to further deterioration of our relations with the EU, because it is very difficult to damage them further, (as) they are already pretty damaged,” Dmitry Peskov said during a press briefing in Moscow.
G7 adopts statement on Ukraine
The G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, reaffirmed in the strongest terms their condemnation of Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine.
The meeting focused on Russia’s culpability for aggravating the global food crisis as a result of the war. G7 Foreign Ministers made clear that Russia’s war against Ukraine is exacerbating food insecurity, including by blocking the Black Sea, bombing grain silos and ports, and damaging Ukraine’s agricultural infrastructure.
G7 Foreign Ministers called on Moscow to cease its attacks and threatening actions and un-block the Ukrainian Black Sea ports for food exports. They expressed their support for the United Nations’ efforts to urgently reopen a Black Sea route for grain and the European Commission’s Action Plan for EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes for moving grain by road, rail and barge to world markets, to which G7 countries are actively contributing.
Turning point expected in August
Certain events will take place in August that will show the whole world that a turning point is starting, the head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Kirill Budanov stated on the air of one of the largest broadcasters in the UK“ITV news”.
“Ukraine will return to the borders of 1991, and we are not considering any other scenarios. By the end of the year, active hostilities will drop to almost zero. We will regain control over our territories in the foreseeable future,” he stated.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence confirmed that part of the Ukrainian army’s success in the Russian-Ukrainian war now depends on international support and noted Britain’s recent proposal to train 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen.
