The situation in Mariupol, the strategically important port city in southeastern Ukraine, is extremely difficult.. Four buses evacuating civilians managed to leave the city, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Irina Verestsuk said today. The evacuation of civilians, which is expected to continue today, comes at a time when the port on the Sea of ​​Azov appears to be on the verge of falling under Russian control after nearly two months of siege.
At the same time, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said any peace talks with Ukraine were likely to fail, as he compared talks with the Russian president. Vladimir Putin by trading with a crocodile.
Johnson said trading with Putin was like trading “with a crocodile holding its foot in its jaws.” He stressed that it is important for the West to continue to equip Ukraine.
The British Prime Minister made the above statement as he traveled to India, where he will encourage his counterpart Narendra Monti to end his neutrality towards him. war in Ukraine. However, it downgraded India’s chances of ending its long-standing ties with Russia.
“It’s very difficult to see how the Ukrainians can negotiate with Putin now, given his apparent lack of good faith,” Johnson told reporters. “His strategy, which is obvious, is to try to encircle and conquer as much of Ukrainian territory as possible, and perhaps to negotiate from a position of power.”
Johnson said world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, agreed in a telephone conversation this week that they would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine, including artillery, as Russia intensified its attacks in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia have not held direct talks since March 29, and the atmosphere has been strained since Ukraine’s allegations of Russian atrocities in the city of Butsa, near Kyiv.
Moscow denies the allegations.
Biden Annual Meeting with US White House Leaders
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden gathered the leaders of the US military yesterday as part of an annual meeting at the White House.
The meeting was particularly significant given the dangers of the war in Ukraine, with Washington planning to send more weapons as part of its military assistance.
A “series of issues” were discussed by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, General Mark Miley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and senior military officials, a spokesman for the US National Security Council said. The same event included a meeting at the White House West Wing, as well as an evening dinner at the presidential residence with the military wives shortly after the meeting.
Although the agenda of the annual defense policy meeting is rarely made public, this year the agenda of the debate included serious defense policy issues, with the focus on the Ukraine conflict. US officials have expressed fears that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could pose a threat to European defense security in the coming years.
Russia, for its part, has announced that the military operation has entered a new phase and that it is methodically seeking the “liberation” of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Western allies of the United States expect that the Russian military operation could last several months, after the deterioration of the stagnation to achieve the goals of the Russian military operations, while Moscow will test the combat capability of the Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.
Opening the meeting, Biden stressed the resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces, saying that NATO unity has shocked Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They are tougher and more proud than I thought. “I am amazed at what they are doing with your help,” Biden said. “I do not think Putin expected the situation to hold us together,” he said.
The United States is expected to announce another military aid package for Ukraine in the coming days. The package could reach an economic value of $ 800 million (738 million euros) that Washington announced last week that it would send as defense aid to Ukraine.
Russia says it is continuing what it has described since February 24 as a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “de-Nazify” Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies in the West reject this argument as a false pretext.
A long-running war in Ukraine will test the support of American public opinion regarding Washington’s support for Kyiv. Last month, Biden called on Congress to approve a record-breaking defense spending on the coming fiscal year.
The reported meeting at the White House took place as questions were raised about the future of NATO forces in Europe, including whether a permanent presence would be established on the alliance’s eastern border with Russia.
Source: News Beast
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