"It's brilliant," said former President Donald Trump in an interview. เกี่ยวกับปัญหา Ukraine ( from Aftonbladet )

Jumps off tonight: Nobs crisis meeting after Putin's move

Of:

Johan Edgar

PUBLISHED: TODAY 01.08

UPDATED: LESS THAN 40 MIN SINCE

NEWS

Ukraine must recognize Crimea as Russian, fumble all thoughts of NATO and hand over all weapons it has received from the West.

That was President Putin's message after the outrage of the outside world.

- Why should the good always be powerless? he asked himself in his televised press conference.

The crisis meeting between the US and Russian foreign ministers was canceled last night after the escalation of the conflict.

The world is holding its breath waiting for Putin's next move in the high stakes game about Ukraine's future.

And relations between the United States and Russia are at a freezing point after the announcement that the meeting between the countries' foreign ministers - which they hoped would be a first step towards a diplomatic solution - is suspended.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said in a televised speech late on Tuesday night that reserve officers and home guardsmen were being called in for a mobilization ahead of a possible full-scale Russian invasion of the country.

He also said he continued to hope for a diplomatic solution to the crisis and welcomed any support from the outside world.

Offensive at the border

At the same time, images of suspected Russian armored vehicles, trucks and military columns inside the occupied parts of Ukraine continue to be spread on social media.

According to Reuters, about a hundred trucks with soldiers appeared on the Russian side in the direction of Ukraine near the border on Tuesday night.

But the extent of the Russian offensive on foreign soil was unclear last night.

A military truck on a street in Donetsk, the territory of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian militants, late Tuesday night.

A military truck on a street in Donetsk, the territory of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian militants, late Tuesday night.

When the word most probably used in the world press on Tuesday was "sanctions", it sounded different in the Russian media.

In a series of press conferences, world leaders and / or their foreign ministers reiterated their dismay at Russian aggression and its recognition of large parts of eastern Ukraine as independent.

But in Moscow, President Putin showed no signs of weakening.

Cancels crisis meeting

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba last night that the planned meeting later this week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was canceled after the escalation.

Blinken would actually have traveled to Europe on Wednesday to meet Lavrov as a first step before an imaginary summit between Biden and Putin following a plan by French President Macron.

But Blinken announced last night that he had sent a letter and canceled the meeting.

"The continued invasion of Ukraine, which has now begun, clearly shows that the idea of ​​having a meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov to find a diplomatic solution - diplomacy that has been rejected by Russia - does not make sense," Blinken said.

- Putin's goal is to invade Ukraine, to control Ukraine and its people, to destroy Ukraine's democracy.

Foreign Ministers Dmytro Kuleba and Anthony Blinken during their joint press conference on Tuesday evening.

Relations between the two great powers are now at icy levels.

Before Joe Biden stood behind the podium in the White House and announced that the United States was freezing assets for Russian banks, and in the face of sanctions against the Russian rich elite, President Putin held court for his own people.

He said during his press conference that he had not yet sent any troops across the border to the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk - which Russia on Monday recognized as independent.

- I have not said that the troops will be used there already now, he said.

At the same time, both NATO and the United States have stated that they have evidence that Russian military columns have been observed in the regions.

half a million inhabitants and the slightly smaller Kramatorsk.

Now Putin says it is up to the Ukrainian government to agree to the demands of Russia and the separatist leaders of the "republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk.

- We assume that disputes will be decided in negotiations between the regime currently in Kiev and the leadership of these republics. Unfortunately, it seems impossible at the moment because the hostilities continue and seem to increase, said the Russian president.

He listed a number of requirements that Ukraine must approve in order to "resolve the situation in the long term".

Ukraine will recognize the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, as Russian, promising that it will never become a member of NATO and getting rid of all the weapons it has received from the United States and other Western countries.

Just before Putin's press conference, Russian state television showed parliament's approval of the president's demand to use military force abroad.

The country's Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said during the debate that Ukraine had gathered 60,000 troops to attack the breakaway regions, writes the New York Times.

This has been completely rejected by the Ukrainian government.

- The negotiations have stalled. The Ukrainian leadership has taken the path that leads to violence and bloodshed, Pankov said, among other things.

People from the Doneso area are being evacuated to another location in Russia.

"Do not be afraid of anything"

From the Ukrainian point of view, not much is given to the Russian demands.

- We will not give anything away. We are not afraid of anything or anyone, said President Zelensky.

In the collective mass of votes of current and former top politicians who have spoken out about Russia, there is one that stands out.

- I went in yesterday and there it was on TV and I said: "It's brilliant," said former President Donald Trump in an interview.

- Here is a guy who is very smart. I know him very well, very well. But this would never have happened if I had been in power. Here is a guy who says "I recognize a large part of Ukraine as independent and we will go in to keep the peace". One has to admit that it is quite smart. And what was the answer from Biden? No answer. They had no answer for that. It's sad, very sad, Trump said in the interview recorded before Biden's press conference in which he announced the US sanctions.