Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

Date of Event: Feb 24, 2022

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/world/news/us-house-passes-95b-ukraine-israel-aid-package-3591601

Discuss the ongoing war between Russia & Ukraine.

Below are the archived versions of both part 1 and part 2 of the PDF Russia-Ukraine war threads:

Part 1: Russia-Ukraine War - News and Developments

Part 2: Russia-Ukraine War - News and Developments PART 2

 

[Saif]

Vance says US wields economic, military leverage on Russia in Ukraine talks

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington would be able to wield economic and military leverage in talks with Russia to ensure a good peace deal over Ukraine, but his spokesman later denied he was making any threats against Moscow. Vance also urged Europe to spend more on defence in remarks befor

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Vance says US wields economic, military leverage on Russia in Ukraine talks
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 14, 2025 21:57
Updated :
Feb 14, 2025 21:57

US Vice President JD Vance shakes hands as he participates in a bilateral meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Commerzbank in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Leah Millis

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington would be able to wield economic and military leverage in talks with Russia to ensure a good peace deal over Ukraine, but his spokesman later denied he was making any threats against Moscow.

Vance also urged Europe to spend more on defence in remarks before arriving for the Munich Security Conference, a major annual gathering of political leaders, military officers and diplomats.

In his keynote address to the conference, Vance lambasted the European Union for its regulation of hate speech and misinformation, which he said amounted to censorship.

He only briefly referred to Ukraine, saying he hoped a “reasonable settlement” could be reached.

However, Ukraine, and prospects for peace talks, preoccupied many at the high-profile global gathering after Donald Trump startled U.S. allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and announcing the start of talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Vance, who was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later on Friday, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal before the conference that Trump could use several tools - economic and military - for leverage with Putin.

Vance’s spokesman William Martin said later on X that Vance “didn’t make any threats. He simply stated the fact that no one is going to take options away from President Trump as these negotiations begin.”

Martin published what he said was a transcript from the interview, according to which Vance was asked what implicit threat and pressure Washington was considering towards Putin. He said Vance responded that “the range of options is extremely broad, and there are economic tools of leverage. There, of course, military tools of leverage (too).”

Vance mentioned none of this in his speech to the conference, instead focusing on criticising the 27-nation EU’s policy towards hate speech.

“The threat I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it’s not China, it’s not any other external actor,” he said, adding that it was what he called a retreat from fundamental values of protecting free speech - as well as immigration, which he said was “out of control” in Europe.

A Reuters reporter in one of the side rooms where more delegates could listen to Vance said people watched in stunned silence, with no applause.

EUROPEAN FEAR OF EXCLUSION FROM UKRAINE DEAL

The Kremlin had said earlier on Friday that it hoped the US would clarify Vance’s remarks to the Wall Street Journal. “We have not heard such formulations before,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent echoed Vance’s comments. “Just like with the tariffs, it will depend on how President Putin comes to the table,” he told Fox Business Network.

“If we believe that taking the sanctions regime up to a maximum threshold level will help us achieve negotiating leverage - and as you know, no one understands negotiating leverage better than President Trump, so - that will be his decision, and Treasury will implement it.”

Trump’s phone call with Putin stoked fears among European governments that they might be frozen out of a settlement to end the Ukraine war that could wind up being too favourable to Russia and undermine European security as a whole.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated those concerns on Friday.

“A sham peace - over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans - would gain nothing,” she said. “A sham peace would not bring lasting security, neither for the people in Ukraine nor for us in Europe or the United States.”

Germany’s defence minister said it was a mistake for Trump to take the bargaining chips off the table, namely Ukraine’s wish for NATO membership and its objective to recover all territories taken by Russian forces since 2014.

Russia now holds about 20 per cent of Ukraine nearly three years after launching a full-scale invasion, saying Kyiv’s pursuit of NATO membership posed an existential threat. Ukraine and the West call Russia’s action an imperialist land grab.

PRESSURE ON EUROPE

Vance also repeated Trump’s demand that Europe do more to safeguard its own defence so Washington can focus on other regions, particularly the Indo-Pacific.

“In the future, we think Europe is going to have to take a bigger role in its own security,” he said in a bilateral meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Vance was “absolutely right” about the need for Europe “stepping up” and doing more for its own defence. “We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more,” Rutte said.

At the conference, several European leaders echoed his comments, saying Europe would step up its defence spending but also needed to discuss with Washington on a gradual phasing-out of its support.

As a senator, Vance expressed blunt scepticism about US support for Ukraine.

Speaking on a podcast in 2022, he said: “I don’t really care what happens in Ukraine one way or the other.”​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky calls for European army amid US support doubts

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called Saturday for the creation of a European army, as he insisted Kyiv and its backers on the continent must be listened to in peace talks with Russia.

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Zelensky calls for European army amid US support doubts
Agence France-Presse . Munich, Germany 15 February, 2025, 22:13

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. | File photo

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called Saturday for the creation of a European army, as he insisted Kyiv and its backers on the continent must be listened to in peace talks with Russia.

Speaking at a gathering of top policymakers in Munich, the Ukrainian leader said that with the return of president Donald Trump to the White House Europe could no longer count on Washington to always have its back.

Trump stunned allies and upended the status quo of US support for Ukraine this week when he announced he would likely soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start truce talks.

Zelensky’s rallying cry came a day after he met US vice-president JD Vance as Kyiv scrambles to ensure it is not sidelined in Washington’s push to wrap up the three-year war.

‘Let’s be honest—now we can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,’ Zelensky said.

‘I really believe that time has come. The Armed Forces of Europe must be created.’

The push for a joint continental force has been mooted for years without gaining traction and Zelensky’s intervention seems unlikely to shift the balance.

In the short-term, the priority for Kyiv remains ensuring its voice is heard at any peace talks involving Russia and that it doesn’t get a bad deal.

‘Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,’ Zelensky said in a speech.

‘No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. No decisions about Europe without Europe.’

Zelensky cautioned Putin would seek to use Trump as a ‘prop in his own performance’, possibly by trying to get him to Moscow for Russia’s WWII victory parade in May.

Zelensky is pushing for ‘security guarantees’ from both the United States and Europe to ensure that any peace deal does not allow Moscow just to restart the war later.

‘Putin cannot offer real security guarantees, not just because he is a liar but because Russia in its current state needs war to hold power together,’ he said.

The Ukrainian leader said forceful sanctions on Russia and building up Ukraine’s military could help secure peace, and said he was ‘open’ to eventually having European peacekeepers.

European leaders backed up Zelensky’s call to action and for their continent to play a key role.

‘There will only be peace if Ukraine’s sovereignty is secured,’ German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Munich Security Conference.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk pressed Europe to establish its own stances on Ukraine and security as the United States sows doubts about its commitment to Europe.

‘Europe urgently needs its own plan of action concerning Ukraine and our security, or else other global players will decide about our future,’ Tusk said.

‘This plan must be prepared now. There’s no time to lose.’

NATO boss Mark Rutte said that leaders in Europe were ‘now getting into the concrete planning phase’ of possible security guarantees.

US officials have said that Ukraine will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion.

Vance said after his sit-down with Zelensky that Washington was looking for a ‘durable, lasting peace’ that would not lead to further bloodshed in coming years. But US officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory.

That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin.

In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare earths mineral deposits in return for future US security support.

Zelensky said the negotiations were ongoing after his meeting with Vance.

While Zelensky engages in his diplomatic push, on the ground in Ukraine the situation for his forces continued to deteriorate.

Russia’s army on Saturday claimed to have captured a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region close to a road linking key towns as Moscow slowly eats up territory.

Despite suffering heavy battlefield losses, the Russian army has been creeping forwards in eastern Ukraine for more than a year as it looks to cut off access to Pokrovsk.

The advances came after a Russian drone struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with radiation levels remaining normal.

‘A country that launches such attacks does not want peace. Not. They don’t want it,’ Zelensky said. ‘It is not preparing for dialogue.’​

 

[Saif]

1,00,000 without heat in Ukrainian city after Russian strike: Zelensky

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday 1,00,000 people were without heating in the southern city of Mykolaiv in cold temperatures after a Russian drone strike on ‘critical infrastructure’.

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1,00,000 without heat in Ukrainian city after Russian strike: Zelensky
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 17 February, 2025, 01:18

Volodymyr Zelensky | File photo

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday 1,00,000 people were without heating in the southern city of Mykolaiv in cold temperatures after a Russian drone strike on ‘critical infrastructure’.

Ukrainian officials had earlier said that Russian drones had hit a local thermal power plant.

Zelensky said the attack was proof Russia did not want peace, in a statement that came after he warned Western leaders not to trust Moscow and as Europe braces for a summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

‘Today, more than a 1,00,000 people in Mykolaiv were left without heating as a result of a Russian Shahed attack on the city’s critical infrastructure,’ Zelensky said on social media.

‘This has nothing to do with the fighting and the situation at the frontline,’ he said, adding: ‘This is not what those who really want to restore peace and prepare for negotiations do.’

Zelensky said repair teams are working to restore heating in Mykolaiv, which lies close to the Black Sea.

The Ukrainian leader called for a ‘strong’ response from Western allies and said: ‘We need to force Russia to peace.’

Ukraine’s prime minister Denys Shmygal earlier said that Russian drones hit the power plant in Mykolaiv at night.

‘This was done deliberately to leave people without heat in sub-zero temperatures and create a humanitarian catastrophe,’ he said.

Russia has targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure throughout its three-year invasion.​

 

[Saif]

Too early to discuss troop deployment to Ukraine, says Spain

Spain poured cold water on Monday on a British proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and said negotiations to end the three-year war should not end up rewarding Russian aggression. “It is too early at this time to speak about deploying troops to Ukraine as there is no peace at the moment,

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Too early to discuss troop deployment to Ukraine, says Spain
REUTERS
Published :
Feb 17, 2025 21:27
Updated :
Feb 17, 2025 21:27

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares looks on as he attends the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2025. Photo : REUTERS/Yves Herman/Files

Spain poured cold water on Monday on a British proposal to send peacekeepers to Ukraine and said negotiations to end the three-year war should not end up rewarding Russian aggression.

“It is too early at this time to speak about deploying troops to Ukraine as there is no peace at the moment,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters ahead of an emergency summit of European leaders on the Ukraine war.

US President Donald Trump stunned European allies and Ukraine last week when he announced he had held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and would start a peace process.

“A war of aggression cannot be rewarded, we cannot encourage others to launch wars of aggression,” Albares also said in an interview with radio station Onda Cero. “Today I’m convinced Putin will keep attacking and bombing Ukraine. So I do not see peace on the horizon at the moment.”​

 

[Saif]

UKRAINE WAR: Russia, US to name negotiators

Washington said Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, as the superpowers met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU.

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UKRAINE WAR: Russia, US to name negotiators
Agence France-Presse . Riyadh 19 February, 2025, 00:35

Washington said Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, as the superpowers met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU.

However, no specifics on a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin emerged from the gathering in Riyadh, the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since Ukraine’s 2022 invasion.

Some European leaders, alarmed by Trump’s overhaul of US policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal between superpowers.

On Tuesday, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to ‘appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible’, the State Department said.

Rubio said Washington was aiming for a ‘fair’ and ‘sustainable’ solution to the Ukraine war, after a meeting with his Russian counterpart in Riyadh.

Washington added the sides had also agreed to ‘establish a consultation mechanism’ to address ‘irritants’ to Russia and America’s relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

Russia offered less detail on the outcome of the talks, saying: ‘We discussed and outlined our principled positions, and agreed that separate teams of negotiators will be in touch on this topic in due course.’

‘It is still difficult to talk about a specific date for a meeting between the two leaders,’ said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide.

Russia sketched out some of its perspectives on future talks to ending the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that settling the war required a reorganisation of Europe’s defence agreements.

Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.

‘A lasting and long-term viable resolution is impossible without a comprehensive consideration of security issues on the continent,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, responding to a question by AFP.

Before invading Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow had demanded NATO pull out of central and eastern Europe.

European leaders held an emergency meeting in Paris a day earlier, but struggled to put on a united front.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, in Turkey on Tuesday, said on the eve of the talks that he was not invited and would not ‘recognise any things or any agreements about us without us’.

Isolated by the West for three years, Russia is hoping for a ‘restoration’ of ties with the United States and a comeback to the international arena.

At the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, negotiations began without visible handshakes.

Both Russia and the United States have cast Tuesday’s meeting as the beginning of a potentially lengthy process and downplayed the prospects of a breakthrough.

Russia’s Ushakov told state media the talks would discuss ‘how to start negotiations on Ukraine’.

Trump has said he wants to end the war in Ukraine, but has thus far presented no concrete plan.

The United States has urged both sides that concessions will have to be made if any peace talks materialise.

Russia on the eve of the summit said there cannot be even a ‘thought’ on it giving up territory seized from Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Tuesday that Ukraine had the ‘right’ to join the European Union, but not the NATO military alliance.

It also said Putin was ‘ready’ to negotiate with Zelensky ‘if necessary’, though repeated its questioning of his ‘legitimacy’ — a reference to his five-year term expiring last year, despite Ukrainian law not requiring elections during wartime.

The Ukrainian leader was in Turkey on Tuesday for discussions on the conflict with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He is due in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, though he said he does not plan to meet with US or Russian officials.

The EU, reeling from a series of speeches by Trump’s officials indicating Washington does not see Moscow as a threat, said it still wants to ‘partner’ with the United States on any truce talks.

Trump’s administration has given no clear answer on whether the EU would take part and Moscow has said it sees no point in Europe having a seat at the table.

‘Financially and militarily, Europe has brought more to the table than anyone else,’ the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on social media.

‘We want to partner with the US to deliver a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.’

Key Russian ally China also welcomed ‘efforts towards peace’ on Tuesday.

‘At the same time, we hope that all parties and stakeholders can participate,’ foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Russia has presented cautious optimism on the talks.​