The President of Ukraine called for the publication of the list of sanctions against Russia now
Speaking to CNN, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “any provocation is very dangerous” when asked about the reason that the fake chess game has the potential to go to war with Russia.
“I think the most complicated question is that in Crimea, in the temporarily occupied Donbas territory along Ukraine and Russia, there are 30-35,000 in the temporarily occupied territories … so the provocations are really very dangerous, if you have. this number of troops. Zelensky warned.
He added: “This is what our partners believe in, I mean the partners around us who joined the border with us, we know the history of the Soviet Union and they understand. the risks we are facing. Baltic countries, Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, they know what that can lead to. So we need to be very careful. “
The Ukrainian president went on to say that casualties between Ukraine and Russia were more significant in 2014 but acknowledged that current tensions are “terrible”, adding that “it is a tragedy for our nation, for our people.”
This is a tragedy for the Russians as well as for those who have had good relations with Ukraine.
Some context: The latest US intelligence assessment indicates that Russia is continuing to prepare to invade Ukraineaccording to a senior US official with direct knowledge and another source directly familiar with the intelligence.
The assessment – described as “bleak” by senior officials – suggests that Russia could strike in the coming days. Another US official said the US still hoped any Russian invasion would be preceded by a false flag campaign.
Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken, speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, pointed to recent actions – including Russia’s addition of “leading forces” to its troops on the Ukrainian border – to shows how Russia’s coercive tactics against Ukraine have been implemented.
“Everything that we’re seeing, including what you’ve described over the last 24, 48 hours, is part of a scenario of creating false provocations, then having to respond to provocations. and ultimately commit new aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken said.
Russia has created pressure points on three sides of Ukraine – in Crimea to the south, Russia borders the two countries and the north borders Belarus.
Some history: In early 2014, massive protests in the capital Kyiv known as Euromaidan forced a pro-Russia president to be removed after he refused to sign an association agreement with the European Union.
Russia responded by annexing Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and inciting a separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine, which gained control of part of the Donbas region. Although a 2015 ceasefire agreementThe two sides have not seen a steady peace, and the front line has barely moved since.
According to the Ukrainian government, nearly 14,000 people have died in the conflict and 1.5 million have been internally displaced within Ukraine.
CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Natasha Bertrand, and Eliza Mackintosh contributed reporting to this post.
