“Our view from the US perspective is that Putin has not abandoned his plans to take control of Ukraine,” US envoy Michael Carpenter told the Daily Beast. Putin’s forces first launched an invasion of Ukraine in February with the aim of occupying the entire country, including Kiev. He came across a puppet regime he wanted to set up in Kyiv and was very confident that the plan would work, according to a brief briefing by the British intelligence services. But when the Russian army fell out of Kyiv for days, failing to solve logistics and maintenance problems and finally failing to take control of the Ukrainian capital, Russia took a step back to move its army to eastern Ukraine in Donbas. Since then, Russian officials have revealed that Moscow’s plans are to sweep parts of Ukraine into the hands of the Kremlin, and the US mission to the OSCE believes the Kremlin has plans to annex or host a fake referendum in Kherson to wrap the city in Russia. But the looks can be deceptive, and while the fighting and referendum referendum questions are focused on eastern Ukraine right now, Carpenter has warned that he does not believe Putin will stop there. “While he is currently focusing on the southeastern part of the country, I do not think anyone can be sure that Putin will not move to other parts of Ukraine at some point in the future,” Carpenter said. Carpenter’s attempt to flash warnings of war is not the only message Putin’s worrying plan shows. Russian warplanes plotted by Ukrainian secret services in a city abandoned by Russian forces last month show Putin remains ready to pursue all of Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation said in May. At a hint that Moscow is ready to let the war go on, Putin’s other friends are also weighing in. Russia’s space minister, Dmitry Rogozin, said on Tuesday that Ukraine was an “existential threat” to Russia and that his country should put an end to it. “If we do not put an end to them, as, unfortunately, our grandparents did not throw them, we will have to die, but we will end up with even greater costs for our grandchildren,” he said. “Let’s finish it. Once and for all. ” Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko listen to Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin as they visit the site of the Amur rocket launch site at the Vosturchny spacecraft in Russia.
SPUTNIK
Just this weekend, Putin said his country should “take back” land it believes belongs to Russia, citing the annual conquest of Russia’s first emperor that led Sweden to cede territory to Russia – comments that have sparked concerns. that Putin is indeed prepared for an extremely long war. “This war could go on for a long time,” Carpenter told The Daily Beast. “This is, again, the reason why President Biden is committed to providing Ukraine with weapons and equipment so that it can defend itself.” Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Colin Kahl reiterated Carpenter’s concerns that Putin has greater ambitions to occupy all of Ukraine, speaking at an event at the Center for New American Security on Tuesday – but said he did not think he could “achieve them.” targets. ” Concerns have grown that Putin could invade countries beyond Ukraine if he falls, including the Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – as well as Poland. Putin is likely to rely on Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a notorious Putin ally, in the next stages, Carpenter warned. Mr Lukashenko has announced in recent weeks that he is setting up a new military unit on the border with Ukraine and is preparing his army in recent days for the transition from a time of peace to a time of war. And while Lukashenko probably does not want to attack Ukraine, given the internal reaction he would receive, Putin is likely to put pressure on Lukashenko, Carpenter said. “Belarus has very limited sovereignty,” Carpenter told The Daily Beast. “Many of Belarus’s moves are motivated by Russia.” Colin Kahl, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy.
Tom Williams
Mr Lukashenko “is reluctant to engage militarily with boots on the ground in Ukraine, although I’m sure there was a lot of pressure from Moscow to do just that.” At the very least, if Belarusian troops are able to maintain Ukrainian resources in the north, they could release Russian fighters to make further progress in eastern Ukraine. “It fits in with Russia’s military strategy of threatening Belarus and Ukraine,” Carpenter said. “From Russia’s point of view, some Ukrainian forces would like to be stationed in the north to monitor Russian troops, so that Russia can continue to advance into Donbas and southeastern Ukraine.” Mr Lukashenko has suggested in recent days that Belarus may need to step in and fight for Western Ukraine – ostensibly so as not to be cut off by Western nations. “Maybe we should fight for Western Ukraine so that it is not cut off,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by Zerkalo.io. Fierce fighting continued on Tuesday in eastern Ukraine. Top Russian troops have told Ukrainian troops to “surrender or die” in Sheverodonetsk, a Ukrainian shelter in Luhansk, and civilians are still hiding in the Azot chemical plant. Ukrainian soldiers stand along a road in the city of Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine.
MARCO DZOURITSA
To maintain the flow of support to Ukraine, the Biden government is ready to announce the next aid package this week, according to NBC. But as the war draws to a close, Americans’ willingness to tolerate the effects of war — inflation and higher gas prices — is waning. When asked in March, 65 percent of Americans were willing to endure the effects of war and 73 percent were willing to endure higher energy prices, according to a University of Maryland poll by Critical Issues. By May, polls had fallen to 52 percent and 59 percent, respectively. As support dwindles, the Biden administration is working to pressure allies to step up their contributions as Ukraine approaches a phase of reconstruction so that the United States does not bear the brunt of it all, Carpenter told the Daily Beast. The United States has contributed far more aid — militarily and otherwise — than any other country, according to an analysis by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which monitored the contributions until mid-May. “There is also concern, and there should be, rightly so, about sharing the burden. “And we are definitely trying very hard to get our allies and partners to step up,” said Carpenter. “Especially when it comes to reconstruction, some of the countries that may not have provided so much military, we would certainly look forward to them also providing reconstruction assistance and macro-financial assistance, as well as other forms of support.”
