Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said six people had died and 73 others were injured in the latest attacks. US President Joe Biden has ruled out sending troops even to shepherd American citizens out of Ukraine because he said if Russians and Americans end up fighting that would be World War III. The conflict is likely to remain confined to Ukraine and Russia in terms of actual fighting. As long as there is no direct conflict between Russia and Nato then there is no reason for this crisis, bad as it is, to descend into a full-scale world war. If you are a frontline Ukrainian soldier in eastern Ukraine then clearly the situation is extremely dangerous. And for millions of Ukrainian people the fears over how the crisis will impact their daily lives is ever present. President Biden said prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine that the not-yet-operational Nord Stream 2 pipeline would not move ahead in the event of an invasion. More European nations are now talking about the need to step up aid in light of concerns that the US is weakening in its resolve. Russia is bound to be a weaker, less influential actor for the foreseeable future. It's a rather dramatic rumble, where fast armoured vehicles tear down the road at 40mph, packed with troops, just to see if they can get into the centre of the city. Added to that are the recent border crisis involving thousands of migrants in Belarus, as well as Russia's backing of separatists in the Caucasus and elsewhere, he said. The war that erupted in eastern Ukraine in 2014 has already left 14,000 dead and an estimated 1.4 million displaced. Ukraine will do all it can to keep pressure on the Russians there to make it untenable for the Russian navy in Sevastopol, the handful of air force bases there and their logistics base at Dzankoy. Russia lacks a decisive, breakthrough capability to overrun Ukraine and will do what it can to hold on to what it currently occupies, using the time to strengthen its defences while it hopes for the West to lose the will to continue supporting Ukraine. Industrial-age warfare bends significant parts, or in some cases whole economies, towards the production of war materials as matters of priority. Russia attacks Ukraine: More coverage Hotspots are hotter than for a long time, fault-lines increasingly tense and war seems to be proliferating. But the alarm being raised by generals and spooks is a bit of a red herring and, let's face it, they're keen to make the case for bigger budgets and bigger roles. There are no really good choices. A direct attack on Iran would be one way but that could also open Pandora's box. And we've already seen how little the retaliatory strikes on the Houthis in Yemen have achieved. The spark for the next major global conflict could well turn out to be the events of October 7th. And the warnings are here in this period - there is enormous global uncertainty and the period of unequivocal US power is over. Sky News spoke to experts about whether World War Three is a possibility - and if we really are living in a pre-war world. For his part, Trump has said that he'd be able to resolve the Ukraine war in one day if he was reelected, saying he'd convince the leaders of Ukraine and Russia to make a deal. The majority of European countries turned to the tried and tested protective security umbrella of NATO, backed by American military capabilities. With or without a nuclear threat dimension, Russia’s neighbours already have valid reasons to fear the Russian predator. They feel that, if not stopped in and by Ukraine, Putin may entertain aggression against other territories. The historic decision by both Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership points to the gravity of this threat. There could be collateral damage from sanctions on Russia Ukrainians had hoped for months that the forecasts of an invasion from Russia, a nation with which they share much history and culture, could not be true. Mr Gorbachev said later that the topic of Nato expansion was never discussed at the time. In his eyes, the West promised back in 1990 that Nato would expand not an inch to the east, yet did so anyway. That was before the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, so the promise made to then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev referred merely to East Germany in the context of a reunified Germany. The political, domestic, and international costs to Russia could challenge Putin’s regime. The West’s sanctions are throttling Russia’s economy, and they could do lasting damage. Russia’s war has strengthened the Western alliance in the immediate term, but that political will could be tested as energy prices spike and as the war and refugee crisis wear on. After more than four months of fighting, it is Russia that is experiencing manpower shortages. Is Ukraine ready for a Russian attack? It depends what kind That figure cannot be confirmed, but it followed a US estimate of some 100,000 Ukrainians killed or wounded by November. Before https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-did-ukraine-look-like-before-the-war.html arrived in the east last summer, Kyiv officials said 100 to 200 troops were dying every day. Russia has captured the town of Soledar this year and has hopes of seizing the eastern city of Bakhmut on the road to key cities to the west, and of recapturing territory it lost last autumn. Big military formations - with forces of 30,000 troops and armour and all the rest of it - can only do what they've done on exercises and manoeuvres, so we know in advance how they're going to fight. They precede their attacks with air support and artillery - hitting the targets just before the armour arrives - and do that very precisely. Like any force, if you're going to take a capital city you don't go in from one side, you try to encircle it. However this plays out, the cruel effects of this war won’t just be felt in Ukraine. “All the nation is involved, not only the army,” said a Ukrainian person who has been supplying medicines. It is this disconnect of world view, combined with the willingness to use force, that makes the situation in eastern Europe so very dangerous. President Volodomyr Zelensky has admitted his country's spring offensive has not been the success he hoped. Putin watchers believe he will seek to extend control of the four regions that he has declared to be part of Russia, not just in Donbas, but towards the key city of Zaporizhzhia.
https://euronewstop.co.uk/what-did-ukraine-look-like-before-the-war.html
