Chris Lange, FISM News
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A senior U.S. defense official on Friday said Russia’s Ministry of Defense publicly announced that the Kremlin is now prioritizing the Donbas region of Ukraine as the war enters its fifth week. The Pentagon noted that, while Russia continues to launch airstrikes on Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, its ground force activity in the region appears to be waning.
“They are putting their priorities and their efforts in the east of Ukraine,” the Pentagon official said during Friday’s background briefing. “That’s where still there remains a lot of heavy fighting, and we think they are trying to not only secure some sort of more substantial gains there as a potential negotiating tactic at the table, but also to cut off Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country.”
The official noted that Russia appears to have suspended or diminished ground force activity near Kyiv, where Russian forces have shifted from offensive to defensive positions.
“It appears that the Russians are, at least for the moment, not pursuing … a ground offensive towards Kyiv,” the official said. “They are digging in. They are establishing defensive positions. They don’t show any signs of being willing to move on Kyiv from the ground,” the official added, noting that the change in strategy “reinforces this idea that, at least for the moment, [Russians] don’t appear to want to pursue Kyiv as aggressively or frankly at all. They are mostly focused on the Donbas.”
The same official also confirmed reports that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian navy vessel on the Sea of Azov at the port city of Berdyansk.
Zelenskyy accuses Western leaders of cowardice
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chastised the West over its “ping-pong about who and how should hand over jets” during his Sunday night video address. The remarks followed a trio of emergency summits that took place over the weekend between NATO, G7, and the European Union. Western leaders announced additional sanctions against Russia and promised to send more humanitarian aid to Ukraine but failed to address Zelenskyy’s repeated requests for more, and more powerful, military aid. While the Ukrainian president did not reference any Western leaders by name, his comments appeared to reference Poland’s offer to provide warplanes to Ukraine only if the transfer could be facilitated by the U.S. The White House subsequently refused to get its hands dirty in the exchange in what publicly unraveled into a game of high-stakes hot potato played out on the world stage.
“I’ve talked to the defenders of Mariupol today. I’m in constant contact with them. Their determination, heroism and firmness are astonishing,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the besieged southern city that has endured some of the war’s most egregious deprivations and horrors. “If only those who have been thinking for 31 days on how to hand over dozens of jets and tanks had 1% of their courage,” he added.
Zelenskyy won’t negotiate a deal with Russia unless Putin meets with him face-to-face
Separately, Zelenskyy spoke to Russian media outlets Sunday, reiterating Ukraine’s previous offers to officially guarantee neutrality and nuclear-free status on condition Moscow pulls its troops from the country, according to reporting by the Associated Press. The Ukrainian president added that these measures would take place only if he and Putin meet face to face to broker an agreement.
“We must have agreements with President Putin. The guarantors will not sign anything if the troops are not withdrawn,” Zelenskyy said, according to his presidential office, noting that a personal meeting would be “enough to start the process of troops withdrawal.” Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor quickly banned the interview and threatened action against the participating news outlets, but it has been published abroad.
Zelenskyy also pointed out that, while Putin continues to claim the invasion of its sovereign neighbor was necessary in order to “denazify” Ukraine, peace talks with Russia have not involved any discussion concerning Ukraine’s alleged “Nazism.”
Russia may seek to split Ukraine in half, officials say
Ukrainian officials, meanwhile, say Moscow may now be planning to split Ukraine in half, much like North and South Korea. The move, if it happens, could provide the Kremlin with a face-saving compromise after weeks of its protracted invasion that has seen heavy Russian losses. Russian and Ukrainian delegates will resume talks Tuesday in Turkey.
Back in Washington, the White House spent a busy weekend trying to walk back the potentially incendiary gaffe President Biden made during his visit to Poland. During his Warsaw speech, Biden ad-libbed that Putin “cannot remain in power” after condemning Putin’s month-long war in Ukraine. White House officials have since tried to clarify the statement, claiming that the President only meant that Putin “cannot be empowered to wage war” on its neighbor. The Kremlin responded to Biden’s blunder by calling him a “weak and sick person” of whom Americans should be ashamed.” Western leaders have been extremely cautious in their wording about the war out of fears that Putin will be provoked into broadening the conflict to include NATO countries.