Substitute while the actions of the article are loading
MUKACHEVO, UKRAINE – Russia and the West exchanged threats and diplomatic disregard on Wednesday after another deadline for Ukrainian forces to hand over the key port city of Mariupol passed without a move, and Moscow’s forces continued to push across much of the east.
Russia’s Defense Ministry says it has successfully conducted the first test of a new intercontinental ballistic missile, which President Vladimir Putin said was “capable of overcoming all missile defense systems” and will make those who try to threaten the country us, to think twice. “
Putin also claims, according to Russian news reports, that the RS-28 Sarmat nuclear-powered missile was manufactured using “exclusively” internally produced parts – an obvious blow to Western sanctions that prevent Moscow from obtaining critical components for other weapons. systems. relies on its attack on Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States had been notified in advance of the test in accordance with existing arms control regulations. But Putin’s comments served as a reminder of the military might of his nuclear-armed state and his potential readiness to escalate a brutal war that seems imminent.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on April 20 that Russia had correctly notified the United States of its recent intercontinental ballistic missile test. (Video: Reuters)
Nine ways Russia thwarted its invasion of Ukraine
Following the invasion of Ukraine, the test launch of the US ICBM Minuteman III was postponed when US officials said they did not want Russia to misinterpret such a demonstration of firepower or use it as an excuse to escalate hostilities in Ukraine.
In Washington, Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell, along with many other world leaders, walked out of a Group of 20 meeting behind closed doors when Russian officials began speaking, according to three people familiar with the matter. with the question of who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the political sensitivity of the issue.
Earlier this week, a finance ministry official said Yellen would use the meeting “to express his strong condemnation of Putin’s brutality” and to make it clear that such gatherings are reserved for countries that show respect for basic principles. which are at the heart of peace and security throughout the country. the world. ”
Wimbledon on Wednesday banned tennis players from Russia and Belarus from playing in the main annual tournament, which begins in June due to the invasion of Ukraine, a decision that will affect two of the highest ranked players in the world. Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who is in second place in the world rankings, and the fourth female toy, Arina Sabalenka of Belarus, will not be allowed to play, according to the All England Club.
The action was quickly condemned by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who told reporters that the players “are once again being held hostage to political intrigue.”
Russian figure skaters were banned from world championships in March, and Russian international and club teams were banned from football competitions by the sport’s governing body. Although he called Russia’s invasion “reprehensible,” the Tennis Professionals Association called Wimbledon’s decision “unfair” and said it “has the potential to set a bad precedent for the game.”
In the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces are taking last positions, their commander issued a gruesome warning on Wednesday, saying his fighters hiding in the Azovstal steel plant were “dying underground”. In audio messages sent to The Washington Post, Major Sergei Volina of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade, while still resisting advancing and much larger Russian forces, called on other countries to help them find a way out.
What is happening in Mariupol, the Ukrainian city under Russian siege?
“While the world is asleep, boys die in Mariupol,” Volina said. “They are losing. They were bombed with heavy bombs – torn by artillery and they died underground – the wounded and the living there. “
His comments come amid successive deadlines for the Kremlin’s capitulation, all of which have been rejected by the defenders. In its latest move, Russia has called for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to give up their weapons and leave the steel plant by 2pm local time (7am east) on Wednesday or face a bitter end.
Russia’s state-run Tass news agency reported on Wednesday that a “clean-up operation in Mariupol” was “nearing its end”, citing a statement from a pro-Moscow separatist group in the area. A planned humanitarian corridor to evacuate thousands of women, children and elderly people still in the city has also failed, according to the Donetsk region governor, northeast of Mariupol. New videos recorded in the city show the lifeless bodies of more than a dozen civilians lying on the streets.
Taking full control of Mariupol will tighten the grip of Russian forces on the Azov coast and help build a land bridge between Russia’s-occupied border areas and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Western defense officials say Putin is determined to take Mariupol and advance to Donbass, the vast region of eastern Ukraine bordering Russia, until May 9, a holiday in Russia known as Victory Day in honor of Nazi Germany’s capitulation in the end of World War II.
Western supporters are just as determined to at least stop Russia’s pressure and have continued to promise support, even as Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and local commanders say they need more.
Understanding the weapons that have attracted the world’s attention since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
According to the Pentagon, the influx of aircraft sent from the West in the last few weeks has provided the Ukrainian Air Force with at least 20 more fighter jets. A senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity under conditions determined by the Pentagon will not say whether all repaired aircraft are MiGs of Soviet origin that are part of Ukraine’s arsenal.
Earlier in the conflict, there was strong pressure, mostly from Poland, to increase Ukraine’s fleet with more such warplanes, a proposal discouraged by the United States as escalating. This week, a Pentagon official said another offer had been made by a third country to send entire fixed-wing aircraft to Ukraine to increase its fleet, but noted that this had not yet happened.
A second U.S. official familiar with the matter said the administration wanted to “let that country decide if they want to speak in public.”
The second official said the Biden administration was opposed to an earlier Polish proposal, as Warsaw’s intention to send planes through US air base in Ramstein, Germany, was described as “low pay, high risk” in the face of escalating conflict. in Ukraine. But “if other countries want and are able to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, it is certainly their own sovereign decision, which we respect and support.”
“Not that we don’t think it’s a good idea,” said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity on the sensitive issue. “Our comments on the risks more directly related to this one proposal, as opposed to the general one … If another country wants to provide them with planes, we will not oppose it in any way.
Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Tuesday that Ukrainians had received aircraft “platforms and parts” without specifying what that meant. On Wednesday, the senior defense official noted that Ukraine “has been given whole helicopters, including helicopters from the United States.”
The United States last week announced a $ 800 million military aid package for Ukraine that included 11 Mi-17 attack helicopters. The helicopters were purchased from Russia years ago to send US-backed forces to Afghanistan.
In a telephone conversation Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that any prospect of overcoming the apparent stalemate in the Moscow-Kyiv talks should be completed. the conflict “depends solely on Kyiv’s willingness to take our legitimate demands into account,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Russia’s goal in the talks, ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing in Moscow, is to “demilitarize and denationalize and restore the official status of the Russian language.” [and] recognition of modern territorial realities, including Crimea as part of Russia and the independence of the DPR and LPR. These acronyms refer to the southeastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, both parts of Donbass that Russia claims to have “liberated” and made independent by its invasion.
“If the regime in Kyiv is truly committed to its publicly expressed and confirmed commitment to negotiate, it must start looking for realistic options for reaching an agreement,” Zakharova said.
A majority in the UN voted not to recognize the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Ukraine said it would not negotiate the withdrawal of any of its territories. Turkey has tried to mediate the conflict and hosted a round of talks between the two countries last month.
Zakharova also said the Russian side had made new peace proposals to Ukraine on Friday, but Kyiv had not yet responded. Ukrainian negotiators “are using their favorite tactics: procrastination, refusal of previously reached interim agreements, public rejection of what was agreed,” she said.
In response, Mikhail Podoliak, an adviser to Zelensky, told the Ukrainian newspaper Strana that “the Russian Federation likes to make loud statements to put pressure on this or that process.”
Podoliak said that during the last round of …
Add Comment