#kuleba

[thequickfl]

Terremoto in Ucraina: cambia metà governo

[head-post]

Kuleba arrives in China, Zelensky considers talks with Putin

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has embarked on his first trip to China since the start of the military conflict in Ukraine in 2022.

A representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, confirmed that Kuleba would be in China from Tuesday to Friday. His visit will take place at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, according to Chinese media.

The key subject of discussion will be “the search for ways to deal with Russian aggression and China’s possible role in achieving a stable and just peace,” according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv.

Peace talks are possible

Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted peace talks with Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainian president said that when the time comes to settle the situation, he will talk to those in Russia who decide everything, CNN reports.

Zelensky did not rule out in the interview that the “hot stage” of hostilities could be ended before the end of the year if “we act in concert and follow the format of the peace summit.”

On Sunday, July 21, CNN concluded that Volodymyr Zelensky had changed his attitude to a possible dialogue with Russia. Journalists saw in the actions of the Ukrainian president hints of readiness for peace talks. Against this background, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko allowed holding a referendum on the terms of peace and negotiations with Moscow. Prolonging the conflict, according to the politician, will be a nightmare.

Course on Donald Trump

Zelensky’s position may have changed, including after his recent conversation with Donald Trump, for example, says that the world should still be united around Ukraine, then he will be ready to talk to Russia about peace on the basis of the UN charter. As for the UN charter, it is clear that here we are talking about the principle of inviolability of borders. Zelensky emphasises that he still insists on returning to the 1991 borders.

On the other hand, it is clear that there are now questions about the amount of Western support. Trump recently chose as his potential vice-president J.D. Vance, a man who does not want to help Ukraine and is one of the strongest critics of this aid. Given that Zelensky is also saying that he will need to make plans somehow if the fighting drags on for more than a year, it is understandable that he is trying to find some way out of the conflict now.

Also meeting with Donald Trump last week was former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whom the Russian Foreign Ministry accused of derailing the talks in 2022. After the meeting, Johnson said that Trump, if he wins the election, will be able to end military operations on terms favourable to Kyiv and the West, but with the cession of some territories to Russia.

At the same time, the politician noted that Trump could allow Kyiv to hit Russian territory with US weapons, which would help push back Russian troops. After that, according to Johnson, “a deal could be proposed.”

China put forward its own “peace plan” on Ukraine as early as February 2023. It included respect for sovereignty, guarantees of territorial integrity of all countries, cessation of hostilities, rejection of strengthening and expansion of military blocs, resumption of negotiations, cessation of unilateral sanctions, and others.

Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the possibility that the Chinese plan would become the basis for a settlement. In May 2024, China and Brazil together advocated an international peace conference recognised by Russia and Ukraine and a fair discussion of all peace proposals.

Read more HERE

[europahoynews]

Ucrania, Ministro Kuleba: Las palabras del Papa son importantes para nosotros

Ucrania, Ministro Kuleba: Las palabras del Papa son importantes para nosotros

Entrevista con el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores ucraniano: “Una visita del Santo Padre sería apreciada porque es un símbolo de apoyo espiritual”. Elogio a los religiosos que apoyan y consuelan al pueblo. Sobre las propuestas de mediación: “Aún no ha llegado el momento, todavía hay demasiados crímenes”. Salvatore Cernuzio – Enviado en Kiev (Ucrania) “Esta compasión significa mucho para nosotros…

[odinsblog]

“I sometimes hear people say that Russia was forced to attack Ukraine because Ukrainians wanted to join NATO. Those people also often say that NATO promised it would not expand to the East, but later broke this promise. And this, allegedly, is the reason why Russia keeps attacking its neighbors.

If you have ever heard people say something like that, please know that this is not true. And it will take me less than five minutes to prove with facts that both statements are false.

First, let's have a look at the timeline of events.

Russia first invaded Ukraine in February 2014 by occupying the Crimea peninsula. At that moment, Ukraine was a neutral country by law and expressed no intention of joining NATO whatsoever. For instance, during the Revolution of Dignity, the protesters insisted on Ukraine joining the EU, not NATO. It was only in autumn 2014, after many months of war, that Ukraine abandoned neutrality.

So what came first? Russia attacking Ukraine, or Ukraine wanting to join NATO?

The answer is clear.

Had Russia not threatened Ukraine's existence, there would be no reason for our country to seek collective security. So please do not repeat the lie that, I quote, “Russia attacked because Ukraine wanted to join NATO,” end of quote. This does not correspond with the facts.

Now let's have a look at the story of NATO allegedly promising not to expand to the East.

If you ask people who say this, when exactly, such a promise was made and who made it, most of them will not be able to provide a clear answer. Spoiler, because no such promise has ever been made and the whole story is a Russian fairy tale.

Those more sophisticated will tell you that the promise was made to the President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. They may even refer to the 1990 U.S.-Soviet negotiations on the reunification of Germany. Again, let’s consider the timeline.

In summer 1990, when these talks were held, the Soviet analog of NATO, the Warsaw Pact, still existed. Its dissolution, let alone the Soviet Union's dissolution, was not on the cart. No one even talked about it or imagined it. It was only next year, in 1991 that the Warsaw Pact, and later the USSR, quite unexpectedly ceased to exist.

Now explain to me just how the very issue could be even discussed in the summer of 1990. It is not surprising that Mikhail Gorbachev later himself refuted this falsehood. When asked by a journalist whether any such promise had been made, he said this was a myth.

Now let's look at it from another perspective. How could NATO even promise anything like that?

Initially, it is not NATO that decides which country joins it. Countries themselves need to want it. And actually, the membership criteria are very difficult. It requires a lot of political will and reform. All the NATO members that joined it after 1991, really wanted to be part of it.

Their people wanted this.

And here comes the most uncomfortable question for Russia: Why were all of the nations that had been part of the Soviet Union or the Socialist bloc so eager and desperate to join NATO?

Well, maybe because in three decades, Russia has invaded or incited war in at least three of its neighbors, Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine. At the same time, Russia has not dared to invade any of its NATO neighbors.

Do you see the pattern?

The only reason for countries in the vicinity of Russia to seek NATO membership has always been and remains the need to protect their people from Russia.

Therefore, Moscow has only itself to blame for the fact that all of the central European and Baltic nations ran away from it and hid under the NATO umbrella as quickly as they could.

Do not let Russian officials or their supporters in the West fool you. Russia attacked Ukraine not because NATO expanded to the East, or because Ukraine wanted to join NATO. Russia attacked because it denies Ukraine's right to exist and wants to conquer our land and kill our people. It is through our shared strength that we can and must stop Russia and put an end to its aggressive plans for the rest of Europe.

For this to happen, keep supporting Ukraine and don't buy Russian lies.”

👉🏿 https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2014/11/06/did-nato-promise-not-to-enlarge-gorbachev-says-no/

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/686191406300184576/appeasement-does-not-work-appeasement-didnt

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/684530801484922880/believing-putins-reasons-for-invading-ukraine

👉🏿 https://www.tumblr.com/odinsblog/742088177664344064/violated-agreements-1991-russia-cosigns

[b0ringasfuck]

Smettetela di stare dietro alla cronaca minuto per minuto della propaganda di tutti e non unitevi al tifo.

In questi momenti si sentono raffiche di palle da tutti e crederci, al volo non aiuta. La verità se si è fortunati la si capisce dopo decenni e non dovremmo mancare di esperienza per averlo capito.

Ovviamente la saga di smentite, dichiarazioni, controdichiarazioni non è detto che sia finita come è già accaduto per altri fatti inerenti a questa guerra.

Si parla tanto di chi è a favore o contro il piano di pace della Cina

ma poi se lo vai a leggere non c'è scritto praticamente niente. Il piano di pace della Cina è sostanzialmente "non litigate, fate i bravi".

Ditemi non solo se questa roba possa mai servire a qualcosa ma anche se vale la pena chiedersi chi è d'accordo o no, visto che è solo un elenco di buone intenzioni, senza nessuna spiegazione di come arrivare a realizzarle.

[tomorrowusa]

Mass kidnappings of kids are not unique to the Middle East. Putin's Russia has been doing it since its illegal annexation of Crimea and its de facto occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014. And it's grown greatly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine started in February of 2022.

This is a form of genocide as defined by international law. Putin and his cronies are war criminals and there is indeed a warrant for his arrest on the basis of his abduction of Ukrainian children from occupied parts of Ukraine.

This invasion has been going on for nearly two years – not just two months. There are thousands of Ukrainian child hostages held by Putin's kleptocratic mafia-terrorist state.

[vintage-ukraine]

Sunflowers by Vira Barynova-Kuleba, 1989

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

Let's try this again, Jam. 😌 V, O, V again, M and A. And K. 😏

Alright, alright, alright. 😄

OF COURSE! it's Volena, Olena, Vova, Maks and Andriy. And K for Kvartal. 😉

[nicklloydnow]

“When we spoke this week, she made clear that the decision of whether Ukraine wins or loses is now on us — almost entirely. As Congress debates how much more money to authorize for Ukraine’s assistance amid growing Republican opposition, she says that what we are really debating is our own future. Do we want to live in the kind of world that will result if Ukraine loses?

Hill is clear about her answer. A world in which Putin chalks up a win in Ukraine is one where the U.S.’s standing in the world is diminished, where Iran and North Korea are emboldened, where China dominates the Indo-Pacific, where the Middle East becomes more unstable and where nuclear proliferation takes off, among allies as well as enemies.

“Ukraine has become a battlefield now for America and America’s own future — whether we see it or not — for our own defensive posture and preparedness, for our reputation and our leadership,” she told me. “For Putin, Ukraine is a proxy war against the United States, to remove the United States from the world stage.”

(…)

“The problem is that many members of Congress don’t want to see President Biden win on any front,” she said. “People are incapable now of separating off ‘giving Biden a win’ from actually allowing Ukraine to win. They are thinking less about U.S. national security, European security, international security and foreign policy, and much more about how they can humiliate Biden.”

“In that regard,” she continued, “whether they like it or not, members of Congress are doing exactly the same thing as Vladimir Putin. They hate that. They want to refute that. But Vladimir Putin wants Biden to lose, and they want Biden to be seen to lose as well.”

(…)

Ukraine has succeeded so far because of massive military support from European allies and other partners. So in that regard, we’ve now reached a tipping point between whether Ukraine continues to win in terms of having sufficient fighting power to stave Russia off, or whether it actually starts to lose because it doesn’t have the equipment, the heavy weaponry, the ammunition. That external support is going to be determinative.

(…)

It’s a question of whether Ukraine has enough resources, financial resources, not just to keep going on the battlefield, but also to keep the country together at home. And up until now you’re still seeing a lot of European countries stepping up. Not just you know, the United States, but definitely the EU, Japan, South Korea and others. Japan recently made an offer of additional major financial support. The Germans have said that they’ll make sure that the Ukrainian economy will continue to not just survive, but thrive, and over the longer term, they’ll help rebuild. This is still somewhat positive.

On the political side, however, we’ve got the problems of the policy battlefields on the domestic front. Ukraine has now become a domestic political issue in a whole range of countries, not just here in the United States, but in countries like Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany and many more. And that’s an issue where it’s going to be very hard for Ukraine to win. Because when you get into the transactional issues of domestic politics, and you’re no longer thinking about national security, or these larger imperatives, then Ukraine dies a thousand deaths from all of the transactional efforts that domestic politicians engage in. Most political constituents, no matter the country, can’t really see beyond their own narrow interests.

(…)

One thing that we need to bear in mind here is that Putin turned for assistance to two countries that should give Americans and members of Congress pause — Iran and North Korea. Russia has had significant shortfalls of ammunition and sophisticated technology because of sanctions and other constraints. Ammunition has come from North Korea, which continues to provide Russia with all kinds of rounds for shells, and Iran has stepped up with the production of drones. Iran and North Korea both see this as a kind of international opening for them. If Russia prevails on the battlefield, you can be sure that Iran and North Korea will get benefits from this. We already see Russia shifting its position on the Iranian nuclear front, and we also see Russia making a major shift in its relationship with Israel. Putin has gone from being a major supporter of Israel, to now an opponent, and has switched from what was always very careful public rhetoric about Israel to pretty antisemitic statements. Putin never denigrated Jews in the past. On the contrary, he presented himself as a supporter of the Jewish population. This is a dramatic shift and clearly because of Iran. Now, whether Iran asked Putin to do this, I honestly can’t say, but we can all see this deepening relationship between Russia and Iran. That is a real problem for the administration and for others who are now looking at the Middle East and trying to figure out how to stop a broader war with Lebanon, with the Houthis in Yemen, and all of the Iranian proxies, because Iran and Russia have become fused together now in two conflicts.

(…)

But it’s not just China and Russia who are learning from this war. So are we. We’ve seen the impact of drone warfare and we’re thinking about how we deal with this ourselves. We’ve been kind of shocked to see how much wars like this take up ammunition stocks — this is not the type of war that we’ve fought for a very long time. When we’re thinking about our own defense, our own national security, we need to be looking very carefully at this conflict. The way that Putin has played with the idea of using tactical nuclear weapons, the use of drones on the battlefield, the use of mines, the use of ships and blockades in the Black Sea, the difficulty of pushing forward in a counteroffensive against these deep entrenchments, how various military systems including defensive equipment actually perform in real time and conditions. We can see how effective our ATACMS were, for example, our Patriot batteries. This is, in a way, a proving ground for our own equipment.

(…)

Well, there’ll be multiple ways he will define it, one of which is defeating the United States, politically, psychologically and symbolically. If the United States doesn’t pass the supplemental [bill to approve aid to Ukraine], and we get this chorus of members of Congress calling for the United States to pull away from Ukraine, Putin will be able to switch this around and say, “There you go. The United States is an unreliable ally. The United States is not a world leader.” And there will be a chilling effect for all our other allies. In the past, Putin has actually, for example, approached the Japanese and said, “Look, we can be your interlocutor with China. The United States is not going to be there to assist you in a crunch.” And that’s certainly what this is going to look like. The Japanese, the South Koreans, the Vietnamese, others that we have bilateral treaties with, are going to wonder, “OK, the United States made such a push here to support Ukraine, along with other European members of NATO, and now they’ve just walked away from it.” And you put that on top of Afghanistan and the withdrawal, also the withdrawal from Iraq, withdrawal from Syria, and the whole fraught history of United States interventions in the last two decades, and Putin will be able to present a pretty potent narrative about the United States’ inability to maintain its commitments and forfeiting its role as an international leader. So that that becomes a major political win.

(…)

We’ll be at each others’ throats. There’ll be no way in which this is going to turn out well. There’ll be a lot of frustration on the part of people who thought that this was the easier option when we reel from crisis to crisis. There’ll also be the shame, frankly, and the disgrace of having let the Ukrainians down. I think it would create a firestorm of recrimination. And it will also embolden so many other actors to take their own steps.

One key challenge is going to be the nuclear front. There’s several different ways in which we can look at the nuclear front. There’s the moral imperative. We pushed Ukraine to give up the nuclear weapons that it had inherited from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. And we gave assurances along with the United Kingdom, that Ukraine would not end up in the situation that it is in now. We guaranteed its territorial integrity and sovereignty and independence and also assured Ukraine that we would step up to help. This opens up a whole can of worms related first to the moral jeopardy of this, that we obviously don’t stick to our word.

But also in terms of nuclear weapons, we could face proliferation issues with Japan, South Korea, other countries — even NATO countries who currently see themselves covered under the U.S. nuclear umbrella. They will start to worry about how much we would actually support them when they needed it, and how vulnerable they are to pressure or attack by another nuclear power. Think about the dynamics between India and Pakistan, for example, or China and India, or China and South Korea and Japan; and the predicament of leaders in other countries who will be thinking right now that, “I’m going to be extremely vulnerable — so perhaps I should be getting my own nuclear weapon.” You’re hearing talk about this in Germany, for example. You hear it all the time in places like Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, we know that they have nuclear aspirations. So this opens up a whole set of different discussions.

(…)

That it’s actually being spent at home! That’s the irony. Because every time you send a weapon to the Ukrainians, it’s an American weapon. You’re not buying somebody else’s weapons to go to Ukraine. It’s also a fraction of our defense budget.

It’s really a circular process here. We are providing weapons to Ukraine, we’re buying them from major manufacturers of defense systems here in the United States, which are obviously providing jobs for the people who are making them. And then we’re going back and we’re ordering more because we’re replenishing and upgrading our own weapons stocks. This is all part of our own system. These defense manufacturers account for huge numbers of jobs across the whole of the United States, so arming Ukraine means significant job creation and retention across the United States and also in Europe and elsewhere.

People in Congress know that, it’s just that they’re playing a different game. They want to play up this issue of “it should be spent at home” because of the transactional nature of congressional supplemental bills.

Let’s just put it frankly — this is all about the upcoming presidential election. It’s less about Ukraine and it’s more about the fact that we have an election coming up next year. The problem is that many members of Congress don’t want to see President Biden win on any front. People are incapable now of separating off “giving Biden a win” from actually allowing Ukraine to win. They are thinking less about U.S. national security, European security, international security and foreign policy, and much more about how they can humiliate Biden.

In that regard, whether they like it or not, members of Congress are doing exactly the same thing as Vladimir Putin. They hate that. They want to refute that. But Vladimir Putin wants Biden to lose, and they want Biden to be seen to lose as well.

For Vladimir Putin now Ukraine has become a proxy war. It’s not a proxy war by the United States against Russia. We’re trying to get Russia out of Ukraine, period. But for Putin, Ukraine is a proxy war against the United States, to remove the United States from the world stage. He’s trying to use Gaza, and Israel like that now, as well. He’s trying to whip up anti-United States sentiment wherever he can. I’ve just come back from Europe and from a whole host of conferences where there’s just so much rage and grievance about the United States and Putin is fanning the flames.

Putin sees Biden as a major opponent. He is an obstacle for Putin to be able to win on the battlefield of Ukraine. So Putin wants Biden to fail. Putin would be thrilled if Trump would come back to power because he also anticipates that Trump will pull the United States out of NATO, that Trump will rupture the U.S. alliance system, and that Trump will hand over Ukraine. So right at this particular moment, Putin sees an awful lot that he can get out of undermining Biden’s position.

Now, the problem, of course, is that currently many members of Congress and others are thinking about whether they want to run to be vice president for Trump, and what they should perhaps do now to support Trump and pave the way for his presidency. So the idea of giving Biden anything that could positively affect the election is just a bridge too far.

(…)

We’re not doing anything to put Putin in political jeopardy. We’re just fighting with ourselves all the time. And we can’t see past that. Biden’s got to try to help Ukraine, but can he get enough people to see past the election and also see the jeopardy we are in? We are in peril. We don’t see it. There’s such an anti-American wave that’s out there in the world. People want to see America fail and pulled down to size.

Ukraine has become a battlefield now, for America and America’s own future — whether we see it or not — for our own defensive posture and preparedness, for our reputation and our leadership.

American leadership is still very important. But other countries are starting to make plans for a world without us at this particular point. And you can be sure that Vladimir Putin, and President Xi and many others will be pretty ecstatic if we give up on Ukraine. And that could happen just as soon as December or January, because if Congress goes home for the holidays without passing the supplemental, and everyone’s back in their constituencies, there’s a lot of stuff that can happen in their absence, in that vacuum, that void that we have created. Everybody else in the rest of the world would be wondering, not just, “Where is America?” but, “What on earth has happened to America?” And if President Trump thinks that he’s going to be the leader of the free world when he comes back into office — well, think again. There won’t be a free world to be leading at all. And that’s not an overstatement. That’s just a fact.

(…)

So the best case scenario is, of course, one in which Ukraine continues to be able to hold its own and if we helped build it up militarily, where it can make another push or another series of pushes. If we think about World War Two and other wars, there were multiple offensive efforts, counteroffensives, and you just kept on trying until you succeeded. It will be very difficult to have an absolute victory over Russia. But what you want to have is Ukraine in a position to have a negotiation, a diplomatic solution, on its terms, not on Russia’s terms. A solution in which Ukraine is recognized as the party in the right, as the aggrieved party by the whole of the international community, and where Ukraine is, if not completely in territory, but materially and in every other way possible, made whole.

Another aspect of having this war resolved on Ukraine’s terms is that Russia is going to have to pay for or contribute to the reconstruction of Ukraine in some fashion. That is another major reason why Putin would see the U.S. and its allies stepping back as a major win, because then there’d be no leverage whatsoever or pressure put on Russia for rebuilding Ukraine. Russia could just step back, wash its hands of all of this and let everybody else fix what it broke.

So the best possible outcome here, beyond Ukraine being able to prevail on the battlefield, is a negotiated settlement that is in Ukraine’s favor, that leads to commitments to its security and reconstruction, and leads to some soul searching in Russia. That’s not going to happen under these current circumstances. The only way that that happens is when Russia believes that everybody else has the fortitude and staying power for this conflict. And right now, that’s not what we’re displaying at all. Actually, we’re looking pretty pathetic, I can’t think of any other way to describe it. And for Putin, this is just such a gift. This is such a gift.

(…)

He’s about to, and it’s on us. We’re at the point where it’s on us. If we leave the field, then he will win. His calculation is that our domestic politics and our own interests override everything, and that we no longer have a sense of national security, or of our role in international affairs. This is a moment for him to get rid of not just Pax Americana, but America as a major global player.

(…)

The decision is ours, this decision is entirely ours. We’re just falling all over ourselves to engage in self-harm at the moment. Ukraine shouldn’t be a partisan issue. I just hope that people are going to be able to dig deep, and realize the moment that they’re in.”

“The skeptics are correct that our recent counteroffensive did not achieve the lightning-fast liberation of occupied land, as the Ukrainian military managed in the fall of 2022 in the Kharkiv region and the city of Kherson. Observers, including some in Ukraine, anticipated similar results over the past several months, and when immediate success did not materialize, many succumbed to doom and gloom. But pessimism is unwarranted, and it would be a mistake to let defeatism shape our policy decisions going forward. Instead, policymakers in Washington and other capitals should keep the big picture in mind and stay on track. A Ukrainian victory will require strategic endurance and vision—as with our recent counteroffensive, the liberation of every square mile of territory requires enormous sacrifice by our soldiers—but there is no question that victory is attainable.

(…)

The current phase of the war is not easy for Ukraine or for our partners. Everyone wants quick, Hollywood-style breakthroughs on the battlefield that will bring a quick collapse of Russia’s occupation. Although our objectives will not be reached overnight, continued international support for Ukraine will, over time, ensure that local counteroffensives achieve tangible results on the frontlines, gradually destroying Russian forces and thwarting Putin’s plans for a protracted war.

Some skeptics counter that although such goals are just, they simply aren’t achievable. In fact, our objectives will remain militarily feasible as long as three factors are in place: adequate military aid, including jets, drones, air defense, artillery rounds, and long-range capabilities that allow us to strike deep behind enemy lines; the rapid development of industrial capacity in the United States and Europe as well as in Ukraine, both to cover Ukraine’s military needs and to replenish U.S. and European defense stocks; and a principled and realistic approach to the prospect of negotiations with Russia.

With these elements in place, our effort will bring marked progress on the frontlines. Yet that requires not veering off course and concluding that the fight is hopeless simply because one stage has fallen short of some observers’ expectations. Even with significant challenges, Ukraine has achieved notable results in recent months. We won the battle for the Black Sea and thereby restored a steady flow of maritime exports, benefiting both our economy and global food security. We’ve made gains on the southern front, recently securing a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. And elsewhere, we have held off enormous Russian assaults and inflicted major losses on Russian forces, including by thwarting their attempts on Avdiivka and Kupiansk. Despite their gargantuan effort, Russian troops failed to secure any gains on the ground.

(…)

The problem is not just that a cease-fire now would reward Russian aggression. Instead of ending the war, a cease-fire would simply pause the fighting until Russia is ready to make another push inland. In the meantime, it would allow Russian occupying troops to reinforce their positions with concrete and minefields, making it nearly impossible to drive them away in the future and condemning millions of Ukrainians to decades of repression under occupation. Russia’s 2024 budget for the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, amounting to 3.2 trillion Russian rubles (around $35 billion), is clear evidence of Moscow’s plan to dig in for the long haul and suppress resistance to Russian occupation authorities.

Moreover, whatever the arguments that such a scenario would be less costly for Ukraine and its partners, the reality is that such a negotiated cease-fire is not even on the table. Between 2014 and 2022, we endured approximately 200 rounds of negotiations with Russia in various formats, as well as 20 attempts to establish a cease-fire in the smaller war that followed Russia’s 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea and occupation of Ukraine’s east. Our partners pressed Moscow to be constructive, and when they ran into the Kremlin’s diplomatic wall, they insisted that Ukraine had to take the “first step,” if only to demonstrate that Russia was the problem. Following this flawed logic, Ukraine made some painful concessions. Where did it lead? To Russia's full-scale attack on February 24, 2022. Declaring yet again that Ukraine must take the first step is both immoral and naive.

(…)

Skeptics also argue that supporting Ukraine’s fight for freedom is too expensive and cannot be sustained indefinitely. We in Ukraine are fully aware of the amounts of assistance that we have received from the United States, European countries, and other allies, and we are immensely grateful to the governments, legislators, and individuals who have extended a helping hand to our country at war. We manage the support in the most transparent and accountable way: U.S. inspectors of military aid to Ukraine have found no evidence of significant waste, fraud, or abuse.

This support is not, and never has been, charity. Every dollar invested in Ukraine’s defense returns clear security dividends for its supporters. It has enabled Ukraine to successfully rebuff Russian aggression and avert a disastrous escalation in Europe. And Ukraine has done all this with American assistance totaling roughly three percent of the annual U.S. defense budget. What is more, most of this money has in fact been spent in the United States, funding the U.S. defense industry, supporting the development of cutting-edge technology, and creating American jobs—a reason that some local business leaders in the United States have publicly opposed withholding or cutting military aid to Ukraine.

Moreover, while the United States is Ukraine’s top defense partner—and Washington’s leadership in rallying support for Ukraine has been exemplary and essential—the United States has hardly borne the burden alone. As NATO’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, recently noted, other NATO members, including European countries and Canada, account for more than half of Ukraine’s military aid. A number of countries have provided more support as a percentage of GDP than the United States has: the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. Germany's assistance continues to grow, making it Ukraine's largest European supporter in absolute terms.

Attempts by some skeptics to brand Ukraine’s fight for freedom as just another futile “forever war” ignore these facts. Ukraine has never asked for American boots on the ground. The deal is fair: our partners provide us with what we need to win, and we do the rest of the job ourselves, defending not only our borders but also the borders of global democracy.

The United States has spent decades, and hundreds of billions of dollars, building and protecting an international order that could sustain and protect democracy and market economies, thus ensuring security and prosperity for Americans. It would be foolish to give up on that investment now. If democracy is allowed to fall in Ukraine, adversaries of the United States will perceive weakness and understand that aggression pays. The price tag for defending U.S. national security against such threats would be many times higher than the one for supporting Ukraine and could spark decades of global turbulence with an uncertain outcome.

(…)

At the end of last month, I attended a NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels. What struck me most was the disparity between the mood inside the chamber and the mood outside it. On the sidelines, reporters opened their questions by asserting that the war had reached a “stalemate” and that “war fatigue” would cripple support, before wondering why Ukraine wouldn’t offer to trade territory for peace. Yet such defeatist narratives were absent in the official discussions, with ministers making a firm commitment to additional military aid and sustained support.

However prevalent a false narrative of attrition becomes, we should not allow it to set policymaking and our shared strategy on a disastrous course. Nor should we be duped into believing that Moscow is ready for a fair negotiated solution. Opting to accept Putin’s territorial demands and reward his aggression would be an admission of failure, which would be costly for Ukraine, for the United States and its allies, and for the entire global security architecture. Staying the course is a difficult task. But we know how to win, and we will.”

[warningsine]

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba submitted his letter of resignation, speaker of Ukraine's parliament Ruslan Stefanchuk reported on Sept. 4.

Stefanchuk said that Kuleba's potential resignation will be "considered at one of the upcoming plenary meetings" but did not provide a date.

"It is a big reshuffle. It was expected rather long ago," lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko told the Kyiv Independent.

"Ahead of us difficult times, difficult autumn and winter. Perhaps this reshuffle is somehow related to the new period of challenges for Ukraine."

Serving as foreign minister since 2020, Kuleba has been at the forefront of Ukraine's efforts to engage its international allies and secure new partnerships since the beginning of the full-scale war.

Following earlier rumors of his dismissal in August 2023, Kuleba said on national television that he was not concerned about the possibility.

"I work, no job is permanent, and I’m totally calm about everything," he said at the time. "I said at the very beginning that I would leave under two circumstances: the first is if the president asks me to do it. The second is if I get into some fundamental contradiction with foreign policy and don’t consider it possible to work with it," Kuleba added.

Ukrainska Pravda reported on Sept. 3, citing unnamed sources, that Kuleba would be dismissed, and that his replacement was still being considered. The most likely candidate to take the position would be Deputy Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, the sources said.

The news follows a number of other high-profile ministers submitting their letters of resignation the previous day — Strategic Industries Minister Alexander Kamyshin, Justice Minister Denys Maliuska, Ecology Minister Ruslan Strilets, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, and Deputy Prime Minister and Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

Vitalii Koval, head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU), also submitted his resignation nine months after being in office.

The reasons for the resignations were not specified. The news came after months of reports about the possible replacement of several Ukrainian ministers.

David Arakhamia, the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People's party in parliament, said on Sept. 3 that the reshuffle would affect more than half of the government's staff.

"Tomorrow is the day of dismissals, and the day after that is the day of appointments," he added.

Zelensky said in March that Ukrainians can expect more government reshuffles in the future, following a shake-up of his inner circle.

Infrastructure Minister and Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction Oleksandr Kubrakov and Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi were then dismissed in May.

[head-post]

Ukrainian FM Kuleba to visit China to discuss peace

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit China, his first trip to Beijing since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

A representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, confirmed that Kuleba would be in China from Tuesday to Friday. His visit will take place at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, according to Chinese media.

The key subject of discussion will be “the search for ways to deal with Russian aggression and China’s possible role in achieving a stable and just peace,” according to a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv.

The visit comes shortly after US President Joe Biden, who is leading international efforts to aid Ukraine, announced he would not seek reelection. Kuleba’s trip also comes weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky openly criticised Beijing for allegedly helping Moscow sabotage a peace conference in Switzerland last month.

In March, Former Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, insulted Chinese representative Li Hui after the latter had completed a series of visits to European countries, during which he held meetings with officials from Russia, Belgium, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and France. At the time, Hui discussed prospects for resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

Last year, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, also criticised China and India, saying that the intellectual potential of the two countries was weak despite the fact that they were effectively investing in science.

Now, as more signals emerge that US support from President Joe Biden’s administration may soon end, Zelensky has softened his condemnation of China’s support for Russia. However, in June, the president stated that China’s support would “extend the war in Ukraine,” according to CNN.

Read more HERE

[berndsx4]

[dominousworld]

L’eminenza grigia di Kiev: cosa si nasconde davvero dietro le dimissioni di Kuleba

L’eminenza grigia di Kiev: cosa si nasconde davvero dietro le dimissioni di Kuleba

di Clara Statello 04 Settembre 2024 Dimissioni a raffica nel governo di Kiev in meno di 24 ore. Il presidente della Verkhovna Rada (il parlamento ucraino) Ruslan Stefenchuk da ieri sera ha ricevuto le lettere di rinuncia di: – Dmytro Kuleba, Ministro degli Affari Esteri, – Denis Malyuska, Ministro della Giustizia; – Olexander Kamyshin, Ministro delle industrie strategiche, – Ruslan…

[immaculatasknight]

Don't let the door hit him on the way out

[tomorrowusa]

The tankies, Trumpsters, neo-isolationists, and appeasers are all eager to kowtow to Putin – though they may have different reasons for wanting to do so. But it's in the interest of liberal democracy and peaceful international stability that we should continue to support Ukraine's struggle against neocolonial aggression.

Josep Borrell, vice president of the European Commission, and Dmytro Kuleba, foreign minister of Ukraine, co-wrote this piece for Project Syndicate.

What Russia is doing is a classic example of nineteenth-century-style imperial and colonial aggression. Ukraine is enduring what many other countries have cruelly suffered in the past. For Russia, this war has never been about Ukraine’s neutrality, NATO enlargement, protecting Russian-speakers, or any other fabricated pretexts. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine does not exist as a nation and that Ukrainian identity is artificial. The war is solely about annihilating an independent country, conquering land, and re-establishing dominance over a people that decided to be masters of their own destiny. Russia’s imperial ambition is doubtless familiar to many nations around the world that were previously subject to colonial rule and oppression. [ ... ] The war and its consequences thus concern every country. Should Russia prevail, it would send a very dangerous message that “might makes right.” Every aggressive power around the world would be tempted to follow in Russia’s footsteps. If aggression ultimately pays, why wouldn’t all those with territorial claims against their neighbors act on them? This is why it is in many Asian, African, and Latin American countries’ interest that Ukraine wins the war. Ultimately, this war is not about “the West against the rest.” Supporting Ukraine is not “pro-Western.” It is about rejecting war and terror. It is about standing for the principle of international relations based on mutual respect, and supporting Ukrainians’ right to security and liberty. Ukraine and the European Union share a view of international relations in the twenty-first century that is exactly opposed to that of Putin’s Russia. Our vision is based on international law, respect, and mutual benefit, instead of coercion, bribery, and fear. [ ... ] The only way to achieve a just peace is to double down on support for Ukraine. The EU has done exactly that in recent months, and it is set to increase assistance even further in 2024. Our common goal is to ensure that Ukraine can turn the tide of the war in its favor so that a just peace can be reached as soon as possible. The world’s support is crucial for achieving this result. It is in everyone’s interest that international law be upheld, and that cooperation is the highest priority. There must not be a return to the dark past of military aggression, imperialism, and colonialism – neither in Europe nor in any other region.

Many people mistakenly believe that Russia was never a colonial power because it didn't colonize overseas territories. But Russia did colonize vast parts of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Far East. Even now Russia uses a disproportionate number of racial minorities from its remaining colonized areas in Siberia to be used as cannon fodder in Ukraine.

Putin is trying to re-establish the tsarist/communist colonial empire that lasted from circa 1700 to 1990. That is what this war is about. Putin's geopolitical nostalgia for the USSR of his youth is the driving force behind the killing of tens of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of thousands of Russians.

Imagine if Britain, France, Spain, or Portugal decided to take back their old colonies despite treaties and international laws which recognize the independence of those territories. What Russia is doing in Ukraine is no different from such a scenario.

Ukraine stands for liberal democracy against a form of expansionist totalitarian fascism. And the aid the US has already given Ukraine has severely weakened our biggest military adversary at bargain basement costs.

A free and independent Ukraine, integrated into the European Union, would also serve as an economic powerhouse the way South Korea is in East Asia. Ukrainians have shown how resourceful and industrious they are in wartime; such talents will not disappear when the last invader is driven out.