The presidents of nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe expressed their support for Ukraine by defending its membership in the Atlantic Alliance, urging the remaining allies to “significantly increase military aid” to the invaded country and Reject Russian attempt to annex territory. On the ground, the advance of the Ukrainian army in the east was joined by another, in the Kherson region. Meanwhile, Pope Francis has begged Vladimir Putin to end the war and Volodymyr Zelensky to be receptive to a peace proposal.
The heads of state of nine NATO countries – Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania – said they could not “be silent about the flagrant violation of international law by the Russian Federation”. therefore signed a text in which they began to reiterate their support for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity and supported the intention expressed by the Ukrainian president on Friday for his country to join the alliance that currently counts 30 states. “We recognize and will never recognize Russian attempts to annex Ukrainian territory. We wholeheartedly support the decision of the NATO summit in Bucharest in 2008 regarding Ukraine’s future accession.”
At that summit, NATO members welcomed Ukraine’s and Georgia’s aspirations, but offered no clear timetable for the two countries’ accession. On Friday, the organization’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, preferred to emphasize the importance of continued support for Ukraine than to comment on Zelensky’s initiative to call for his country’s urgent accession to NATO. The heads of diplomacy of the United States and Canada expressed support for Kiev’s claim, but in the normal way, as did Sweden and Finland (pending ratification by the parliaments of Hungary and Turkey).
The short text ends with an appeal for military aid to Kiev to make progress and reminds that those responsible for “crimes of aggression” must be brought to justice. This display of diplomatic violence has not fully achieved its goal, as the heads of state of Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary have not joined the group of former Iron Curtain countries.
As for military aid, the day after the German Defense Minister was in Odessa and promised that the most advanced air defense system would be delivered soon, IRIS-T, Berlin, Copenhagen and Oslo announced the joint purchase of Slovakia-produced howitzers, worth of EUR 92 million . The Zuzana-2 mobile artillery pieces, whose projectiles have a range of 40 kilometers, will be delivered in 2023.
Germany has supported Ukraine, but Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz refuses to send the most requested by Kiev, Leopard 2 tanks and Marder tanks. An issue dividing the ruling coalition: Greens and Liberals are for more support. And in the German military ranks there are also those who are skeptical of Ukrainian success. In an interview with Focus, Inspector General of the Armed Forces Eberhard Zorn declined to endorse the idea that there is a successful counter-offensive in northeastern Ukraine.
The Pope sees in Putin’s announcement an increase in the “risk of a nuclear escalation” with “catastrophic consequences worldwide”.
Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Lyman, a village in Donetsk that is an important railway junction, has been “liberated” from Moscow’s troops. The recapture of Lyman, razed to the ground by Russian forces for weeks before taking control, marks the first major Ukrainian military victory in territory that the Kremlin claimed was its property and that it would defend by all means.
On the ground, however, the offensive continues and an advance is expected that could lead Kiev’s troops to pass through Kreminna and return in the coming days to the neighboring cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, in Lugansk. The most surprising, however, was the advance to the south, in a line of several kilometers along the Dnieper, towards Beryslav. According to the American Institute of War Studies, the Russian military has prioritized strengthening positions in Kherson and Zaporijia.
While the Russian Constitutional Court, unsurprisingly, approved the annexation of the four regions, leaving the bureaucratic formality to the delegates and taking the confrontation to an unprecedented level, Pope Francis pleaded with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the “spiral of violence” in Ukraine, as he criticizes the annexations of territories. In St. Peter’s Square, the pope addressed the Russian president directly, seeing the annexations as increasing the “risk of a nuclear escalation” with “uncontrollable and catastrophic consequences worldwide”. Francis asked the Ukrainian president to “be open to serious peace proposals”.
Source: DN
