Punjabi: Russia and Ukraine War Like Situation

[dalvinder45]

Donald Trump has warned he will impose high tariffs and further sanctions on Russia if Vladimir Putin fails to end the war in Ukraine. Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, he said that by pushing to settle the war he was doing Russia and its president a "very big favour". Trump had previously said he would negotiate a settlement to Russia's full-scale invasion launched in February 2022, in a single day. Responding to the threat of harsher sanctions, the Kremlin said it remains "ready for an equal dialogue, a mutually respectful dialogue".
"We're waiting for signals that are yet to arrive," said President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

He added that Russia sees nothing new in Donald Trump's threats to impose sanctions.

"He likes these methods, at least he liked them during his first presidency."

Putin has said repeatedly that he is prepared to negotiate an end to the war, which first began in 2014, but that Ukraine would have to accept the reality of Russian territorial gains, which are currently about 20% of its land. He also refuses to accept Ukraine joining Nato, the military alliance of Western countries.

Kyiv does not want to give up its territory, although President Volodymyr Zelensky has conceded he may have to cede some currently occupied land temporarily.

On Tuesday, Trump told a news conference he would be talking to Putin "very soon" and it "sounds likely" that he would apply more sanctions if the Russian leader did not come to the table.

But in his Truth Social post the next day, he went further: "I'm going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR," he wrote.

"Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don't make a 'deal', and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries."

Continuing, he wrote: "Let's get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better. It's time to 'MAKE A DEAL'."

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Trump's former special representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, said Trump's threat of more serious sanctions on Russia "gives a signal to Vladimir Putin this is going to get worse, not better". Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he added: "We should incentivise Putin to say, 'OK, it's time actually to have a ceasefire.'"

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that at least 200,000 peacekeepers would be needed under any agreement.

And he told Bloomberg that any peacekeeping force for his country would have to include US troops to pose a realistic deterrent to Russia.

"It can't be without the United States... Even if some European friends think it can be, no, it will not be," he said, adding that no-one else would risk such a move without the US.

While Ukraine's leaders might appreciate this tougher-talking Trump - they have always said Putin only understands strength - the initial reaction in Kyiv to the US president's comments suggest that it is actions people are waiting for, not words.

Trump has not specified where more economic penalties might be aimed, or when. Russian imports to the US have plummeted since 2022 and there are all sorts of heavy restrictions already in place.

Currently, the main Russian exports to the US are phosphate-based fertilisers and platinum.

Speaking to the BBC, Volker said the Russian economy could take "substantial" damage if Trump chose to preserve or strengthen the toughest US sanctions so far, which he said were only levied as Trump's predecessor Joe Biden left office. "Russia really didn't feel as much pressure as they could," he commented.

 

[dalvinder45]

Ukraine’s military said Russia launched a barrage of 147 attack drones against Ukraine overnight. Out of this, the Ukrainian Air Force reported shooting down 83, while 59 did not reach their targets. Several storage facilities and private residences were reported damaged.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium said that Ukrainian drones hit one of its major oil pipelines in southern Russia’s Kropotkinskaya pumping station in the Krasnodar region, affecting supply from neighbouring Kazakhstan.
Ukraine’s Security Service claimed responsibility for the attack on the oil pipeline and said that Moscow’s Ilsky oil refinery in Krasnodar was also hit, with at least 20 explosions heard in the area.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces captured the settlement of Fyholivka in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. A second announcement later said that the village of Sverdlikovo in Russia’s Kursk region was taken back from Ukraine’s forces. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Saudi Arabia in advance of planned peace talks between United States and Russian officials over the war in Ukraine.

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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Russia would be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and foreign policy director Yuri Ushakov at the meetings with the US in Riyadh.

Ukraine peace talks: Kyiv and EU sidelined in talks between US & Russia​

Zelenskyy met with the United Arab Emirates’s Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during a visit to the UAE, where Sheikh Mohammed reportedly committed to supporting efforts for a peaceful resolution to the war and continuing initiatives to ease the humanitarian impact.The spokesperson for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Sergii Nykyforov, said that the Ukrainian leader would travel to Saudi Arabia on a “long-planned” visit the day after the meeting between Russia and US officials wraps up. The Ukrainian leader also said he would not recognise any outcome of the Washington-Moscow talks in Saudi Arabia that did not involve Kyiv.
Zelenskyy is now in Turkiye to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre, after his plane landed in Turkiye on February 17, 2025 [Handout /X account of Volodymyr Zelenskyy via AFP]

 

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At least 14 people killed in Russia’s overnight attacks in eastern Ukraine​

Ukrainian officials say Russian attacks hit the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, damaging buildings and vehicles. Soldiers of the Alcatraz Battalion participate in tactical infantry training at an undisclosed location in Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 7, 2025 [Maria Senovilla/EPA] At least 14 people have been killed in overnight attacks on Ukraine’s eastern region, where Russia has intensified its assault in recent days.
Ukraine’s emergency service said on Saturday that Russian forces hit the town of Dobropillia in the eastern Donetsk region on Friday night, killing 11 people and wounding 30. Emergency services added that eight five-storey apartment buildings, an administrative building, and 30 cars were damaged. “We understand a number of buildings were hit. And as the rescue teams were pulling people out of the rubble, searching for them, other strikes took place,” Al Jazeera’s Assed Baig reported from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
“Dobropillia is around 20 kilometres [12 miles] from the front line in the east. It’s not far from the hotly contested town of Porkovsk, where tense fighting has been taking place for months now,” he said.
“Russian forces have been trying to take that town and there are reports that they’ve reached the southern outskirts.”
Meanwhile, to the north in the Kharkiv region, at least three people were killed and seven injured after a Russian drone attack on a civilian building in Bogodukhiv, the governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synehubov, wrote on Telegram. In Odesa, a drone attack resulted in several fires, which affected a hangar with agricultural equipment, a service station building, a car parts store, solar panels mounted in an open area and a four-storey industrial building.
At the same time, Alexander Drozdenko, governor of the Leningrad region, said on Saturday that a tank at the Kirishi refinery, one of Russia’s largest, was damaged by falling debris after a Ukrainian drone was shot down.

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The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas swiftly condemned the attacks, saying that they show Putin “has no interest in peace”.
“We must step up our military support,” she added.
Striking a similar tone, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk slammed Russia’s attack calling it the result of “what happens when someone appeases barbarians”.
“More bombs, more aggression, more victims. Another tragic night in Ukraine,” Tusk wrote on X.

‘Accelerate peace’​

The overnight attacks came as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was working with the United States to “accelerate peace”, even as the administration of US President Donald Trump has signalled a major shift in Washington’s support for Kyiv.
That pivot has included upping rhetorical pressure on Kyiv to make a deal with Russia, as well as pausing aid and intelligence sharing with the war-torn country. Critics have accused Trump of repeatedly targeting Zelenskyy while striking a markedly more conciliatory tone with Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
“We will do a lot of work here in Europe, with the US, and in Saudi Arabia – we are preparing a meeting to accelerate peace and strengthen the foundations of security,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Friday night.
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“Today, intense work with President Trump’s team has been ongoing at various levels – numerous calls. The topic is clear – peace as soon as possible, security as reliably as possible. Ukraine is fully committed to a constructive approach.”
On Friday, Trump told reporters that it was “easier” to deal with Russia to secure an end to the three-year-long war than Ukraine, but he had said earlier that he was “strongly considering” sanctions on Russia due to its attacks.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha spoke to his US counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, before the planned Ukraine-US negotiations in Saudi Arabia.
During the call, Sybiha wrote on X on Friday that the two officials discussed the upcoming meeting and ways to “advance our bilateral cooperation”.
Zelenskyy is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday to talk to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian officials are expected to hold new talks with their US counterparts in the country following a tense televised dispute between Trump and Zelenskyy at the end of February.
The latest air raids come after European Union leaders agreed to boost the bloc’s defences, shaken by the prospect of US disengagement. Among the proposals on the table from EU countries, the UK and France have been leading efforts to form a so-called “coalition of the willing” – a group of countries prepared to protect an eventual ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war. Several European states have said they would be willing to deploy troops to Ukraine as a “security guarantee”.
Key details about the “coalition of the willing” have not been specified, but the grouping was mentioned by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a summit of European leaders in London on March 2 aimed at guaranteeing “lasting peace” in Ukraine.
On Saturday, the UK said that Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was considering joining the group.
Starmer “spoke to the Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese this morning,” the UK leader’s office said on Saturday.
“He welcomed Prime Minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine and looked forward to the Chiefs of Defence meeting in Paris on Tuesday.”
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies.