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]

 

[dalvinder45]

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.

 

[dalvinder45]

Large scale drone attack on Russia's Major cities by Ukraine​

Over 340 drones ere fired by Ukraine on Russia's major cities including Moscow possibly to attack USA Ukraine peach dialogue. At least three persons were killed in biggest Ukrainian drone strike on Moscow. At least 91 drones downed around Moscow, 343 overall in Russia. Three killed by debris at meat warehouse, 17 others injured. It is the largest Ukrainian drone attack on Russian capital. Ukraine: says its drones hit oil facilities in Moscow and Oryol regions
Ukraine on March 11, Tuesday launched its biggest ever drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region, killing at least three employees of a meat warehouse, injuring 17 others and causing a short shutdown at the Russian capital's four airports, Russian officials said. A total of 343 drones were downed over Russia, including 91 over Moscow region and 126 over the western region of Kursk where Ukrainian forces have been pulling back, as well as near the Kursk nuclear power plant, the defence ministry said.

The dawn attack unfurled ahead of talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia on seeking an end of the three-year-war and as Russian forces try to encircle thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday's was the biggest Ukrainian drone attack on the city, which along with the surrounding region has a population of at least 21 million and is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in Europe.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that preventative measures had allowed Moscow and other Russian regions to be defended from the attacks which he said had hit r esidential buildings.

Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine had launched an attack on civilian infrastructure. Ukraine's General Staff said it struck oil facilities in Russia's Moscow and Oryol regions in an overnight drone attack.
Since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the war has showcased the devastating power of relatively cheap drones which have been used by both sides to target cities, troops, oil refineries and airfields.
Kyiv has suffered repeatd mass strikes from Russia throughout the war and said it was targeted by a ballistic missile and 126 drones on tuesday. It has tried to hit back against its vastly bigger neighbour with repeated drone raids over the past two years. Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Russian parliament's defence committee and a former deputy defence minister, suggested Moscow should retaliate for Tuesday's raid by striking Ukraine with the "Oreshink" hypersonic missile.

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Miratorg, one of Russia's biggest meat producers, said two employees were killed by falling debris. Russian officials said a third man from Miratorg had died from his injuries.
Russia's aviation watchdog said flights were suspended at all four of Moscow's airports after the attacks, though they were later reopened. Flights were diverted to other cities.
Though U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to deliver peace in Ukraine, the war is heating up on the battlefield with a major Russian spring offensive in Kursk and a series of Ukrainian drone attacks deep into Russia.

Russia has developed myriad electronic "umbrellas" over Moscow and key installations, with additional advanced internal layers over strategic buildings, and a complex web of air defences to shoot down drones before they reach the Kremlin in the heart of the capital.
Moscow and Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative ways, and seek new ways to destroy them - from farmers' shotguns to electronic jamming.
Soldiers have reported a visceral fear of drones and both sides have used macabre footage of fatal strikes in their propaganda, with soldiers shown being blown apart in toilets or running from burning vehicles.
Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the war, has called Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure such as nuclear power plants "terrorism" and has vowed a response. (Reuters)

 

[dalvinder45]

Russia has remained tight-lipped regarding Ukraine’s acceptance of a United States ceasefire deal.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia was waiting for a briefing from the United States following the talks with Ukrainian officials before it would comment on its stance on the proposed ceasefire. However, there are signals suggesting that Moscow is wary, while US military aid to Kyiv has quickly resumed. Ukraine accepts ceasefire proposal, agrees to start talks with Russia Ukraine accepts 30-day ceasefire in US talks: What it means for Russia warlist 3 of 3. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that it’s important not to “get ahead” of the question of responding to the ceasefire proposal, and suggested that a phone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to discuss the matter has not been ruled out.
“We assume that Secretary of State Rubio and Advisor [Michael] Walz through various channels in the coming days will inform us on the negotiations that took place and the understandings reached,” he added.

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  Ukraine ready to accept US plan for 30-day ceasefire with Russia​

Ukraine expressed “readiness” to accept a 30 day ceasefire at a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. The US has said that the ball is now in Russia’s court.
Moscow officials, however, have signalled that Russia is wary.
“Russia is advancing [on the battlefield], so it will be different with Russia,” Senator Konstantin Kosachev noted in a post on the messaging app Telegram. “Any agreements should be on our terms, not American.”
A senior Russian source told Reuters that Russia would need to hash out the terms of any ceasefire and get guarantees of some description.
“It is difficult for Putin to agree to this in its current form,” the source, said. “Putin has a strong position because Russia is advancing.”
In response to Ukraine’s agreement with the ceasefire proposal, the US agreed to resume military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv, which were suspended last week following a spat between Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Poland, which acts as a logistics hub for the delivery of military aid to its eastern neighbour, said on Wednesday morning that the flow of weapons was already back to previous levels.
“I confirm that arms deliveries via Jasionka [logistics hub] have returned to previous levels,” Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters.
The news was welcomed by Kyiv’s European allies, who are now seeking to up the pressure on Russia to respond to the ceasefire proposal.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, “The idea of a 30-day ceasefire is an important and correct step towards a just peace for Ukraine … Now it’s up to [President Vladimir] Putin.” Amid the intense diplomatic back-and-forth, the fighting on the ground has continued.
Just before the meeting in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine launched its largest ever drone attack on Moscow intended to encourage Putin to accept the proposals of a truce.
Late on Tuesday, Russian ballistic missiles killed four Syrian men as they hit a ship docked at the southern Ukrainian port of Odesa. Another missile killed a woman in Kryyvih Rih
In the Russian region of Kursk held by Kyiv, Ukrainian troops appeared on the point of losing their hard-won foothold, as Moscow claimed further advances, and military bloggers on both sides said Kyiv’s forces were withdrawing.