Putin vows that Ukraine war goals will be 'unconditionally fulfilled'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday claimed Moscow's war goals in Ukraine will be "unconditionally fulfilled" despite discussions this week amongst Ukraine's allies to further support Kyiv's government with weapons in the fight.
Speaking to Russia's parliament, Putin said "I want to emphasize again that all the tasks of the special military operation we are conducting in the Donbas and Ukraine, launched on Feb. 24, will be unconditionally fulfilled."
That, he said, will "guarantee the security of the residents" of separatist regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia recognized as independent shortly before launching its military action in Ukraine, as well as Crimea -- which Russia annexed in 2014 -- "and our entire country in the historical perspective."
The remarks come a day after dozens of defense ministers huddled at the U.S. Air Force's Ramstein Air Base in Germany for a meeting that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin later told Fox News was "all about making sure that we can continue to provide Ukraine what it needs to be successful in the fight today."
"They'll need different kinds of things to be able to shape that fight a bit better," Austin told Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin, noting the terrain in Ukraine's south and east. "So, we're looking at long range artillery and tanks and armored vehicles and those types of things."
U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, delivers a speech as he hosts the meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultative Group at Ramstein Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, on Tuesday, April 26. (AP/Michael Probst)
On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Putin also met one-on-one for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the United Nations said they agreed on arranging evacuations from a besieged steel plant in the battered city of Mariupol.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the Russian leader and U.N. chief discussed "proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians from conflict zones, namely in relation to the situation in Mariupol."
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a meeting of the Council of Legislators under the Russian Federal Assembly at the Tauride Palace, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday, April 27. (Alexei Danichev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
They also agreed in principle, he said, that the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross should be involved in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel complex where Ukrainian defenders in the southeastern city are making a stand.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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If Putin is still this determined, then we are only at the beginning of a terrible tragedy.
it will be for some, if the war against autocracy ever migrates to this hemisphere.
And a very long one at that. Putin has no interest in negotiating for a peaceful settlement other than the one that grants him all his expansionist demands and he does not care who he has to kill to accomplish said demands, whether it be his own people or the one's he invades. The man is a raving megalomaniac who aspires to be like his hero Josef Stalin.
He may end the same way.
We can only hope.
"Hope & Change!"
Just as long as it is not the "hope & change" we were told we'd get under Obama.../s
600yds in the nugget.
AKA...The Crimea!
You never know what could end up in a plate of Blini.
putin hasn't been looking very good lately.
maybe he exposed himself to some radioactive element that last time he poisoned somebody. he's paranoid now, he can't touch anything, needs food tasters, and won't stand anywhere close to a window above ground level. tsk, tsk, tsk, too bad.
Yes, Crimea and Donbas are the central issues in the war. And have been from the beginning of the invasion.
The self-proclaimed Ukrainian Republics in Donbas are fighting for themselves. Eastern Ukrainians partitioned Ukraine. Russia is supporting that partition for reasons that should be obvious. But Russia did not partition Ukraine; Ukrainians partitioned Ukraine. Ukrainians have been fighting Ukrainians in Donbas for eight years. Why should we expect the self-proclaimed Ukrainian Republics in Donbas to just give up now? Why should we expect those Ukrainian Republics to accept Russia and the Kyiv government negotiating away their independence?
Crimea is important to Russia for reasons that should be obvious, too. This war is not the first time Russia has bankrupted itself over Crimea. Every time Russia has been kicked out of Crimea over the last 250 years, Russia has fought its way back into Crimea. Why should we expect this war to be any different?
Eastern Europeans are batshit crazy by western standards. And we shouldn't be surprised if the war gets even crazier by our western standards.
“..,if the war gets even crazier by our western standards.”
Do tell how a ‘war’ can get any crazier, by any ‘standard’.
Persons willing to kill people?
Regimes willing to kill opponents?
Outcomes willing to be accepted by both sides?
We should all be better.
There are all sorts of ways the war can get crazier. Suicide attacks. Radiation 'leaks' from reactors; Ukraine has already been warning about that (or threatening that). Scorched earth methods.
Both the western Ukrainians and eastern Ukrainians are quite willing and able to burn the crops, kill the livestock, and poison the wells. Ukrainians have done it before to Ukrainians. The danger is that the war will become a blood feud, especially in Donbas. If that happens no one will be able to control it. Everyone will be killing everyone out of spite to settle scores.
Right now Russia is in the middle. Ukraine could turn into something that would make Bosnia/Herzegovina look like a garden party. You know the Bosnians killed the Srebrenica with sledge hammers to save ammo. There is a possibility that forcing Russia out of Ukraine could make the crisis worse. Ukraine would keep their national borders intact but would kill all the dissidents, too.
“Right now Russia is in the middle.”
Bullshit. Simply bullshit.
As the aggressor, Putin has no fall back position. Should he conquer Ukraine through sheer strength of numbers, he still loses.
Srebrenica is a town not a people.
You should know that Bosnian Serbs committed ''ethnic cleansing'' against Bosnian Muslims and Serbia and the Serbs in Bosnia are aligned with Russia. It's called war crimes and the Russians and their allies are good at it. And the Russians were/are meddling in Macedonia and Montenegro.
That is the most bizarre comment that I've seen in quite a while.
You are absolutely correct. Putin knows full well that if he falls back from Ukraine, he is finished as he has gone too far over the line with the international community and his own people. If he falls back that means defeat and he is done for.
That is totally incorrect. This war is about Putin advancing his imperialist Eurasianism policy.
For those unfamiliar with Russian Eurasianism, this link is very informative: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/russian-eurasianism-ideology-empire