Okay, so here is a bit more on the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has obviously been very active. He first appealed to Putin in Russian, obviously to no avail. He then cut all diplomatic ties with Russia, closed off Ukrainian airspace, and declared martial law throughout Ukraine, urging Ukrainian citizens to stay inside of their homes and setting a curfew. All of that was on the first day of the war.
He has also vowed to stay put, even as Russian forces advance on Kyiv, the capital city, and even while he said that he himself was target number 1 for the Russians, and his family was target number 2. As the war is not going well for his Ukrainian forces, he also urged citizens to fight by making Molotov cocktails. Instructions on how to specifically make them were broadcast.
Zelensky is vowing to stay put in Kyiv, even as the Russians are fast approaching. As I write this (early Friday evening, eastern time), he predicted that there would be an all-out assault on the Ukrainian capital tonight. He warned the west that the time to take urgent action was now, and that the images and video of him being broadcast in these first days of war may be the last time that we in the West see him alive. So far, it seems that all western nations agree that sanctions are the best way, and they have strongly opposed actual military intervention, particularly boots on the ground. Such a military response would indeed seem to increase the chances of this drastically escalating, quite possibly to World War III.
Last I heard on reports from a few hours ago, Russian forces were nearing the capital city of Kyiv. They and their tanks were seen to the north, and there was a Russian presence there from the west, as well. There is heavy fighting on multiple fronts, although it is most heavy in and around the capital city of Kyiv and the eastern regions, as well as
The United States, Britain, Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Union revealed still more sanctions on Russia on top of the earlier economic penalties they launched earlier this week. These included a move by Germany to stop an $11 billion gas pipeline from Russia. The United Nations Security Council voted today on taking action against the Russian invasion, particularly condemning the invasion and requiring an immediate Russian withdrawal. However, this was obviously going to be vetoed by Russia itself. It is also worth noting that China abstained, confirming what many suspect may be designs for a similar military takeover of Taiwan by the Chinese military which might not be very far off. China has been under pressure by other nations because they have refused to refer to this military incursion by Russian forces in Ukraine as an invasion.
The fighting is still quite intense in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, the two regions that Putin is suggesting that Russians are being seriously mistreated and facing persecution by what he termed as neo-Nazi Ukrainian extremists. He is demanding the need for these two regions to gain their independence. Putin himself described this Russian presence in Ukraine as "a special military operation."
Here is the news source from which I obtained most of the information for this particular blog entry, although I also did receive some of the information from televised BBC News reports:
Ukraine's president vows to stay put as Russian invaders approach by Natalia Zinets, February 25, 2022:
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraines-president-stays-put-russian-invaders-advance-2022-02-25/
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