Latest news with #VladimirPutin
13 minutes ago
- Politics
Trump's 50-day ultimatum gives Russia a chance to wear down Ukraine
President Donald Trump's ultimatum to Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days or face bruising sanctions on its energy exports has given the Kremlin extra time to pursue its summer offensive. The dogged Ukrainian resistance, however, makes it unlikely that the Russian military will make any quick gains. President Vladimir Putin has declared repeatedly that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. He also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces -– demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected. A chronic shortage of manpower and ammunition has forced Ukrainian forces to focus on holding ground rather than launching counteroffensives. But despite a renewed Russian push — and an onslaught of aerial attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks — Ukrainian officials and analysts say it remains unlikely that Moscow can achieve any territorial breakthrough significant enough in 50 days to force Ukraine into accepting the Kremlin's terms anytime soon. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their land gains, capturing the most territory in eastern Ukraine since the opening stages of Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. Russian forces are closing in on the eastern strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, methodically capturing villages near both cities to try to cut key supply routes and envelop their defenders — a slow offensive that has unfolded for months. Capturing those strongholds would allow Russia to push toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, setting the stage for the seizure of the entire Donetsk region. If Russian troops seize those last strongholds, it would open the way for them to forge westward to the Dnipropetrovsk region. The regional capital of Dnipro, a major industrial hub of nearly 1 million, is about 150 kilometers (just over 90 miles) west of Russian positions. The spread of fighting to Dnipropetrovsk could damage Ukrainian morale and give the Kremlin more leverage in any negotiations. In the neighboring Luhansk region, Ukrainian troops control a small sliver of land, but Moscow has not seemed to prioritize its capture. The other two Moscow-annexed regions — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — seem far from being totally overtaken by Russia. Early in the war, Russia quickly overran the Kherson region but was pushed back by Ukrainian forces from large swaths of it in November 2022, and retreated to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. A new attempt to cross the waterway to seize the rest of the region would involve massive challenges, and Moscow doesn't seem to have the capability to mount such an operation. Fully capturing the Zaporizhzhia region appears equally challenging. Moscow's forces captured several villages in northeastern Ukraine's Sumy region after reclaiming chunks of Russia's Kursk region from Ukrainian troops who staged a surprise incursion in August 2024. Ukraine says its forces have stopped Russia's offensive and maintain a presence on the fringe of the Kursk region, where they are still tying down as many as 10,000 Russian troops. Putin recently described the offensive into the Sumy region as part of efforts to carve a 'buffer zone' to protect Russian territory from Ukrainian attacks. The regional capital of Sumy, a city of 268,000, is about 30 kilometers (less than 20 miles) from the border. Putin said Moscow doesn't plan to capture the city for now but doesn't exclude it. Military analysts, however, say Russian forces in the area clearly lack the strength to capture it. Russian forces also have pushed an offensive in the neighboring Kharkiv region, but they haven't made much progress against fierce Ukrainian resistance. Some commentators say Russia may hope to use its gains in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions as bargaining chips in negotiations, trading them for parts of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control. 'A scenario of territorial swaps as part of the talks is quite realistic,' said Mikhail Karyagin, a Kremlin-friendly political expert, in a commentary, Ukrainian commanders say the scale and pace of Russian operations suggest that any game-changing gains are out of reach, with Moscow's troops advancing slowly at a tremendous cost to its own forces. While exhausted Ukrainian forces are feeling outnumbered and outgunned, they are relying on drones to stymie Moscow's slow offensive. Significant movements of troops and weapons are easily spotted by drones that are so prolific that both sides use them to track and attack even individual soldiers within minutes. Russian military commentators recognize that Ukraine's drone proficiency makes any quick gains by Moscow unlikely. They say Russia aims to bleed Ukraine dry with a strategy of 'a thousand cuts,' using relentless pressure on many sectors of the front and steadily increasing long-range aerial attacks against key infrastructure. 'The Russian army aims to exhaust the enemy to such an extent that it will not be able to hold the defense, and make multiple advances merge into one or several successes on a strategic scale that will determine the outcome of the war,' Moscow-based military analyst Sergei Poletayev wrote in an analysis. 'It's not that important where and at what speed to advance: the target is not the capture of this or that line; the target is the enemy army as such.' Ukrainian troops on the front express exasperation and anger about delays and uncertainty about U.S. weapons shipments. Delays in U.S. military assistance have forced Kyiv's troops to ration ammunition and scale back operations as Russia intensifies its attacks, Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine told The Associated Press. The United States will sell weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine, according to Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Included are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for Ukraine. Speeded-up weapons shipments from European allies are crucial to allowing Ukraine to stem the Russian attacks, according to analysts. 'The rate of Russian advance is accelerating, and Russia's summer offensive is likely to put the armed forces of Ukraine under intense pressure,' Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute in London said in a commentary. But most of the capabilities that Ukraine needs — from drones to artillery systems — can be provided by NATO allies in Europe, he said. 'In the short-term, Europe can cover most of Ukraine's needs so long as it can purchase some critical weapons types from the U.S.,' Watling said.
Arab Times
33 minutes ago
- Politics
- Arab Times
Trump's 50-day ultimatum gives Russia chance to wear down Ukraine
WASHINGTON, July 16, (AP): US President Donald Trump's ultimatum to Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days or face bruising sanctions on its energy exports has given the Kremlin extra time to pursue its summer offensive. The dogged Ukrainian resistance, however, makes it unlikely that the Russian military will make any quick gains. President Vladimir Putin has declared repeatedly that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. He also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces -- demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected. A chronic shortage of manpower and ammunition has forced Ukrainian forces to focus on holding ground rather than launching counteroffensives. But despite a renewed Russian push - and an onslaught of aerial attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks - Ukrainian officials and analysts say it remains unlikely that Moscow can achieve any territorial breakthrough significant enough in 50 days to force Ukraine into accepting the Kremlin's terms anytime soon. Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their land gains, capturing the most territory in eastern Ukraine since the opening stages of Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. Russian forces are closing in on the eastern strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, methodically capturing villages near both cities to try to cut key supply routes and envelop their defenders - a slow offensive that has unfolded for months. Capturing those strongholds would allow Russia to push toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, setting the stage for the seizure of the entire Donetsk region. If Russian troops seize those last strongholds, it would open the way for them to forge westward to the Dnipropetrovsk region. The regional capital of Dnipro, a major industrial hub of nearly 1 million, is about 150 kilometers (just over 90 miles) west of Russian positions. The spread of fighting to Dnipropetrovsk could damage Ukrainian morale and give the Kremlin more leverage in any negotiations. In the neighboring Luhansk region, Ukrainian troops control a small sliver of land, but Moscow has not seemed to prioritize its capture.
The Hill
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump's 50-day ultimatum gives Russia a chance to wear down Ukraine
President Donald Trump's ultimatum to Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days or face bruising sanctions on its energy exports has given the Kremlin extra time to pursue its summer offensive. The dogged Ukrainian resistance, however, makes it unlikely that the Russian military will make any quick gains. President Vladimir Putin has declared repeatedly that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured. He also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces -– demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected. A chronic shortage of manpower and ammunition has forced Ukrainian forces to focus on holding ground rather than launching counteroffensives. But despite a renewed Russian push — and an onslaught of aerial attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks — Ukrainian officials and analysts say it remains unlikely that Moscow can achieve any territorial breakthrough significant enough in 50 days to force Ukraine into accepting the Kremlin's terms anytime soon. Russia's main targets Since spring, Russian troops have accelerated their land gains, capturing the most territory in eastern Ukraine since the opening stages of Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022. Russian forces are closing in on the eastern strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, methodically capturing villages near both cities to try to cut key supply routes and envelop their defenders — a slow offensive that has unfolded for months. Capturing those strongholds would allow Russia to push toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, setting the stage for the seizure of the entire Donetsk region. If Russian troops seize those last strongholds, it would open the way for them to forge westward to the Dnipropetrovsk region. The regional capital of Dnipro, a major industrial hub of nearly 1 million, is about 150 kilometers (just over 90 miles) west of Russian positions. The spread of fighting to Dnipropetrovsk could damage Ukrainian morale and give the Kremlin more leverage in any negotiations. In the neighboring Luhansk region, Ukrainian troops control a small sliver of land, but Moscow has not seemed to prioritize its capture. The other two Moscow-annexed regions — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — seem far from being totally overtaken by Russia. Early in the war, Russia quickly overran the Kherson region but was pushed back by Ukrainian forces from large swaths of it in November 2022, and retreated to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. A new attempt to cross the waterway to seize the rest of the region would involve massive challenges, and Moscow doesn't seem to have the capability to mount such an operation. Fully capturing the Zaporizhzhia region appears equally challenging. Russian attempts to establish a 'buffer zone' Moscow's forces captured several villages in northeastern Ukraine's Sumy region after reclaiming chunks of Russia's Kursk region from Ukrainian troops who staged a surprise incursion in August 2024. Ukraine says its forces have stopped Russia's offensive and maintain a presence on the fringe of the Kursk region, where they are still tying down as many as 10,000 Russian troops. Putin recently described the offensive into the Sumy region as part of efforts to carve a 'buffer zone' to protect Russian territory from Ukrainian attacks. The regional capital of Sumy, a city of 268,000, is about 30 kilometers (less than 20 miles) from the border. Putin said Moscow doesn't plan to capture the city for now but doesn't exclude it. Military analysts, however, say Russian forces in the area clearly lack the strength to capture it. Russian forces also have pushed an offensive in the neighboring Kharkiv region, but they haven't made much progress against fierce Ukrainian resistance. Some commentators say Russia may hope to use its gains in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions as bargaining chips in negotiations, trading them for parts of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control. 'A scenario of territorial swaps as part of the talks is quite realistic,' said Mikhail Karyagin, a Kremlin-friendly political expert, in a commentary, Wearing down Ukraine with slow pressure Ukrainian commanders say the scale and pace of Russian operations suggest that any game-changing gains are out of reach, with Moscow's troops advancing slowly at a tremendous cost to its own forces. While exhausted Ukrainian forces are feeling outnumbered and outgunned, they are relying on drones to stymie Moscow's slow offensive. Significant movements of troops and weapons are easily spotted by drones that are so prolific that both sides use them to track and attack even individual soldiers within minutes. Russian military commentators recognize that Ukraine's drone proficiency makes any quick gains by Moscow unlikely. They say Russia aims to bleed Ukraine dry with a strategy of 'a thousand cuts,' using relentless pressure on many sectors of the front and steadily increasing long-range aerial attacks against key infrastructure. 'The Russian army aims to exhaust the enemy to such an extent that it will not be able to hold the defense, and make multiple advances merge into one or several successes on a strategic scale that will determine the outcome of the war,' Moscow-based military analyst Sergei Poletayev wrote in an analysis. 'It's not that important where and at what speed to advance: the target is not the capture of this or that line; the target is the enemy army as such.' Western supplies are essential for Ukraine Ukrainian troops on the front express exasperation and anger about delays and uncertainty about U.S. weapons shipments. Delays in U.S. military assistance have forced Kyiv's troops to ration ammunition and scale back operations as Russia intensifies its attacks, Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine told The Associated Press. The United States will sell weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine, according to Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Included are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for Ukraine. Speeded-up weapons shipments from European allies are crucial to allowing Ukraine to stem the Russian attacks, according to analysts. 'The rate of Russian advance is accelerating, and Russia's summer offensive is likely to put the armed forces of Ukraine under intense pressure,' Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute in London said in a commentary. But most of the capabilities that Ukraine needs — from drones to artillery systems — can be provided by NATO allies in Europe, he said. 'In the short-term, Europe can cover most of Ukraine's needs so long as it can purchase some critical weapons types from the U.S.,' Watling said.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Russia may hope to use Trump's 50-day window to wear down Ukraine, but quick gains seem unlikely
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Russia's main targets Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Russian attempts to establish a buffer zone Wearing down Ukraine with slow pressure Western supplies are essential for Ukraine President Donald Trump 's ultimatum to Russia to accept a peace deal in Ukraine within 50 days or face bruising sanctions on its energy exports has given the Kremlin extra time to pursue its summer dogged Ukrainian resistance, however, makes it unlikely that the Russian military will make any quick Vladimir Putin has declared repeatedly that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022 but never fully also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces -- demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected.A chronic shortage of manpower and ammunition has forced Ukrainian forces to focus on holding ground rather than launching despite a renewed Russian push - and an onslaught of aerial attacks on Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks - Ukrainian officials and analysts say it remains unlikely that Moscow can achieve any territorial breakthrough significant enough in 50 days to force Ukraine into accepting the Kremlin's terms anytime spring, Russian troops have accelerated their land gains, capturing the most territory in eastern Ukraine since the opening stages of Moscow's full-scale invasion in forces are closing in on the eastern strongholds of Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, methodically capturing villages near both cities to try to cut key supply routes and envelop their defenders - a slow offensive that has unfolded for those strongholds would allow Russia to push toward Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, setting the stage for the seizure of the entire Donetsk Russian troops seize those last strongholds, it would open the way for them to forge westward to the Dnipropetrovsk region. The regional capital of Dnipro, a major industrial hub of nearly 1 million, is about 150 kilometres (just over 90 miles) west of Russian spread of fighting to Dnipropetrovsk could damage Ukrainian morale and give the Kremlin more leverage in any the neighboring Luhansk region, Ukrainian troops control a small sliver of land, but Moscow has not seemed to prioritize its other two Moscow-annexed regions - Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - seem far from being totally overtaken by in the war, Russia quickly overran the Kherson region but pulled back from large swaths of it in November 2022, retreating to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River. A new attempt to cross the waterway to seize the rest of the region would involve massive challenges, and Moscow doesn't seem to have the capability to mount such an capturing the Zaporizhzhia region appears equally forces captured several villages in northeastern Ukraine's Sumy region after reclaiming chunks of Russia's Kursk region from Ukrainian troops who staged a surprise incursion in August says its forces have stopped Russia's offensive and maintain a presence on the fringe of the Kursk region, where they are still tying down as many as 10,000 Russian recently described the offensive into the Sumy region as part of efforts to carve a "buffer zone" to protect Russian territory from Ukrainian regional capital of Sumy, a city of 268,000, is about 30 kilometres (less than 20 miles) from the border. Putin said Moscow doesn't plan to capture the city for now but doesn't exclude analysts, however, say Russian forces in the area clearly lack the strength to capture forces also have pushed an offensive in the neighbouring Kharkiv region, but they haven't made much progress against fierce Ukrainian commentators say Russia may hope to use its gains in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions as bargaining chips in negotiations, trading them for parts of the Donetsk region under Ukrainian control."A scenario of territorial swaps as part of the talks is quite realistic," said Mikhail Karyagin, a Kremlin-friendly political expert, in a commentary,Ukrainian commanders say the scale and pace of Russian operations suggest that any game-changing gains are out of reach, with Moscow's troops advancing slowly at a tremendous cost to its own exhausted Ukrainian forces are feeling outnumbered and outgunned, they are relying on drones to stymie Moscow's slow offensive. Significant movements of troops and weapons are easily spotted by drones that are so prolific that both sides use them to track and attack even individual soldiers within military commentators recognize that Ukraine's drone proficiency makes any quick gains by Moscow unlikely. They say Russia aims to bleed Ukraine dry with a strategy of "a thousand cuts", using relentless pressure on many sectors of the front and steadily increasing long-range aerial attacks against key infrastructure."The Russian army aims to exhaust the enemy to such an extent that it will not be able to hold the defence, and make multiple advances merge into one or several successes on a strategic scale that will determine the outcome of the war," Moscow-based military analyst Sergei Poletayev wrote in an analysis."It's not that important where and at what speed to advance: the target is not the capture of this or that line; the target is the enemy army as such."Ukrainian troops on the front express exasperation and anger about delays and uncertainty about US weapons in US military assistance have forced Kyiv's troops to ration ammunition and scale back operations as Russia intensifies its attacks, Ukrainian soldiers in eastern Ukraine told The Associated United States will sell weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine, according to Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Included are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for weapons shipments from European allies are crucial to allowing Ukraine to stem the Russian attacks, according to analysts."The rate of Russian advance is accelerating, and Russia's summer offensive is likely to put the armed forces of Ukraine under intense pressure," Jack Watling of the Royal United Services Institute in London said in a most of the capabilities that Ukraine needs - from drones to artillery systems - can be provided by NATO allies in Europe, he said."In the short-term, Europe can cover most of Ukraine's needs so long as it can purchase some critical weapons types from the US," Watling said.
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘North Korea is now a more important ally for Russia than Iran or China'
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wept as he threw himself over the coffin of a soldier draped in the national flag, one of six or so who were lined up in a row. Photographs of him mourning were shown at a gala performance at a theatre in Pyongyang late last month, celebrating the anniversary of a mutual defence pact signed by Kim and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The soldiers had been killed in action fighting alongside Russian forces in the war against Ukraine. While Ukraine's NATO backers have refused to deploy boots on the ground, North Korean fighters have participated in fierce battles over the region of Kursk in western Russia, partly occupied by a Ukrainian counteroffensive. 'North Korea is now a more important ally for Russia than Iran or China,' said Oleg Ignatov, senior Russia analyst for Crisis Group. 'North Korea supplies Russia with ammunition and some types of heavy weapons. As for the North Korean soldiers, Russian sources say they are professional and disciplined. At the beginning of the Kursk operation, they lacked the modern combat skills required for this type of war, which involves the use of large numbers of drones, but they quickly adapted.' Looking ahead, there are signs that the Russian-North Korean alliance is advancing. Two weeks ago, Ukrainian intelligence sources told CNN that North Korea was planning to triple its deployment along the front lines with Ukraine by dispatching up to 30,000 more soldiers. Russia welcomes the additional manpower as, according to a count kept by the Russian independent outlet Mediazona and the BBC, Moscow's army has suffered more than 116,000 losses since launching a full-scale war on its neighbour in 2022. Some observers say North Korea, a famously isolated nation, also has plenty to gain. 'From a military operations point of view, North Korea now has had on-the-ground exposure to modern warfare, which South Korea does not,' said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a senior fellow with the Stimson Center's 38 North and POSCO fellow with the East-West Center. 'From a policy point of view, North Korea's improved ties with Russia give Kim Jong Un greater strategic manoeuvrability, due to immediate benefits like Russia's oil and wheat shipments and possible transfers of military technology to North Korea – to the longer-term opportunities that Kim Jong Un appears to see by nurturing this relationship.' She added that this all gives North Korea 'little to no incentive to engage the United States, much less South Korea'. 'North Korea's relationship with Russia gives Kim stronger leverage vis-a-vis China, which could have broader regional implications in the longer term,' she said. Russia has reopened long-dormant supply chains to the North, ignoring international sanctions. 'The countries have resumed traffic along the Khasan-Tumen line,' Neimat Khalilov, a political scientist and member of the Digoria expert club, told Al Jazeera, referring to the Russian border with North Korea. 'Russia supplies coal, fertilisers and iron ore via railway crossings, while [North Korea] supplies seafood and rare earth metals … Separately, it is worth noting the modernisation of the [North Korean] port of Rajin, which is taking place with the participation of the Russian Federation. The goal of the project is to make the port an alternative to South Korean hubs, thereby increasing cargo flow through Vladivostok to North Korea.' 'A qualitatively new phase' The modern state of North Korea owes its existence to the Soviet Union, which routed Japanese colonial troops occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula at the end of World War II, while US forces did the same in the south. A Soviet and Chinese-backed Communist state was established, and the USSR remained a close ally throughout the Cold War. But after the USSR collapsed in the early 1990s, North Korea lost its crucial backer and a vital source of aid, plunging the country into a catastrophic famine. Relations with the new Russia were not hostile, but not particularly close. In the 2000s and 2010s, Russia even joined the global sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea's nuclear programme and alleged human rights abuses. However, Khalilov said, 'With the start of the SMO [the war in Ukraine, which is known as a 'special military operation' in Russia], they entered a qualitatively new phase.' Pyongyang made its position clear from the beginning of the war in early 2022, as one of only five governments to vote against condemning Moscow's invasion at an emergency session of the UN. The others were Belarus, Eritrea, Syria and Russia itself. 'In 2023, former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu visited the DPRK, and a few months later, as part of the North Korea-Russia summit, DPRK leader Kim Jong Un made an official visit to Russia, where he held talks with Vladimir Putin,' said Khalilov. 'Particular attention is drawn to the change in rhetoric: joint statements increasingly include formulations about 'common values' and 'strategic partnership'.' Khalilov noted that the deployment of about 15,000 North Korean forces on the Kursk battlefield was provided for by Article 4 of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, signed by Putin and Kim last June. This allowed one country to provide 'military and other assistance' to the other in case of foreign invasion. The Kremlin initially denied claims made late last year by Ukraine and South Korean intelligence that North Koreans were fighting alongside Russian troops. The Russian command appeared to have undertaken some effort to hide it. In December, The Guardian reported that North Korean soldiers wounded in Kursk were being treated in secret at Russian hospitals, while the soldiers were issued fake IDs identifying them as ethnic minorities from Russia's Far East, should they die on the battlefield. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that North Korean soldiers risked being executed by their own side if capture was imminent. It was only in April that Russia and the North officially confirmed that their troops were fighting side-by-side, with Putin thanking 'our Korean friends' for acting out of 'solidarity, a sense of justice, and true comradeship' during the battle for Kursk. At the same time, Kim praised his soldiers on their 'sacred mission.' Russian officials have since promised North Korea that soldiers killed would be honoured in Kursk by erecting monuments and renaming streets after them. Political scientist Fyodor Krasheninnikov has suggested the initial secrecy was sustained at North Korea's request. 'They have their own internal logic – their own propaganda, their own ideology,' he told the exiled Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. 'They needed to fit this into their domestic messaging. I think they asked the Russians not to bring it up. And once they figured out how to spin it at home, they decided the time had come to say, 'Yes, that was us.''
