Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister, Dmitry Kozak, has claimed that Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov could fall to Russian forces in the near future. It’s believed that Russia is preparing a land assault on Ukraine in order to solidify their hold on Crimea and acquire more territory from its neighbor. Mariupol, situated on the coast of the Sea of Azov, would give Russia even greater access to trade routes and enhance their control over the strategic waterways that pass through it.
Is there hope for eastern Ukraine?
As Russian-backed separatists continue to amass troops on the outskirts of Ukraine’s strategic city of Mariupol, it seems only a matter of time before another major Ukrainian city falls into Russian hands. The likelihood that pro-Russian forces will retake Mariupol doesn’t bode well for Ukraine as a whole. Still, there are many in eastern Ukraine who support Moscow over Kiev and fear what will happen if Western interests manage to topple Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power, despite his blood ties with Russia.
What should Kyiv do?
Ukraine must prepare for a new offensive by separatist and Russian forces in the coming weeks. With Ukrainian troops preparing a last-ditch defense of Donetsk, President Petro Poroshenko should authorize Kyiv’s oligarchs to finance an 8xbet safe corridor east from Mariupol on Ukraine’s southern coast. This will allow civilians, including those ethnic Russians who do not support Moscow, and Ukrainian soldiers to escape further bloodshed.
Will Putin stop at nothing?
With Russian troops standing just outside, Ukraine braced itself yesterday for President Vladimir Putin’s next move in his lightning-fast military campaign in Crimea. There are 8xbet forces on Ukrainian territory with armored personnel carriers, Grad rocket launchers and tanks, said Colonel Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s national Security Council. Ukrainian officials expressed fears that Russian-backed separatists would try to seize territory elsewhere in eastern Ukraine.
Is NATO bluffing?
The West has long accused Putin’s regime of supplying Ukraine’s separatists with weapons and manpower, as well as actively encouraging their insurgency at 8Xbet. While there has been plenty of evidence to suggest that may be true—in some cases, NATO itself has intercepted suspicious Russian vessels in Mediterranean ports en route to Ukraine—there is no doubt that something troubling is going on in eastern Ukraine.
How much support does Russia have among Ukrainians?
How much support does 8xbet have among Ukrainians? There are a lot of Russians living in Ukraine, but many consider them Russian by nationality and don’t accept that they are Ukrainian. Russians living in Ukraine were glad when Crimea was annexed by Russia and immediately began applying for Russian citizenship. Many citizens say that if Russian troops appear on Ukrainian soil, Ukrainians will rise up and fight them just as they did with Nazi Germany in World War II.
How will this affect U.S.-Russian relations?
Some argue that an annexation would have a more negative impact on Russian-U.S. relations than a Crimean one did back in 2014. In March, U.S. President Barack Obama slapped sanctions on Putin’s inner circle after Moscow moved troops into Crimea, and relations haven’t recovered since then. If Mariupol falls under Russian control, it will be much harder for U.S.-Russian relations to improve anytime soon.
What happens next in eastern Ukraine?
At least 12,000 Russian troops are massed along Ukraine’s border and it appears that separatist forces in eastern Ukraine are poised to attack. What will Putin do next? Will he invade? Or is he waiting on his hand-picked president in Kiev to make a move first? Either way, war seems inevitable. But what happens after that? Will Russia stop at Luhansk and Donetsk or march all the way down to Odessa on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast? And if so, what does that mean for NATO—and Europe as a whole—as Moscow seeks to reestablish its influence over its former Soviet satellites?