Russia-Ukraine War: US warns Moscow could escalate attacks

The United States accused Russia of seeking on Tuesday step up “In the next few days” his attacks on Ukraine, where Wednesday marks six months of a never-ending conflict that raises fears of a serious international energy crisis.

“The State Department has information that Russia is stepping up its efforts to launch attacks on civilian infrastructure and government facilities in Ukraine in the coming days,” the US Embassy in Ukraine said on its website.

Washington has also asked its citizens to leave the country. via “private ground transportation available”.

The alarm comes on the eve of the celebration of Ukraine’s Independence Day, which this year coincides with six months after the Russian invasion.

In recent days, the Ukrainian authorities had warned of the possibility of new Russian attacks.

Fear in Kiev

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky acknowledged that “every day” there was a threat of new attacks against kievthe capital and said that in the event of attacks there will be a “powerful response”.

After the withdrawal of Russian forces from Kiev in late March, the main fighting is concentrated in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has slowly gained ground before entering a stalemate, and in the south, where Ukrainian troops say they are conducting. a slow counter-offensive.

“We know they are targeting infrastructure or government buildings, but nothing has substantially changed since February 24,” when the invasion began, Zelensky said at a news conference. “This is what Russia always does,” he added.

Russia continues to regularly target Ukrainian cities long-range missilesalthough so far the capital, kiev and its environs have rarely been reached.

Support from Poland

Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in the capital on Tuesday to meet his Ukrainian counterpart and reaffirm his support for the country against the invasion of Moscow.

Poland has been one of Ukraine’s most unconditional supporters in the European Union (EU) and one of Russia’s biggest critics, unlike Germany and France, criticized for their sometimes moderate stances.

The Polish leader wants to continue to help Kiev, including politically, to “persuade other countries to offer support,” Pawel Szrot, the head of the Polish presidential administration, told a press conference.

Warsaw will also insist on the need to sanction Moscow with “decisive restrictive measures” that will allow Russian citizens to understand “the serious aggression committed by their country”, he said.

Energy crisis

The conflict has hit the world energy market hard and raises fears of a difficult winter in Europe due to the shortage of gas from Russia, which has caused energy prices to rise.

But the war also caused the deaths of thousands of civilians and soldiers. On Monday, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Zaluzhny, admitted this about 9,000 soldiers had died since the invasion began on February 24.

On the same day, faced with a “war that lasts and seems destined to last”, the EU’s head of diplomacy, Josep Borrell, announced that the Union plans to organize a “training and assistance” mission to Ukraine army in neighboring countries.

The proposal will be discussed next week in the Czech Republic by European defense ministers.

Even the Ukrainian army prepares for a long-winded war.

An advisor to the Ukrainian presidency, Mikhailo Podoliak, told AFP on Monday that Moscow, despite its calls for Ukraine to negotiate, actually wanted “an operational break for its army” before launching “a new offensive”.

Tensions between the two countries have picked up momentum in the last few days following Daria Duguina’s death in an explosion in her car on Saturday.

Hundreds of people gathered in Moscow on Tuesday for his funeral. Duguina, a 29-year-old journalist and political scientist, was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, an ideologue close to the Kremlin and a strong supporter of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

“He died on the front for the nation, for Russia. The front is here,” Douguin said.

The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, said for his part that “there will be no mercy” for Duguina’s killers.

Russian security services accuse Ukrainian secret services of tampering with the car, but Kiev denies any involvement.

Source: AFP

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