After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the suspension of the Russian-U.S. nuclear disarmament treaty and his pledge to continue pushing into Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden has sought to reassure Eastern and Central Europe, and Biden met yesterday in Warsaw with nine leaders from the region. in the presence of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to reaffirm Washington’s “unwavering” support for them, and nine countries, namely Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, all former Soviet republics , and members of the Warsaw Pact and located on the eastern wing of NATO. By continuing his offensive against Ukraine almost a year ago in a “systematic manner” and announcing Russia’s suspension of the Russian-American “New START” nuclear disarmament treaty, reminiscent of the darkest stages of the Cold War.
Putin emphasized that the West wants to “inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, that is, completely eliminate us,” making Washington and its European allies “responsible for fueling the Ukrainian conflict and (falling) its victims.”
On the same day, Biden, in a speech in Warsaw, replied that “the West is not plotting an attack on Russia, as Putin said,” and “millions of Russian citizens only want to live in peace with their neighbors, not with the enemy.”
Yesterday in New York, the UN General Assembly began a meeting marking the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, during which Kiev and its allies hoped to mobilize the greatest possible support for a resolution calling for a “just and lasting” peace.
Sixty countries submitted a draft resolution that “reaffirms the need for the speedy achievement of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”
The text will be put to the vote at the end of the discussions, which continue at least until today.
As in previous resolutions, the text reaffirms the “commitment” to “the unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine” and “demands” the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, as well as calls for a “cessation of hostilities.”
But he does not refer to the 10-point peace plan presented by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in November.
The head of Wagner accuses the General Staff of treason!
The head of the Russian armed group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused his country’s General Staff of “treason” by refusing, he said, to deliver equipment to his units, which are on the front line in eastern Ukraine.
The head of the Russian armed group Wagner called on the Russians to put pressure on the Moscow army to provide the group’s fighters with ammunition, in an unprecedented appeal reflecting the degree of tension between the mercenaries and the Russian General Staff, and said in an audio recording published by his media apparatus: “If only every Russian just said: give shells (to Wagner), what starts to happen in social networks, the effect of this will be very large.
These statements by businessman Prigozhin are indicative of escalating tensions between the Wagner group and the Russian army, which appear to be in competition for territory in Ukraine.