Ukraine bleeds to death as the EU and the US pressure Russia with more sanctions and Putin launches a nuclear threat

The European Union has made another move against the invasion orchestrated by Vladimir Putin and is going to allocate up to 400 million euros for the shipment of weapons to Ukraine. “It is the first time in our history that the European Union will supply lethal weapons to a third country. This war requires our commitment to support the Ukrainian army”, considered the High Representative of the European Union, Josep Borrell. More and more countries are sending military material, mainly composed of defensive weapons.

And among those countries is Germany.what in a radical turn of his policy it will supply 500 anti-aircraft missiles and 1,000 anti-tank missiles capable of destroying part of the Russian potential. For its part, the Netherlands will send another 200 surface-to-air missiles; Sweden, 5,000 anti-tank; Belgium, 2,000 machine guns, and so on up to thirty countries. All with one goal: to stop Putin’s attack. “If Russia stops its offensive, the war is over. If Ukraine stops defending, it ceases to exist,” warned the professor at Comillas Pontifical University.

Europe also seeks with this strategy to prevent Russian superiority from making this a blitzkrieg, the intention of the Russian head of state: “Putin is in a big hurry to bring down the Zelensky government. The other agenda, which is that of the West, goes in the opposite direction: trying to bog down Russia as much as possible,” analyzed Jesús Núñez, co-director of the Institute for Conflict Studies. Foreign aid could complicate things for Russia and make the conflict last longer.

However, it is not that easy. “It is not about turning the table around and that the Ukrainians start taking the initiative there, no. It is helping them to resist more. It will be decisive or shocking simply depending on the level of destruction that the Ukrainians achieve,” warned Jesús Pérez Triana, Security and Defense analyst. The European Union, which will not intervene militarily in Ukrainian territory -since this country does not belong to NATO- thus continues betting on different ways to put an end to Putin’s plans; pathways that have led to the implementation of other sanctions addressed both to the Russian country and to Putin.

Switzerland values ​​​​joining the EU sanctions package against Russia despite its neutral position

Precisely after the EU announced this Saturday that it will freeze the financial assets that the Russian Central Bank has outside the country and that it will expel several banks in the country from the SWIFT system -the main communication system between financial entities- to “prevent Putin from being able to finance the war” in Ukraine, this Sunday has prohibited the passage of any Russian airline through European territory, but also from any aircraft controlled by Russian capital and from the private jets of Russian oligarchs. But there is more: the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, has announced that the broadcast of the Russian media ‘Russia Today’ and ‘Sputnik’ will be canceled to avoid Putin’s propaganda.

Finally, sanctions will also be implemented against the president of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, whom Von der Leyen accuses of collaborating with the invasion against Ukraine. Namely, states that he is “yet another aggressor” in this war. It should be remembered that just two days ago, on Friday, the European Union announced that it will freeze the assets of the Russian president and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. It seems that the president of Switzerland could join all these sanctions, who on Sunday night acknowledged that it is “very likely” that his country will join the positions of neighboring countries despite its neutrality.

These are measures that, however, they don’t seem to slow down Putin; rather, it seems the opposite, based on his latest statements. Because this Sunday he has launched a harsh response to the sanctions of NATO and European allies, warning of the establishment of a “special service regime” its strategic deterrence forces, which includes its nuclear assets, in the face of what it has called “aggressive statements” by NATO leaders. “I order the Minister of Defense (Sergei Shoigu) and the Chief of the General Staff (Valeri Gerasimov) to transfer the deterrence forces of the Russian Army to a special combat service regime.”

a critical situation

While Europe and Russia threaten each other, the situation in Ukraine has been getting worse over the hours, leading to an authentic humanitarian drama. Long queues of people are already seen on highways and streets trying to flee the country. Silence mixes with desperation, and buses full of the hardest stories do not stop arriving at the border crossings. Disoriented by the rush and anguish of the journey, many of the refugees pick up their first vibers within days. Improvised humanitarian aid floods the soil of the borders.

In the last few hours, more than 370,000 people have already left Ukraine; for Poland, about 156,000; for Slovakia, 7,200; for Hungary, 26,000; for Romania, 15,000; or by Moldova, 32,000. But not all have managed to flee. In Ukraine there are only bombs and the sound of sirens. And for many Ukrainians, there are only two ways out: hide or flee. There are also those who stay to stand up to the Russian troops, encouraged by the nation’s own government. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has appealed to international fighters: “Come and we will give you weapons“. Some have already heard him.

Zelensky’s statements are surprising when, just this Sunday, it was announced that he had agreed to send a delegation from his country to the border that joins Ukraine with Belarus to negotiate with the Russian side the cessation of Putin’s offensive, as well as the end of hostilities. In the same way, the maneuvers of the Russian president are surprising, since his soldiers have attacked various points in Kiev when the meeting between the two teams was supposedly taking place. In any case, this meeting, which has become hopeful for many, has not prevented the situation from being especially critical in the capital, where food stores are closed and there is no supply of basic materials, or material for hospitals.

Not only because of the lack of resources; also, for the lives in danger of the civilian population or for those that have already been lost due to this war. The Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have put more than 3,000 Russian soldiers dead, as well as 200 prisoners of war, since the start of the conflict. At the same time, the country’s authorities have reported that their forces have killed more than 1,000 Russian soldiers and have caused around 2,500 injuries since Thursday, when the invasion began, and have captured more than 300.