So little. Too late. The visit of the Secretary General of the United Nations to Moscow on Tuesday did not change the course of the war of aggression waged by Russia in Ukraine. After a one-on-one with Russian President Vladimir Putin, António Guterres only received a vague agreement in “principle” for the evacuation of civilians stuck on the Azovstal industrial site, in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol, and the assurance that negotiations would continue between Kyiv and Moscow.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Guterres’ meeting with the head of Russian diplomacy, the oligarch Sergei Lavrov, ended on the same note: Russia says it is ready to cooperate with the UN in order to “relieve » the populations in Ukraine, but rejects the idea of a « mediation in the talks between Russia and Ukraine », judging the thing too hasty in the current conflict.
During a joint press conference, Mr Lavrov also indicated that the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine remained “a dangerous warning for the United Nations”, reminding him of the principle of “equal sovereignty” of the Member States that the UN, Moscow claims, does not seem to respect.
On February 24, the Kremlin began the aggression against Ukraine by claiming to want to protect the security and sovereignty of its territory, threatened according to the Kremlin by the advance towards its borders of Western forces and influences. Since 2014, Russia has also violated Ukraine’s sovereignty, by invading the country and then supporting pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region to the east.
Still far from a diplomatic solution, Western countries reiterated their support for Ukraine on Tuesday during a US-orchestrated meeting between defense officials from 40 allied countries in Germany to discuss the immediate needs of the former Soviet republic to face its aggressor.
“We will continue to move heaven and earth to be able to respond to [ses besoins] said US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in his opening remarks. “We are all here because of Ukraine’s courage, because of the innocent civilians who have been killed and because of the suffering your people are still enduring,” he told his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksiy Reznikov. “Ukraine obviously believes they can win, and so does everyone here. »
On the sidelines of this meeting, the Canadian Defense Minister, Anita Anand, moreover indicated to a handful of journalists that the government was going to send to Ukraine an undetermined number of M777 155 millimeter howitzers, but also thousands anti-tank weapons, grenades and rocket launchers, reported the New York Times.
On Facebook, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: “I can say something: the Ukrainian army will have what it takes to fight […] We have entered a new phase, which no one would have thought of two months ago. The transfer to the Ukrainian Armed Forces of NATO weapons, to NATO standards. It’s in progress. »
Putin, not serious
Moreover, before the elected members of Congress, the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, affirmed that the United States had seen “no sign to date” that the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, wished “seriously” to put end the conflict in Ukraine through diplomacy. He recalled that the objective of this war was for Moscow to prevent Ukraine from existing “as an independent and sovereign country”.
In this context, “our objective is to ensure that [les Ukrainiens] have in their hands the ability to repel Russian aggression and strengthen their position at a possible negotiating table,” he added.
The United States seems to have changed its objective in the face of the war in Ukraine by openly claiming to seek the military weakening of Russia to prevent it from carrying out its aggression, and above all to prevent this type of war from escalating. extends to other territories. “We want to see Russia weakened to the point where they can’t do this kind of thing anymore,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at a press conference in Poland after a surprise visit to kyiv on Sunday. Washington is now counting on the reduction of the Kremlin’s ability to “reproduce very quickly” the forces and equipment lost by Russia in Ukraine.
The United States this week pledged an additional US$713 million in aid to the former Soviet republic to weaken Russia.
We want to see Russia weakened to the point that they can’t do this stuff anymore
Heard by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Antony Blinken, back from Ukraine, also indicated that this country had recorded a first major victory against the invader. “In Kyiv, we saw signs of a vibrant city coming back to life, people eating outside sitting on benches, walking around. It was right in front of us, he said. The Ukrainians have won the battle for kyiv. »
In this city spared by the Russian strikes since April 17, the local authorities also undertook on Tuesday the unbolting of a monument from the Soviet era celebrating Ukrainian-Russian friendship. “Eight meters of metal of the so-called “friendship of the two peoples” dismantled. And what is symbolic […] it is that the head of the Russian worker has fallen,” the mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Vitali Klitschko, told Telegram.
With Agence France-Presse