War

Thousand one hundred and nineteenth day. Italy and Spain do not want to increase military assistance to Ukraine. Putin and Trump talked on the phone

Medusa from February 24, 2022 lives on the Russian-Ukrainian war on the air. In our daily materials, we publish your letters, because we are sure: we must continue to talk about the war. A recent survey conducted in Ukraine showed that 50% of the country's inhabitants are not ready for territorial concessions “under any circumstances”, even if it means tightening the war. 39% believe that for the speedy achievement of the world and maintaining independence from some territories, one can refuse. We ask our readers from Ukraine to express our opinion on this issue. Look for a feedback form at the end of this article. A review of the previous day can be read here .

Ukraine

Southern Europe does not support the increase in military assistance to Ukraine

Italy and Spain - the third and fourth economies of the European Union - made it clear that they were not ready to support the proposal of the head of the EU foreign policy of the EU KAI CALLAS to doubling military assistance to Ukraine in 2025. Reuters writes about this.

In Brussels yesterday, a meeting of the EU Foreign Ministry of countries was held, after which Callas stated that her proposal to allocate to Ukraine up to 40 billion euros by the end of the year (in 2024 the help from the European Union amounted to 20 billion) received “broad political support”. However, as Reuters diplomatic sources said, this support was only only from the countries of Northern and Eastern Europe.

The Heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy and Spain, speaking before the meeting, said that it was too early to talk about the final position on this issue. In particular, the Italian Foreign Minister said that it makes sense to discuss the proposal after the conversation of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, already having an understanding of “whether some steps will be taken to achieve a ceasefire.”

France, the second EU economy, also “questions” have also “arose” to the plan, the Reuters interlocutors said.

It is expected that the issue of increasing assistance will be discussed again at an informal meeting of the Minister of Defense of the European Union, which will be held on April 2-3 in Warsaw.

Kaia Callas came up with the initiative to increase military assistance against the backdrop of cooling relations between the United States and Kiev and Europe’s doubts that Washington would continue to supply weapons to Ukraine. According to Callas, Europe could increase its assistance from 20 to 40 billion euros to cover American deliveries in case of their absence. It is assumed that the European Union countries will contribute in accordance with the size of its economies. Callas proposes to participate in the initiative voluntary - to avoid the veto from the opponents of the provision of assistance, such as Hungary and Slovakia.

Hungary already publicly opposed the plan - the Foreign Minister Peter Siyyarto, following the results of yesterday's meeting, promised to confront “warlike proposals”. Slovakia, according to Reuters sources, made it clear that she also does not intend to give money - but at the same time she would not impede the plan at the EU level.

The countries of Southern Europe, geographically located far from Russia, have been much less actively helping Ukraine since the beginning of the war than states in the east of the continent. So, in the first three years of the war, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus, in total, provided assistance to Ukraine by less than 0.5% of its GDP, while Estonia, Lithuania and Denmark exceeds 2%.

World

Putin and Trump will hold a telephone conversation

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, as expected, will hold telephone conversations on March 18.

This will be the second official conversation of Putin and Trump. During the first, which took place on February 12, they agreed to start negotiations on the termination of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Four days later, delegations of the United States and Russia met in Saudi Arabia.

Updated . The presidents of the United States and Russia spoke on the phone for more than two hours. According to the results of the negotiations, Putin agreed to a 30-day termination of attacks on energy infrastructure, but he actually rejected the idea of ​​a full-fledged truce for 30 days. The key condition for peace negotiations, he called the full stop of military assistance to Kyiv. Read more about this here .

On the eve of the conversation, Trump wrote in social networks that “many elements” of future peace agreements have already been agreed. The press secretary of the White House Caroline Lithvt, in turn, said that since the beginning of a full-scale war, the parties "have never been so close to the world."

The United States a few days ago offered Russia and Ukraine immediately cease fire along the entire front line. Ukraine has accepted an offer. Two days later, Russia said that Russia was also ready for this, but emphasized that at first a number of issues should be agreed - for example, who will be a guarantor of compliance with the silence regime and what will happen to Ukrainian units remaining in the Kursk region.

Trump has repeatedly spoke about his confidence that he would be able to agree with Putin and that the President of the Russian Federation “wants peace”. At the same time, the US president and representatives of his administration stated that “without hesitation” would impose new sanctions against Russia if Moscow does not show its commitment to speedy peaceful agreements.

Trump used similar tactics to persuade the authorities of Ukraine to negotiate with the Russian Federation: after a quarrel with Vladimir Zelensky, the United States suspended military assistance to Kyiv and the exchange of intelligence. A few days later, when Ukraine agreed to an unconditional temporary ceasefire, proposed by Washington, resumed military assistance and exchange of intelligence.

Trump has repeatedly hinted that he has levers of pressure on Russia, which are used during unofficial contacts. Washington has just not extended the license, which, in the form of an exception, allowed the Russian Federation to receive payment for energy resources through suction banks (before that, throughout the years of the war, it has been extended regularly, including the Joe Biden administration). This happened without public announcements at a high level.

War through the eyes of readers "Medusa"

Lana (Dnieper). Given the situation on Earth, I do not see the opportunity to win. Even if we somehow return the military way to the borders of 1991, this will not end the war and Russia will not go anywhere. However, the option of our military victory, it seems to me, no one is seriously considering.

The country for me, first of all, is people. And they die every day, and the fate of their families collapse. Even if we assume that we can win our territories - what price will we pay? Will it be a pyrrhic victory?

Human life is the most important thing. If there is an opportunity to save tens of thousands of human lives now - it needs to be used. The territory can be tried to be returned diplomatic. Yes, maybe not soon. But the current government in Russia is not forever. The boundaries are no forever. But death is forever.

Share your opinion on possible territorial concessions

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