The pressure on Russia mounts as Sweden and Finland have confirmed that they are joining NATO.
Europe pushed on Monday to intensify and expand its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Sweden moving to follow Finland in seeking NATO membership and EU officials defending proposed sanctions. that would target Russian oil exports that helped finance the war.
On the ground, Russia saw further setbacks in its offensive to the east, where Ukrainian defenders are fighting hard against attempted advances and even successfully withdrawing front lines in some areas.
In a small but symbolic boost to Ukrainian morale, a patrol of soldiers recorded a triumphant video of their push to the Russian border in the Kharkiv region. Ukrainian forces have already driven Russian troops back from the region’s capital, reducing their ability to hit the battered city with artillery.
As the fighting progressed, international efforts to respond to Russia’s aggression continued to gain momentum. Sweden’s government was expected to announce its intention to join NATO on Monday, following a similar decision by its neighbor Finland. They are seismic developments for the Nordic countries that have traditionally positioned themselves militarily as “non-aligned”.
NATO’s expansion to include Sweden and Finland would be a serious blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sees the coalition’s post-Cold War expansion in Eastern Europe as a threat. Putin has cited this as one of his reasons for attacking Ukraine. His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Monday that Russia would “watch carefully the consequences of Finland and Sweden joining NATO.”
NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, has said that the membership process could be much faster for both Finland and Sweden – although member Turkey has raised some doubts over the move. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersen said on Monday that joining a 30-member military coalition was her country’s best defense against Russian behavior.
“Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that the trend (of Russia’s actions) will reverse in the near future,” she said.
As well as sending military aid to Ukraine, Europe is also working to block funding for the Kremlin’s war by reducing the billions of dollars it spends on imports of Russian energy.
But a proposed EU ban on Russian oil imports faces opposition from a small group of countries led by Hungary, one of several countries highly dependent on imports, along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Bulgaria also has reservations.
“We will do our best to defuse the situation,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. “I can’t be sure it’s going to happen because the situation is strong enough.”
Western weapons deliveries to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia have helped outgun and outnumber Ukrainian forces to slow the Russian advance – and even turn it back into places. NATO chief Stoltenberg said on Sunday that the war was “not going as Moscow had planned.”
“Ukraine can win this war,” he said – a remarkable assessment that would have been unthinkable to many on the eve of the invasion.
But Russia has been plagued by a number of setbacks in the war, most notably in its failure to capture the capital Kyiv in the early stages of the February 24 offensive. Since then, most of the fighting has shifted to the Donbass, Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.
It is difficult to determine the full picture of the fighting that took place there. Airstrikes and barrage of artillery make it extremely dangerous for journalists to move around, and reporting is restricted by Ukraine and Moscow-backed separatists, who have been fighting in the Donbass for eight years.
The battlefield stretches for hundreds of kilometers (miles) to the east and south of Ukraine, drawing men, machines and resources. Both sides have been fighting in parts from village to village. Ukrainian forces have crushed the Russians, but are also taking losses.
In the Luhansk region of Donbass, an overnight attack on a hospital in Severodnetsk killed two people and wounded nine, including a child, the regional military command said on Monday. Overnight strikes were affected in other cities as well. Regional military governor Serhi Haidai said Ukrainian special forces blew up Russian-occupied railway bridges as part of efforts to slow the Russian offensive. The information could not immediately be independently verified.
Meanwhile, three people were injured in an attack on Monday in the Odessa region in the south. Air raid sirens are regularly sounded in the region and its iconic Black Sea port city, also known as Odessa. Tourists that normally fill the city at this time of year as tourist season are absent, and the generally lively city streets are quiet.
Ukraine’s military analyst Ole Zhdanov said in recent days, “The fighting continues. Russia does not stop attacking and moving forward.” “The fate of the confrontation depends on the speed of the Western arms supply.”
In a symbolic boost, a Ukrainian patrol in the Kharkiv region reached the Russian border and shot a triumphant video there addressed to President Volodymyr Zelensky. Video posted on Facebook by Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Sunday shows a dozen fighters around a wooden post – painted blue and yellow, Ukraine’s colors – which they took with them and then across a border in victory. Stand up straight as a marker. It is not clear where the video was shot.
One soldier said that the unit “walked along the dividing line with the Russian Federation, the occupied country. Mr President, we have reached that. We are here.” Other fighters made signs of victory and raised their fists.
Along another part of the border with Russia, Ukrainian border guards said they defeated a Russian attempt to send troops to the northern Sumy region on Monday morning. The Border Guard Service said Russian forces deployed mortars, grenade launchers and machine guns in an attempt to cover “sabotage and reconnaissance groups” crossing the border with Russia.
The border guard service said its officers retaliated and forced the Russian group to withdraw to Russia. The area is largely rural and hasn’t seen intense fighting in over a month. There was no immediate word from Russia.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian troops were continuing air and artillery strikes around the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, the last hold of several hundred Ukrainian forces in the strategically important city.
Britain’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that Belarus is deploying special operations forces along its border with Ukraine and air defence, artillery and missile units at a training range in the country’s west. The Belarusian army has not been directly involved in the conflict, although its territory was used as a stage for invasion. But the presence of Belarusian troops near the border could keep Ukrainian troops stationed there, preventing them from supporting a counter-offensive in the Donbass.
Despite fighting in the wider Kharkiv region and the threat of Russian missile attacks, many people were returning home to Kharkiv and other cities around Ukraine, said Anna Malayar, deputy head of the Defense Ministry. The refugees were returning not only because of the optimism that the war might end.
“Living like that, not working, paying for housing, eating… they are forced to return for financial reasons,” Malayar said in remarks carried by the RBK-Ukraine news agency.
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