One day after a Ukrainian strike killed five civilians in Russian-controlled eastern Donetsk, Moscow launched a large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukrainian infrastructure, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for more air defense systems from the West.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the president of the Philippines, issued a tough warning to China last week and said if Beijing willfully killed just one Filipino, Manila could consider the killing an act of war from its much-larger neighbor.
There was a sea change last week among NATO countries that once worried about Ukraine using Western weapons to strike targets inside Russia, which was seen as a red line, but that all changed last week when these officials had a change of heart.
Wang Wenbin, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, accused the U.K. and the collective West of being the biggest impediment to peace negotiations in Ukraine because of their constant stream of lethal aid to keep the fight going.
French President Emanuel Macron said last week that his troops will stay on an island off the coast of Australia that has faced a violent uprising after Paris pushed plans for electoral reforms that the indigenous population says will dilute their vote.
Despite Ukraine using U.S. Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) strikes on Thursday that hit a Russian facility in Alushta in Crimea, Washington says it has not changed its policy on Ukraine using U.S.-provided missiles to strike targets deep inside Russia, the top State Department spokesman said.
Ukrainian forces used advanced U.S.-provided missiles to hit a Russian air defense force communications center in the latest escalatory action that has essentially been given the green light by the West.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to accept a ceasefire at current battlefield lines, but has the stamina and ability to fight in Ukraine for as long as it takes for the Kremlin to achieve its objectives, four Russian sources told Reuters last week.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was improving inside a hospital on Monday after an assassination attempt last week in the town of Handlova, which Russia suggested was tied to his close relationship with Moscow.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine last week and promised the country that Washington will continue to provide its weapons “so we could turn the tide on the battlefield as Russian forces continue to advance in the north.”