Putin has called for immediate talks on the "statehood" of southern and eastern Ukraine. What gives him the authority to make such a call? The same power and authority that allows this war to continue.
And it is a dirty war. Volunteer battalions of Ukrainians claimed today (31st) that hundreds of their men have been killed and others taken prisoner after an agreements was supposedly made in Iloviask, southeast of Donetsk. The pro-Russian group offered a 'green corridor' to allow the troops (Ukrainian) to leave the town where they had been surrounded for more than 10 days. But when the Ukrainian troops tried to leave, bearing white flags, they were subjected to open fire.
With the death toll of Russian soldiers rising, so have the anti-war sentiments of Russian citizens. The mothers of the soldiers killed in Ukraine were the first to speak up, releasing video where they ask Russian officials denying Russian involvement in Ukraine to bring back their children alive. The Сommittee of Soldiers’ Mothers in the Stavropol Oblast of Russia compiled a list of 400 Russian soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine and estimated that 10.000 Russian conscripts have been send to East Ukraine, following which it was branded as a foreign agent. A Facebook group called Cargo 200 has been opened in order to return of the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in Donbas. On August 27, member of the Committee of Solidarity with Maidan Pavel Shelkov announced the establishment of a Russian Anti-War Committee.
International diplomatic opinion is increasingly naming Putin and the Kremlin as the aggressors in this conflict. Poland barred Russian plane, transporting the Russian defense minister, from entering its airspace. Kazaks worry (and they should be worried) after Putin questions their country's independence. Putin congratulated Kazakhstan on joining the Eurasian Customs Union, and in response Kazakhstan said that they pull of the agreement if the interests of their sovereignty are jeopardised.
Meanwhile, words from Merkel, Obama, Holland have no effect to deter Putin and his proclamations that Eastern Ukraine is 'Novorossyia'. Putin has dismissed the EU's threat of further sanction. He accuses the EU of "backing a coup d'etat" in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, words from Merkel, Obama, Holland have no effect to deter Putin and his proclamations that Eastern Ukraine is 'Novorossyia'. Putin has dismissed the EU's threat of further sanction. He accuses the EU of "backing a coup d'etat" in Ukraine.
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