Staff Reporter
TALKS between Russian and Ukrainian delegations have ended and the two parties have returned to their capitals “for consultations,” a Ukrainian official said.
A member of the Ukrainian delegation at ceasefire talks with Russia on Monday said the negotiations were difficult and the Russian side was biased, Reuters reported.
“The Russian side, unfortunately, still has a very biased view of the destructive processes it has launched,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.
Russia has ramped up war efforts, and President Vladimir Putin ordered his country’s deterrence forces, including nuclear arms, be placed on high alert.
Western intelligence officials say Russian forces have countered stiffer than expected resistance.
Many countries, including neutral non-aligned Sweden, have started to send military aid to Ukraine. Others are the United States, United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Romania, Spain and Czech Republic.
The United States expects Russian forces to try to encircle Kyiv in the coming days and could become more aggressive out of frustration with their slow advance on the Ukrainian capital, a senior US defence official said on Monday.
Russian forces have fired about 380 missiles at Ukrainian targets and President Putin has committed nearly 75% of his pre-staged combat power into Ukraine.
Ukraine has asked to urgently join the European Union, while more than 500 000 refugees have fled Ukraine during Russia’s ongoing invasion, the United Nations said.
International condemnation of the invasion was swift but the rapid escalation of the West’s sanctions against Russia appears to have caught even the Kremlin by surprise, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “These are heavy sanctions, they’re problematic, but Russia has the necessary potential to compensate the damage from these sanctions.” He said Russia would respond with its own sanctions, the BBC reported.
On Monday, Russia’s ruble cratered by 30% against the US dollar, to a record low. Moscow’s bruised stock exchange did not open for trading as was expected and Russians were pictured at ATMs trying to withdraw foreign currency.
The collapse in value erodes the currency’s buying power and could wipe out the savings of ordinary Russians, the BBC reported.
As Russia’s war on Ukraine enters another day, there are rising questions about what President Putin is trying to achieve.
According to Cristian Nitoiu, lecturer in Diplomacy and International Governance at Loughborough University London, there should be no misunderstanding about Russia’s motives: Putin is concerned with nothing less than revisionist politics and great power fantasies, he told Al Jazeera.
Sources: Al Jazeera/BBC/Reuters
