China News Service, Beijing, February 22, Question: Putin shot!
Critical day in Ukraine
Reporter Meng Xiangjun
Putin's shot!
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order recognizing the "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic", as well as the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between Russia and these two "republics".
In the past few days, the situation in eastern Ukraine has suddenly escalated. The Ukrainian authorities have tried to seize the "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic" areas that were declared by the local self-declared people.
The fire of war has spread to the area bordering Russia, and the eye of the storm of the situation has been activated!
"Eye of the Storm" is activated
The "Donetsk People's Republic" and the neighboring "Luhansk People's Republic" have declared "independence" from Ukraine since 2014, but have not been recognized internationally.
Luhansk Oblast is adjacent to Donetsk Oblast, which together are often referred to as the Donbas region.
The Donbas, covering an area of about 60,000 square kilometers, was subsumed into Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
It is the largest coal base in Ukraine and one of the most important heavy industry centers in the former Soviet Union.
The Donbas region has deep ties with Russia in terms of history, language, culture, ethnicity and real economy. Ukraine recognizes the uniqueness of the region and promises to give it a certain autonomous status.
Since February 17, the situation in Donbas has suddenly escalated.
The armed forces of the Ukrainian authorities launched a large number of shootings at the local area. The number of shootings recorded in the local area reached more than 2,000 times in a few days. 700,000 people had to temporarily retreat to Russia.
On the 21st, "Donetsk People's Republic" "leader" Pushlin said that the situation deteriorated sharply,
armed men attacked local police positions, and there was also an exchange of fire on the border with Russia.
Pushilin also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will soon order the army to turn to the offensive in the Donbas region.
That night, Putin signed an order announcing the recognition of the above two "republics" and asking the Russian armed forces to provide peace guarantees for them.
U.S. and Western sanctions
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his deep concern over the development of the situation in Ukraine.
On the 22nd, he urged all relevant parties to focus their efforts to
ensure an immediate cessation of hostilities, prioritize diplomatic activities and resolve all issues peacefully.
Data map: US President Biden.
U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the move by Russia,
which has announced its first financial sanctions against Russia
and warned of more sanctions if necessary.
France, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said the
bloc would impose sanctions on Russian entities and individuals.
British Foreign Secretary Truss said Moscow's recognition of the "independence" of the Ukrainian region was an "attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity".
The British government has confirmed that it will announce sanctions against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kiev retains the power of individual and collective defense.
It also called for an urgent "Normandy model" four-nation summit and a special meeting of the OSCE.
The Donbas civilian armed forces in the eastern region of Ukraine have expressed their
willingness to conduct constructive dialogues with the Uzbek government on specific proposals within the framework of the contact group
to resolve the conflict in Donbass.
Where did the historical conflict come from?
Data map: Ukraine's Donetsk region Avdivka, Ukrainian soldiers and civilian armed forces.
In 2014, pro-Western forces ousted Ukrainian President Yanukovych at the time. Subsequently,
the Donbas separatists established the "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic" respectively
, declaring "independence ".
".
Neither has international recognition.
The Ukrainian government immediately sent troops to encircle and suppress it and exchanged fire with the armed forces in Donbass.
The
conflict has killed at least 13,000 people.
To quell the conflict, Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany established an informal forum of diplomatic channels in 2014, called the "Normandy Model."
With the efforts of all parties, the parties to the
conflict in eastern Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire in 2015 and reached the Minsk Agreement.
What is the Minsk Agreement?
Data map: Ukraine's Donetsk region, Ukrainian soldiers sort out bullets during the battle with civilian armed forces.
The Minsk Agreement incorporates a series of arrangements for ceasefire, withdrawal of troops, and post-ceasefire political, economic and social arrangements in the Donbas conflict area, as well as a large number of legal and political guiding opinions on Ukrainian constitutional reform, local elections and self-government in Donbass.
However, the agreement has not been fully and effectively implemented.
On the Donbas issue, Russia is not a party to the conflict, but
Russia and Ukraine continue to dispute the special autonomous status of the Donbass and local elections in the Minsk Agreement
.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has emphasized that the agreement is the only possible solution to the conflict, but the problem is that Kiev does not want to implement it.
The re-emergence of the Ukrainian conflict this time has resulted in a large number of violations of the Minsk Agreement.
Consequences of NATO's eastward expansion...
In 2017, a house in the Donetsk region of Ukraine was bombarded, and the ground was in disarray.
Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of "ethnic cleansing" in the Donbas region
, and accused NATO of increasing its military presence on the Russian-Ukrainian border, threatening Russian national security.
In fact, since the end of the Cold War, NATO has continued to extend olive branches to the "post-Soviet space states".
Several rounds of NATO's eastward expansion have seriously squeezed Russia's strategic security space
.
Zhang Hong, a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out to a reporter from Chinanews.com.
Zhang Hong believes that the
United States has been selling the "Russian threat theory" in Europe
to achieve the purpose of reintegrating NATO by creating security panic.
Under the atmosphere of Russian suspicion, Ukraine fell to the United States.
Why is Ukraine "untouchable"?
Data map: Former Ukrainian President Poroshenko test-flights a fighter jet.
In 2019, the then Poroshenko government wrote "joining NATO" into its own country's constitution as an important national policy.
Today, Ukrainian President Zelensky also regards this as his lifelong "ideal".
Ukraine's obsession with joining NATO is so strong that Russia strongly opposes it.
Zhang Hong analyzed that Putin regards the post-Soviet space, including Ukraine, as Russia's sphere of influence and core interest area.
If NATO "substantially enters" Ukraine, Russia will think that it touches the strategic red line and will be tough against it.
On December 7, 2021 local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a video meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden.
At the end of 2021, Russia has proposed to the United States and NATO to negotiate a security guarantee agreement,
requiring NATO to promise to stop its expansion, not to admit Ukraine or other countries to join, and to return its troops and military installations in Europe to the 1997 status.
But NATO categorically denied this.
Recently, the Russian side released the text of its reply to the United States and NATO, and continued to
insist that NATO publicly give up the admission of Ukraine into the alliance, and hoped that the West would make legally binding guarantees on Russian security issues.
In its reply, the Russian side also stated that if the United States and its allies are unwilling to make legally binding assurances on Russia's security,
Russia will be forced to respond, including implementing military-technical measures.
Any actions of Putin must be carefully considered. The situation in Ukraine has entered a critical day. How will the situation develop?