Follow us on social

Friday: Kiev under attack, fate of Ukraine government unknown

Friday: Kiev under attack, fate of Ukraine government unknown

International condemnation has been swift as world leaders set to meet today and Biden expected to implement another tranche of sanctions.

Europe

Update Friday 3/24 6:30 a.m. EST:

In what is being called the biggest land war in Europe in decades, Russian troops reportedly advanced on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev Friday, as explosions have been heard across the city. Citizens are reportedly held up in subway stations and underground tunnels. Gun battles throughout the urban landscape have also been reported, as have several Russian airstrikes. Photos showed least one apartment building in the city center shattered and on fire.

Thursday was marked by Russian advances over Ukraine's borders with Belarus and Russia, via Crimea and by sea. Western countries, including the United States, ordered sanctions on Moscow, which continues to seek a "demilitarization and denazification" of Ukraine, calling it a puppet of the West. As of Friday morning, Russian leaders say they reject Ukraine President Zelensky's offer to open talks for a ceasefire, potentially over the neutrality of the country. “We do not see the possibility of recognizing as democratic a government that persecutes and uses methods of genocide against its own people,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a news conference in Moscow.

For his part, Zelensky appeared Friday in a speech appealing to the West for help. He said there have been 137 casualties so far and that Russian saboteurs had already entered the city of Kiev and were attempting to hunt him and his family down.

 “The enemy has marked me as enemy number one,” he said. “They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of the state.”

U.S. officials said Thursday that they would aid in humanitarian assistance but Biden was clear in his own press conference that no U.S. troops would be sent to assist the Ukrainians in the fight. More U.S. personnel have been activated, however, to defend NATO positions outside Ukraine, if the fighting should spill over the borders. In a statement Thursday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, noting the 90,000 troops the U.S. now has stationed in Europe, said, "(The U.S.) stands united with our Allies and partners to support Ukraine and to deter aggression against NATO, while avoiding conflict with Russia." The alliance is holding an emergency meeting today.

At issue all along has been Ukrainian membership in NATO. Ukrainian desperately wants it, Russia vehemently opposes it, and NATO has claimed the "door is open" but has yet to offer the prize. As a result there is no bound obligation for the alliance to come to Zelensky's aid. “Who is ready to fight alongside us? I don’t see anyone,” he said Friday. “Who is ready to give Ukraine a guarantee of NATO membership? Everyone is afraid.”

***

Russian forces have advanced into Ukraine while attacks and explosions have been reported across several cities, including the capital of Kiev, after Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” of “demilitarization and denazification” of the country Thursday morning local time.

As of Thursday morning EST, 50 Russian soldiers were reportedly killed as Ukrainian forces have mounted a counterattack. Moscow says it is not targeting cities, but key defense infrastructure throughout the country, including military aircraft at an airport outside Kiev. Russian naval forces were also reportedly entering the country by sea, according to Ukrainian sources. Meanwhile, President Zelensky has severed ties with Russia and declared martial law; citizens are reportedly now lining up at the gas pumps and grocery stores and fleeing the cities. 

The international condemnation has been swift, calling the attack, which goes far beyond the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, declared independent by Putin in a speech Sunday, unprovoked. The EU and NATO have planned emergency meetings in Brussels Thursday morning. On top of the agenda are sanctions and whether the EU is ready to follow through on a much more intense set of measures than the first tranche set into motion after Sunday. Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU’s top diplomat, said Thursday that his organization was set to adopt “the harshest package of sanctions we have ever implemented.” 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called the invasion a “reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives,” in a statement. “This is a grave breach of international law, and a serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security,” and “NATO will do all it takes to protect and defend all allies.”

For its part the White House indicated it has plans to implement sanctions immediately. “President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden said in a statement. “Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring, and the United States and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way. The world will hold Russia accountable.”

This story is developing.


Passers-by stand near the civil vehicle driven-through by Infantry Fighting Vehicle russian saboteur group before being eliminated in Kyiv, Ukraine, February 25, 2022. (Photo by Sergii Kharchenko/NurPhoto)NO USE FRANCE|Screen grab of a Livestream video of surveillance cameras at a border crossing point by the Ukrainian border guard on Thursday February 24, 2022 morning showed convoy of tanks and other armored vehicles entering Ukraine. The video was taken at the Senkivka, Urkaine crossing with Veselovka, Belarus, shot around 6:48 a.m. local time, showing tanks and other armored vehicles entering Ukraine through a border crossing with Belarus. It was not clear if the troops were only Russian or also Belarusian. (Ukraine Border Guard/EYEPRESS)
Europe
POGO The Bunker
Top image credit: Project on Government Oversight

Bombers astray! Washington's priorities go off course

Military Industrial Complex

The Bunker appears originally at the Project on Government Oversight and is republished here with permission.


keep readingShow less
Trump Zelensky
Top photo credit: Joshua Sukoff / Shutterstock.com

Blob exploiting Trump's anger with Putin, risking return to Biden's war

Europe

Donald Trump’s recent outburst against Vladimir Putin — accusing the Russian leader of "throwing a pile of bullsh*t at us" and threatening devastating new sanctions — might be just another Trumpian tantrum.

The president is known for abrupt reversals. Or it could be a bargaining tactic ahead of potential Ukraine peace talks. But there’s a third, more troubling possibility: establishment Republican hawks and neoconservatives, who have been maneuvering to hijack Trump’s “America First” agenda since his return to office, may be exploiting his frustration with Putin to push for a prolonged confrontation with Russia.

Trump’s irritation is understandable. Ukraine has accepted his proposed ceasefire, but Putin has refused, making him, in Trump’s eyes, the main obstacle to ending the war.

Putin’s calculus is clear. As Ted Snider notes in the American Conservative, Russia is winning on the battlefield. In June, it captured more Ukrainian territory and now threatens critical Kyiv’s supply lines. Moscow also seized a key lithium deposit critical to securing Trump’s support for Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian missile and drone strikes have intensified.

Putin seems convinced his key demands — Ukraine’s neutrality, territorial concessions in the Donbas and Crimea, and a downsized Ukrainian military — are more achievable through war than diplomacy.

Yet his strategy empowers the transatlantic “forever war” faction: leaders in Britain, France, Germany, and the EU, along with hawks in both main U.S. parties. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claims that diplomacy with Russia is “exhausted.” Europe’s war party, convinced a Russian victory would inevitably lead to an attack on NATO (a suicidal prospect for Moscow), is willing to fight “to the last Ukrainian.” Meanwhile, U.S. hawks, including liberal interventionist Democrats, stoke Trump’s ego, framing failure to stand up to Putin’s defiance as a sign of weakness or appeasement.

Trump long resisted this pressure. Pragmatism told him Ukraine couldn’t win, and calling it “Biden’s war” was his way of distancing himself, seeking a quick exit to refocus on China, which he has depicted as Washington’s greater foreign threat. At least as important, U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine has been unpopular with his MAGA base.

But his June strikes on Iran may signal a hawkish shift. By touting them as a decisive blow to Iran’s nuclear program (despite Tehran’s refusal so far to abandon uranium enrichment), Trump may be embracing a new approach to dealing with recalcitrant foreign powers: offer a deal, set a deadline, then unleash overwhelming force if rejected. The optics of “success” could tempt him to try something similar with Russia.

This pivot coincides with a media campaign against restraint advocates within the administration like Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon policy chief who has prioritized China over Ukraine and also provoked the opposition of pro-Israel neoconservatives by warning against war with Iran. POLITICO quoted unnamed officials attacking Colby for wanting the U.S. to “do less in the world.” Meanwhile, the conventional Republican hawk Marco Rubio’s influence grows as he combines the jobs of both secretary of state and national security adviser.

What Can Trump Actually Do to Russia?
 

Nuclear deterrence rules out direct military action — even Biden, far more invested in Ukraine than Trump, avoided that risk. Instead, Trump ally Sen.Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another establishment Republican hawk, is pushing a 500% tariff on nations buying Russian hydrocarbons, aiming to sever Moscow from the global economy. Trump seems supportive, although the move’s feasibility and impact are doubtful.

China and India are key buyers of Russian oil. China alone imports 12.5 million barrels daily. Russia exports seven million barrels daily. China could absorb Russia’s entire output. Beijing has bluntly stated it “cannot afford” a Russian defeat, ensuring Moscow’s economic lifeline remains open.

The U.S., meanwhile, is ill-prepared for a tariff war with China. When Trump imposed 145% tariffs, Beijing retaliated by cutting off rare earth metals exports, vital to U.S. industry and defense. Trump backed down.

At the G-7 summit in Canada last month, the EU proposed lowering price caps on Russian oil from $60 a barrel to $45 a barrel as part of its 18th sanctions package against Russia. Trump rejected the proposal at the time but may be tempted to reconsider, given his suggestion that more sanctions may be needed. Even if Washington backs the measure now, however, it is unlikely to cripple Russia’s war machine.

Another strategy may involve isolating Russia by peeling away Moscow’s traditionally friendly neighbors. Here, Western mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan isn’t about peace — if it were, pressure would target Baku, which has stalled agreements and threatened renewed war against Armenia. The real goal is to eject Russia from the South Caucasus and create a NATO-aligned energy corridor linking Turkey to Central Asia, bypassing both Russia and Iran to their detriment.

Central Asia itself is itself emerging as a new battleground. In May 2025, the EU has celebrated its first summit with Central Asian nations in Uzbekistan, with a heavy focus on developing the Middle Corridor, a route for transportation of energy and critical raw materials that would bypass Russia. In that context, the EU has committed €10 billion in support of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

keep readingShow less
Syria sanctions
Top image credit: People line up to buy bread, after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Lifting sanctions on Syria exposes their cruel intent

Middle East

On June 30, President Trump signed an executive order terminating the majority of U.S. sanctions on Syria. The move, which would have been unthinkable mere months ago, fulfilled a promise he made at an investment forum in Riyadh in May.“The sanctions were brutal and crippling,” he had declared to an audience of primarily Saudi businessmen. Lifting them, he said, will “give Syria a chance at greatness.”

The significance of this statement lies not solely in the relief that it will bring to the Syrian people. His remarks revealed an implicit but rarely admitted truth: sanctions — often presented as a peaceful alternative to war — have been harming the Syrian people all along.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.