Ukraine war sees humanitarian disaster grow, ceasefire talks resume

On Sunday night, an angry and impassioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will never forgive Russia. He noted that Sunday was “Forgiveness Day” in Ukraine when people traditionally say, “God forgives, and I forgive.”   

“These words seem to have lost their meaning today,” he said. “We will not forgive the destroyed houses…. We will not forgive the shooting of unarmed people. Destruction of our infrastructure. We will not forgive.”    

He said Russian troops are determined “to kill even more” and that the invasion was poised to get much worse as the attackers try to seize Kyiv and other cities.     

The slaughter of a family fleeing with others along a road from Irpin was akin to being killed in a “shooting club,” the president said.    

“We will punish everyone who committed atrocities in this war. On our land. We will find every bastard who shot at our cities, our people, who bombed our land, who launched rockets, who gave the order and pressed ‘start,’” Zelenskyy said, obviously referring to Putin and his troops. “There will be no quiet place on this earth for you except for the grave.”    

Ukraine’s tone has grown ever fiercer since the invasion started and Zelenskyy’s government has vowed to fight until Russian troops withdraw in defeat.    

On Sunday night, Zelenskyy accused Western leaders of not caring about the plight of Ukraine and in a speech on Monday he called on the West to enter the fight by shooting down Russian airplanes in a no-fly zone.    

“How many more deaths and losses are needed to close the skies over Ukraine? How do civilians in Kharkiv or Mykolaiv differ from those in Hamburg or Vienna?” Zelenskyy said. “We are waiting for a decision on closing the skies or providing the forces you have, or you can send to us combat aircraft and air defense systems which will give us the strength we need.”   

U.S. President Joe Biden and NATO leaders have so far said they do not want to enforce a no-fly zone because that would put the West at war with Russia and, as Biden put it, kick off World War III, a war between nuclear powers. But pressure is building in the West for its troops to enter on the side of Ukraine as a growing number of Democrats and Republicans in Washington voice support for going to war with Russia. The public in the United States is becoming much more supportive of enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine and not buying oil and gas from Russia, according to a recent poll by Reuters/Ipsos. It found about 74% of Americans in support of a no-fly zone.   

Anti-Russian sentiment is being reported in many countries. In Ireland and elsewhere, Russian embassies and foreign offices have been the scene of protests and they have been vandalized and even attacked. On Monday, a man in Dublin backed a large truck into the gates of the Russian embassy in protest and spoke out against the Russian invasion and the killing of the family in Irpin before he was calmly arrested by Irish police.  

Russia’s wealthiest individuals, known as oligarchs, are seeing their properties and wealth targeted by Western governments accusing them of having ties to the Kremlin. Russian cultural icons, too, are coming under attack. Last Tuesday, the Munich Philharmonic fired star conductor Valery Gergiev because he would not condemn the Russian invasion. Russian athletes were banned from performing at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing and Roman Abramovitch, a Russian billionaire, sold Chelsea, a top Premiere League soccer club in the United Kingdom.  

This week pressure will build in Europe and among Western allies to punish Russia further by not buying its oil and gas exports. So far, the unprecedented economic clobbering of Russia exempted its oil and gas because Europe relies so heavily on them. Germany, though, was pushing back against sanctions on oil and gas because it is so dependent on it.       

On the military front, compared to previous days the weekend saw less fighting and shelling, though civilian and military deaths continued to be reported. Russia's military advance has continued on Kyiv with fresh troops being sent there.  

Russia’s advances, though, have been slowed by stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, logistical problems and the alleged placement of mines in the path of Russian troops by retreating Ukrainian troops, according to military experts. Ukraine has a large army with about 200,000 soldiers and some 800,000 reservists. Russia massed more than 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders prior to the invasion and it is believed that almost all those troops are now inside Ukraine.    

In his pleas for more Western help and for NATO's entry into the war, Zelenskyy is warning that the West must stop Russia as it prepares for a new wave of bombing on Kyiv and other cities where fighting has been intense, such as Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city.   

Russia appears to be preparing for an attack on Odessa, a key port on the Black Sea through which flows many of Ukraine's exports, such as wheat and other grains. The war has brought those exports to a standstill, dangerously driving up food costs around the globe and sparking anxiety and unrest in other countries. Oil prices too are surging upward and adding to existing inflation problems.     

Meanwhile, NATO continues to ship arms to Ukraine and it is working on a deal by which Soviet-era fighter jets now being used by Poland would be transferred to Ukraine. In exchange, Poland would get new American F-16 fighter jets.   

Although NATO troops haven’t been sent to fight, Ukraine is getting help from hundreds of foreign fighters who are signing up for a so-called International Brigade. Veterans from the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere are purportedly joining the brigade. On the other side, pro-Russian Chechen militia fighters have been in Ukraine for several days and the Pentagon warned that Russia was seeking to get Syrians into the conflict as well.    

Still, the possibility for diplomatic breakthroughs is growing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba were scheduled to meet on Thursday in Turkey, a NATO member with close ties to both Ukraine and Russia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to establish himself as a potential mediator, as is Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who flew to Moscow on the weekend to talk with Putin. Israel has not joined the West in its massive sanctions campaign. There are large Jewish populations in both Ukraine and Russia.   

Should the meeting between Lavrov and Kuleba take place, it would be the first time top-level officials in the conflict will have sat down since the invasion started on Feb. 24.    

China, too, is coming under pressure from the West to do more to mediate talks and get Putin to stop the invasion. So far, Chinas has not condemned Russia, though it has called for an end to the conflict. China is seen as a superpower that is deeply against invasions such as Putin’s, but its ties to the Kremlin are becoming much stronger in the wake of efforts by the U.S. to constrain its global ambitions, a dynamic that many political experts warn has created a new Cold War.     

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau

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