The United States is now mobilizing near Ukraine in preparation for a possible conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Russia clearly wants to take over the primarily Russian-speaking country and has been amassing Troops at their border. It seems it is only a matter of time until they strike. But the United States has made its position clear as we are sending two warships to the Black Sea and the plan is for the ships to stay there until May. Russia is not happy about our presence.
“Turkey, a NATO ally, said on Friday the United States would deploy two warships to the Black Sea from April 14-15.
“A notice was sent to us 15 days ago via diplomatic channels that two U.S. warships would pass to the Black Sea, in line with the Montreux Convention. The ships will remain in the Black Sea until May 4,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said.”
Russia commented about our naval deployment.
“Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko raised concerns on Friday over what he said was increasing Black Sea naval activity by powers that did not have a coastline in the region, an apparent reference to the United States.
“The number of visits by NATO countries and the length of the stay of (their) warships has increased,” he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.”
Ukrainians think the conflict is unavoidable.
“Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has little hope that war can be avoided. Moscow’s demands are impossible to meet.
“A diplomatic solution…requires a radical change in the position of the Kyiv authorities,” said Konstantin Sivkov, a Moscow-based military analyst. “If the Kyiv authorities agree to the recognition of the federal structure of Ukraine, if the authorities agree to the equal status of the Russian language in Ukraine along with the Ukrainian language, then the whole problem in [Donbas] will be removed,” he said.
The Ukrainians fear that giving Russia further opportunity to undermine the government in Kyiv will only result in the slow erosion of their independence.
“The cease-fire is over…and President Zelensky’s strategy of negotiating something with Moscow is generally over,” said Mykola Kapitonenko, an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations in Kyiv and consultant to Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs.”
“On 12 June 2020, Ukraine joined NATO’s enhanced opportunity partner interoperability program. According to an official, NATO statement the new status “does not prejudge any decisions on NATO membership.”
It looks like Putin is trying to expand Russia and soon, but the question is how involved are we going to be in the conflict. Ukraine is not a full-on member of NATO. They instead chose to be an enhanced opportunity partner. Russia on the other hand was removed from NATO after they took over Crimea back in 2014.
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