What you must remember
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited US President Joe Biden to Kiev on Sunday to show Washington’s support in the face of the risk of a Russian invasion.
- The United States has repeated that Ukraine could be invaded “at any time” by Russia.
- Often accused of being too complacent towards Russia, Germany has raised its voice. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned that Western sanctions would be “immediate” in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- Moscow “doesn’t give a damn” about the risk of Western sanctions, warned bluntly the Russian ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarintsev.
- Russia, on the other hand, said it was “worried” about the “relocation” of OSCE personnel who were previously in Ukraine.
- UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says there’s a ‘scent of Munich in the air’, referring to 1938 deal with Nazi Germany that failed to prevent World War II world.
- Despite this unreassuring context, the Ukrainian government has promised that the skies above the country will remain open.
10:38 p.m .: Canada withdraws military from Ukraine
Canada has decided to “temporarily relocate” some of its military personnel stationed in Ukraine elsewhere in Europe, due to the situation in the region, the Canadian Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday.
He specified that this temporary repositioning of “elements” of his contingent assigned to training the Ukrainian army “does not mean the end of the mission” of the Canadian military, but allows Canada to “refocus its efforts while ensuring the security of members of the Canadian Armed Forces”.
9:21 p.m .: Zelensky invites Biden to go to Kiev “in the next few days”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited US President Joe Biden to Kiev on Sunday to show Washington’s support in the face of the risk of a Russian invasion.
“I am convinced that your visit to Kiev in the coming days (…) would be a strong signal and help stabilize the situation,” said the Ukrainian presidency, quoting a statement by Volodymyr Zelensky to Joe Biden during a conversation telephone call between the two men earlier in the day.
6:55 p.m .: Biden and Zelensky agree to pursue “diplomacy” and “deterrence” against Moscow
US President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to continue “diplomacy” and “deterrence” against Russia during a phone conversation lasting around 50 minutes on Sunday, the White House reported. “Both leaders agreed on the importance of continuing diplomacy and deterrence in response to Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s borders,” according to the US executive’s minutes.
During this exchange, Joe Biden again promised a “swift and resolute” response from the United States, in coordination with its allies, in the event of a Russian attack.
5:15 p.m .: Washington reiterates that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is possible “at any time”
The Russians could attack Ukraine “at any time”, senior American officials repeated this Sunday, the day after a call between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin which did not give them “reason for optimism”. The telephone conversation between the two presidents “certainly did not show that things were moving in the right direction,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told Fox. There “is no sign that Putin intends to ease the tensions”, he added.
“We believe major military action could take place at any time,” he continued.
“For ten days, we have seen an acceleration in the reinforcement of Russian troops and their positioning closer to the border, so that military action could be launched very, very quickly”, added on CNN the national security adviser. of the White House, Jake Sullivan. For him, the attack “could take place as early as this week”. “It is likely to start with heavy missile fire and shelling,” followed by “ground troop movements.”
3:30 p.m .: The Ukrainian president will speak to Joe Biden “in the coming hours”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will speak on the phone to his American counterpart Joe Biden “in the coming hours” about the Russian-Western crisis around Ukraine, announced the spokesman for Ukrainian President Serguiy Nikiforov, on Facebook.
3:17 p.m .: German Chancellor threatens “immediate” Western sanctions in case of Russian invasion of Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned on Sunday that Western sanctions against Russia would take effect “immediately” in the event of an invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.
“In the event of a military aggression against Ukraine, which would endanger its sovereignty and territorial integrity, this would lead to harsh sanctions, which we have carefully prepared and which we can implement. work immediately with our allies in Europe and within NATO”, he declared, on the eve of a trip to Kiev and then to Moscow on Tuesday.
Why would Putin go on the offensive? Our decryption
The reasons, and the timing, of the military and diplomatic escalation between Russia and Ukraine, supported by the West, are multiple: Russian internal context, regional problems and Moscow’s desire to exist between the American- Chinese.
3:03 p.m .: The United Kingdom annoys Ukraine by evoking a “scent of Munich”
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace annoyed Ukraine by referring, in an interview published by the Sunday Timesa “scent of Munich in the air” about the Russian-Western crisis, a reference to the agreement with Nazi Germany which could not prevent the Second World War.
Russia can “launch an offensive at any time”, with around 130,000 of its soldiers positioned along the Ukrainian border, said Ben Wallace, who went to Moscow on Friday to plead for a de-escalation. “He (Putin) may just call off his tanks and we’ll all go home, but there’s a hint of Munich in the air coming from some Westerners,” he added.
The Munich Agreement of 1938 allowing the German annexation of the Sudetenland, a territory located in the east of Germany, in the former Czechoslovakia, has gone down in history as a symbol of the diplomatic capitulation of European democracies in the face of to Nazi Germany the year before the outbreak of war.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Vadim Pristaïko, criticized the use of these terms in a particularly tense context between Russia and the West. “Now is not the best time for us to offend our partners around the world, reminding them of this act which did not buy peace but on the contrary, it bought war,” the diplomat told the BBC.
UK Minister for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, explained that his colleague Ben Wallace had wanted to make “the comparison between the diplomatic attempts at the approach of the Second World War and the diplomatic attempt that we all make now”. around Ukraine.
2:59 p.m .: For the German president, Moscow is responsible for the risk of “war” in Europe
German head of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday that Moscow bore “responsibility” for a risk of “war” in Europe due to tensions around Ukraine, on the eve of a visit by the Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kiev then in Moscow.
“We are in the midst of a risk of military conflict, of war in Eastern Europe and it is Russia that bears the responsibility,” he said just after his re-election for five years in this mainly ceremonial post. .
2:50 p.m .: Ukraine promises to leave its airspace open despite the Russian threat
The Ukrainian government promised on Sunday to keep its airspace open despite a threat of Russian invasion, according to a statement from the Ministry of Infrastructure.
“The airspace over Ukraine remains open, the state is working to prevent risks for airlines,” the ministry said in a statement posted on Facebook. “Closing the airspace is a sovereign right of Ukraine and no decision has been taken in this direction”.
2:43 p.m .: Russia “worried” about the “relocation” of OSCE personnel to Ukraine
Russia is “worried” about the “relocation” of personnel from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who were previously in Ukraine, said the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy this Sunday on Telegram . “These decisions can only seriously worry us,” indicated Maria Zakharova, asserting that the OSCE would have informed its members, including Russia, of the decision of certain countries to “redeploy their citizens participating in the special observation mission in Ukraine “due to deteriorating security conditions”.
The OSCE brings together 57 countries from Europe, Asia and North America, including the United States, Russia and major Western European countries, with the aim of fostering dialogue and co-operation on security issues.
Maria Zakharova accused the mission of this organization on the spot of being “deliberately drawn into the militarist psychosis fomented by Washington and used as a tool for a possible provocation”. “We call on OSCE leaders to resolutely halt attempts to manipulate the mission and prevent the organization from being drawn into the unscrupulous political games being played around it,” she added. .
2:42 p.m .: The situation is “critical” according to Berlin
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine with the deployment of troops on the border have reached a “critical” point, a German government source said on Sunday. “Our concern has grown (…) we believe that the situation is critical, very dangerous. »
2:41 p.m .: “We don’t give a damn about all their sanctions”: the tension does not fall, diplomacy at a standstill
Tensions around Ukraine have escalated in recent days, with Washington insisting on the risk of an “imminent” invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which denies and accuses the United States of “hysteria”.
Moscow “doesn’t give a damn” about the risks of Western sanctions in the event of an invasion of Ukraine, the Russian ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarintsev, declared bluntly in Aftonbladetin an interview broadcast late Saturday on the website of the Swedish newspaper
“We have already had so many sanctions imposed on us, and in a way they have had positive effects on our economy and our agriculture,” underlines the experienced Viktor Tatarintsev. “We are more self-sufficient and have been able to increase our exports. (For example) we don’t have Italian or Swiss cheeses, but we have learned how to make Russian cheeses as good using Italian or Swiss recipes,” he explained. “New sanctions aren’t good, but they’re not as bad as the West says they are,” he said.
For him, Western countries do not understand the Russian mentality: “The more the West puts pressure on Russia, the stronger the Russian response will be”. He assures that his country is trying to avoid a war. “It is the most sincere wish of our political leaders. The last thing people in Russia want is war. »