War re Ukraine: Thread

[grarpamp]

Blinken Warns Ukraine Against Seizing Crimea In About-Face

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/15/blinken-crimea-ukraine-putin-00083149
https://twitter.com/AZgeopolitics/status/1625406892087320581

In a bit of an about-face for Washington based on past officials' more
aggressive posture, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken now says the
administration is not actively encouraging Ukraine to seize Crimea.

Politico reports of his words that "A Ukrainian attempt to retake
Crimea would be a red line for Vladimir Putin that could lead to a
wider Russian response, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a
Zoom call with a group of experts Wednesday."

Specifically the top US diplomat said America is not "actively
encouraging" Ukraine to liberate Crimea from Russia, the Wednesday
report said.
Via Google Maps

Instead, any potential future Crimea offensive will be "Kyiv's
decision alone" - this despite a recent past history of rhetoric out
of both Republican and Democratic administrations which have
continually asserted over the years that "Crimea is Ukraine."

The response was prompted by a reporter's question on whether or not
the US would assist Ukraine in retaking all territory previously
seized by pro-Kremlin forces. Politico details more of Blinken's
response as follows:

    Blinken, according to two of the people, gave the impression that
the U.S. doesn’t consider a push to retake Crimea to be a wise move at
this time. He didn’t say those words explicitly, they underscored.

    Two other people didn’t take Blinken’s comments that way. The
secretary remarked that it is solely the Ukrainians’ decision as to
what they try to take by force, not America’s. That signaled to them
that Blinken was more open to a potential Ukrainian play for Crimea.

All of this comes as Western media and officials reluctantly
acknowledged that Russian forces have the upper hand in Donetsk and
are poised to take the strategic city of Bakhmut, having it
surrounded.

Meanwhile, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg this week issued a
rare admission concerning the history of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Stoltenberg admitted that the war in Donbass has been going on since
2014 - which appears to validate a key aspect of Russia's framing of
the conflict narrative and why Putin ordered the invasion:

    🇺🇸🇪🇺🇺🇦🇷🇺"NATO has been training the Ukrainian military
since 2014, NATO partners have been supplying the Ukrainian armed
forces with the necessary weapons and training since 2014" — Jens
Stoltenbergs admits again

    "Unprovoked invasion"... pic.twitter.com/Qa8shKSWXx
    — AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) February 14, 2023