Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Vesna Pusić commented live on the situation in Ukraine in N1 Studio.
Vladimir Putin said the other day that he had finished mass attacks on Ukrainian cities, but this is clearly not true. The shelling of Kiev and other cities continued.
“All in all, it’s actually terrible, but on Saturday we could hear the news warning that a major attack was being prepared, specifically on Kyiv and the cities, because the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed its citizens that Kyiv was under a great security risk and that withdraw. Also, Serbia closed its embassy, Kazakhstan and some other Central Asian countries that have relatively good relations with Russia and apparently had information that the rest of the world did not have – that an attack on Kyiv and other cities was being prepared and that happened,” she commented. is Pusic.
It is terrible, he says, that what is happening here is pure Russian retaliation. “Each Russian attack is almost exclusively concentrated on terrorizing, on killing civilians. Residential buildings, gas and electricity supply buildings, railway stations, places where people gather are targeted. These are not attacks on military targets, but terrorizing the population. This is absolutely terrible, but it says a few things – that Russia may no longer trust the military and its strength to do something on the battlefield. That partial mobilization, which was actually arbitrary, ends as well – whoever you catch, you send him to the front, without training, without equipment. Everything that can be heard from the front seems that this army is not capable of what it was supposed to be, that it is invincible, it is actually a useless army and instead there are two things – intimidation with nuclear weapons and terrorizing cities and civilians which is a terrible thing, but I think it speaks to the fact that something will need to change,” she said.
“It is clear to China that it is in their interest to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible”
It is difficult to assess how realistic this nuclear threat is.
“Of course, the use of every, even the smallest so-called of tactical nuclear weapons, considering exactly who will fall on them and who exactly will be exposed to everything that comes out of it depends to a large extent on the weather conditions, where the wind is blowing. And Russia borders Ukraine, so the effect could fall on Russia as well. Putin and the political-military elites do not care much about Russian citizens. Unfortunately, this is a characteristic of Russian leaders. Putin doesn’t care, it doesn’t matter how many were killed, they just throw new ones to the front. Also, the question is how the other side, NATO, would react in such a situation, because as much as it seems that Russia is now under terrible sanctions, there is the possibility of even harsher, even worse ones that would paralyze Russia. The issue of leadership in Russia will have to be resolved somehow, primarily Putin,” said Pusić.
The Russian president is now offering negotiations, but Pusić I don’t see what would be negotiated now.
“The simple solution is to paraphrase the Finnish Prime Minister – Russia needs to leave Ukraine, that is the solution. Ukraine was far from belonging to the political West. The percentages of support for NATO membership were low, about 20 percent, now they are 80. This aggression changed the situation and pushed Ukraine towards the Western allies, suddenly in self-defense, just as it pushed Sweden and Finland towards NATO. On the one hand, this aggression by countries that did not politically belong to the Western alliances brought them absolutely closer to them. On the other hand, given the scale of the crimes committed in Ukraine, Putin de facto has no way back into the international community. Where would you sit, with the G7 leaders? This is perhaps the most dangerous moment, in a way there are not many ways out, and I think China could potentially play a significant role here. The aggression against Ukraine suddenly destroyed all the big Chinese projects directed towards Europe, put them ad acta. They cannot function with the war in Ukraine. In my opinion, Xi Jinping has already said something to that effect, that it should end as soon as possible because it is not in China’s interest. It costs them money, projects, political influence… I don’t know how they can act there and how they will assess that it is in their interest to act, but if they recognize that it is an interest, that can already be seen,” said Pusić.
