The Russo-Ukrainian war has lasted for more than half a month, and russia's delay in defeating the Ukrainian army has made the current battlefield situation quite anxious. And Ukraine has received Western aid, coupled with russia is undergoing large-scale Western sanctions, so that the "red-eyed" Ukrainian authorities see the hope of victory, there is a great deal of pressure on Russia. On March 12, Western media reported that Zelenskiy made a video speech in his office on the same day, ordering Western countries to continue to increase sanctions against Russia until Russia was completely out of money.
In addition, Zelenskiy "called on" the Ukrainian army and militia fighting on the front line to continue to do everything in their power to delay the Russian surprise operations. At present, Ukraine has received support from an unknown number of foreign mercenaries, which has strengthened the defenses around Kiev and the northern front to a certain extent, and although the Russian army has been preparing for a long period of operations in the direction of Kiev, it has still not launched a large-scale military operation. Under the current situation, the information war and public opinion war between Russia and Ukraine are more intense than the confrontation on the real battlefield.
Zelenskiy received some support
In his televised speech, Zelenskiy still demanded the "surrender on the spot" of Russian troops entering Ukraine and called on the Ukrainian people to unite against the "invasion" of Russian forces. At present, Ukraine continues to receive material support from NATO through the border passage in the direction of Lviv, in addition to which a large number of foreign mercenaries have also entered Ukraine through the above channel. According to US media reports, the former Georgian defense minister joined the mercenary forces on the Ukrainian side, and a group of retired soldiers from the Georgian special forces will enter Ukraine to help local forces defend. According to Reports in the Georgian media, these Georgian mercenaries used a full set of U.S.-made equipment and carried heavy machine guns and anti-tank missiles into Ukraine to help the Ukrainian army fight. The Russian side has said that these foreign soldiers who join the battlefield as mercenaries in accordance with the Geneva Conventions will not have legal "prisoner-of-war status". As soon as the news came out, the United States began to publicly emphasize that it did not encourage its own citizens to travel to Ukraine to participate in the fighting, saying that "that could lead to adverse legal and security consequences." British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss, who had previously expressed support for British citizens to travel to Ukraine to participate in the fighting, also changed her mind and no longer supported British citizens to travel to Ukraine to participate in the fighting. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, 20,000 foreigners from other countries have joined the mercenary forces, including British and American veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Diplomats at the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland said that ukrainian embassies and consulates abroad are currently helping these mercenaries to travel to Ukraine, where they will be concentrated before they set off. Although the size of these mercenaries is not large in absolute terms, the number of Russian troops currently carrying out military tasks in Ukraine is not large, and Zelenskiy, who received reinforcements, began to "jump up and down" in his mind. However, Western sanctions are not as simple as he thinks.
The United States and Europe have disagreed over subsequent sanctions
The United States has formally decided on March 8 to stop imports of oil, gas and coal from Russia, but the United States still says it will continue to cooperate with Russia on key nuclear fuel imports. At present, the United States, like Russia, is a major energy exporter in the world, and the United States naturally does not need to import oil, natural gas and coal from Russia, but the nuclear power industry in the United States needs a large amount of nuclear fuel from Russia, which is the basis for the continuous operation of the AMERICAN power system.
Obviously, the United States still implements the "selective sanctions" strategy, arbitrarily imposing sanctions on the Russian side for those that are of little significance to itself, and continuing to cooperate with Russia in areas where its interests are highly related. The attitude of the Snake and Mouse in the United States has caused dissatisfaction in Europe, and French Foreign Minister Liszt has repeatedly called for "the situation in Europe is different from that in the United States." Europe currently has nearly 50% of its energy products from Russia, and if the EU also follows the United States in imposing sanctions on Russian energy products, the result will be that energy prices in the European market will soar further, and the rise in the price of basic energy items will inevitably lead to a surge in prices throughout Europe, when Europe will face an economic crisis that is difficult to resolve alone. German Chancellor Schoelz has also called on the EU on many occasions to act cautiously and carefully assess the relevant situation before making a decision. In addition to excluding some Russian commercial banks from the SWIFT settlement system, the EUROPEAN Union has also imposed additional sanctions on 14 Russian social elites and 146 members of the Russian Federation Committee, and imposed maritime navigation technology export controls on Russia. However, there is no consensus in Europe on whether to add sanctions to Russia's energy sector, and Zelenskiy may not be able to wait for a new round of sanctions within NATO.
Sanctions are starting to make it difficult for the United States to ride the tiger
At present, the United States continues to expand sanctions in many areas, and it has also made it difficult for itself to ride the tiger. On March 12, Rogozin, head of Russia's space department, said the sanctions imposed on Russia would force Russia to optimize the cost of its participation in the ISS project, adding that "this move may have an impact on the operation of the ISS." Rogozin said the sanctions have disrupted Russia's operational services for the International Space Station, and ground operations services, including orbit correction, could be affected.
After the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the Western bloc countries, including the United States, imposed intensive sanctions on Russia's high-tech industries, and the United States threatened to cut Russian high-tech imports by more than half. A significant portion of Russia's high-tech imports are used in the space sector, and U.S. sanctions and bans have threatened cooperation between Russia and the United States on the International Space Station. After the United States called off the space shuttle program and retired all the space shuttles, Russia gradually gained technological advantages in the field of spaceflight, especially in the operation of the International Space Station, and the United States is currently in great need of technical support from Russia. At present, the Soyuz manned spacecraft and the Progress cargo spacecraft from Russia once undertook almost all the related transportation tasks to and from the International Space Station, and Russia also has supporting technology to ensure that the attitude of the International Space Station is controllable. At present, the United States has no reliable alternative to the International Space Station cooperation project and must rely on Russian technical and equipment support. If the United States continues to impose additional sanctions on Russia, the final result will be that Russia will gradually reduce or even withdraw from cooperation on the International Space Station, and even if the United States has the ability to resume the production of related equipment and use intervention, it may not be too late.
And Zelenskiy in the Western media "kill", seems to be a little oblivious, actually began to oppose the main command of the West to sanction Russia, the West continues to increase the scale of sanctions against Russia, will seriously harm their own interests, Zelenskiy "do not know what to do", forcing the West to enter a dilemma, in the end can only let Ukraine suffer losses.