The European Union is now preparing the ninth package of economic sanctions against Moscow, in response to the escalation of its attacks on civilians, nine months after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Brussels' intention to follow up on restricting Moscow's budgetary tools was announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said it was a package aimed at "further blunting its ability to wage war in Ukraine".
In the same vein, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, intervened in the wake of the unprecedented wave of massive bombing by Russia the day before yesterday. "Ukraine suffered massive bombing today, leaving much of the country without water or electricity. Strikes against civilian infrastructure are war crimes and cannot go unpunished," Macron commented on Twitter, with Brussels focusing pressure on Moscow in the energy sector.
In this light, Russian President, Vladimir Putin appears to be keeping a close eye on European developments, stating yesterday that Western plans to introduce caps on oil prices would have "serious consequences" for energy markets, during a telephone conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
"Putin stressed that such actions contradict the principles of market relations and are very likely to lead to serious consequences for the global energy market," according to the Kremlin statement, hours after an emergency meeting of EU energy ministers aimed at mitigating the economic consequences of soaring gas prices due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The common will of European leaders to step up pressure on Moscow is also largely based on "collateral damage" from Russia's aggressive tactics towards Ukraine, hitting neighbouring countries in recent times. The abysmal bombing the day before yesterday resulted in Kiev, Lviv and other Ukrainian cities being plunged into darkness, but causing massive blackouts in Moldova. The event was confirmed in a Facebook post by Moldova's Deputy Prime Minister, Andrei Spinu, describing how "as a result of Russian bombing of Ukraine's energy system in the last hour, we have massive power cuts across the country", with Moldova suffering in terms of electricity supply since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Apart from Moldova, Poland is also extremely worried about the future, following the crash of two Ukrainian air defence missiles on its territory last week. Fearing a possible escalation of air attacks against it, Germany has offered to provide Poland with anti-missile systems, including the Patriot system, to boost its air defence capability after the two missiles incident. For its part, Warsaw has asked Berlin to send Patriot systems directly to Ukraine, with German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht responding, however, that the use of NATO defence systems outside its territory must be agreed by all member states.
Spreading darkness in Ukraine and fear in Central Europe, the Kremlin came back through its Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, stating that "the leadership of Ukraine has every opportunity to bring the situation back to normal, has every opportunity to resolve the situation in such a way as to meet the demands of the Russian side and, consequently, to stop any possible suffering of the local population".
Implicitly responding to the Kremlin's "message", the Ukrainian Defense Ministry responded via Twitter that "nine months. The period of time during which a child is born. In the nine months of its full-scale invasion, Russia killed and injured hundreds of our children, kidnapped thousands of them and made millions of children refugees," cutting off any relevant discussion.
Common ground between the two warring sides was found yesterday only on the exchange of 100 prisoners of war, with each side returning 50 soldiers after negotiations. According to the office of the President of Ukraine, among the 50 soldiers returned to the country were two officers captured in battles in Mariupol, the Azovstal plant, the Chernobyl plant and Fidonisi.
Unprecedented "blackout"
The prisoner exchange was the only ray of light in deeply darkened Ukraine, as the barrage of Russian airstrikes against its energy infrastructure the day before yesterday caused an unprecedented "blackout" on the country's power system, as its energy minister told state television, after for the first time all four of Ukraine's nuclear power plants were shut down at the same time in order to avoid a nuclear disaster due to a change in power voltage.
Almost miraculously, 3,000 miners were also rescued from the blackouts after Russian bombing left them trapped in underground tunnels overnight. Rescue efforts in the central area of Dnipropetrovsk were completed in the early hours of yesterday morning, ending their adventure.
Although Ukraine rushed to restore the blackout in the affected areas yesterday, the national energy company Ukrenergo said the work "took longer than after previous attacks" because Wednesday's attack targeted power plants and caused a "systemic incident". The ferocity of the attack is reflected in absolute numbers, as 70 Russian missiles were fired, of which 51 were shot down, along with five attack drones.
Despite the Russian aggression, the President of Belarus and scientist friend of Moscow, Alexander Lukashenko said yesterday that "the Americans want to flatten Europe in one blow, in one move, and get closer to China through Russia, while trampling on Russia. Unreal things! It seems that the military in America is not stupid, but it is absolutely unrealistic to start such a war on such a front," keeping the scenario of generalizing the conflict active.
He even accused the West of undermining the peace processes, saying that "they simply do not give Volodymyr Zelensky the opportunity, no matter what he says, to establish a dialogue with Russia." "Russia is ready for that and we have to move in that direction. If some additional initiative is needed in this respect, we are always ready to take it," he concluded.
Source: protothema.gr
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