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Madrid — Faced with a new offensive Russia, NATO leaders are muscular on Wednesday, not only nominating Moscow as a major enemy of the military alliance, but also proclaiming China as a strategic “challenge” for the first time. Outlined the new vision.
It was a fundamental change for the Cold War alliance, but it began to see post-Soviet Russia as a potential ally and did not focus on China at all.
However, it was before February 24, when Russian troops crossed the border into Ukraine, pointing out that Chinese leaders did not participate in subsequent global accusations.
“The deepening of strategic partnerships between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation and mutual strengthening attempts to undermine the rules-based international order are contrary to our values and interests,” NATO leaders said. Is the summit in Madrid mentioned in a new mission statement issued between them.
The announcement said U.S. supreme intelligence officials said the victory in Ukraine was still out of the control of Russia, and that both sides had exchanged more than 200 prisoners of war. It has been done. “
In a series of steps at the Madrid summit ending Thursday, President Biden and other NATO leaders sought to respond to President Vladimir Putin’s resurrected militant Russia. Shortly before announcing the mission statement, they expanded their formal membership invitations to the previously unaffiliated Nordic countries Finland and Sweden, paving the way for NATO’s most important expansion in more than a decade. Open.
“The moment Putin shatters peace in Europe and attacks the rules-based order, the United States, and the beliefs of our allies, we will step up,” Biden said. “We are stepping up.”
NATO Secretary-General Jason Stoltenberg has announced that thousands of recruits will be deployed in eight countries east of NATO. Biden also said Washington would deploy an Army garrison headquarters and field warfare battalion in Poland. This is the first US army permanently deployed to the east of NATO.
China has responded chilly to the new NATO move.
“We oppose NATO’s involvement in the Asia-Pacific, or certain factors that demand an Asia-Pacific version of NATO under a military alliance,” said Chang Jun, the UN ambassador to China. .. Confusion in parts of the world should not be tolerated in the Asia-Pacific region. “
A better understanding of the Russian-Ukraine war
Putin continued to pay attention to Central Asia, which he had visited to strengthen his support for Moscow. It is even more important now that the West has moved to make Russia a Paria nation.
In an apparently calculated Kremlin counterprogram, the Russian President attended a rally in Turkmenistan in five countries adjacent to the Caspian Sea. He flew from Tajikistan to Turkmenistan early Wednesday on the second leg of the two days. The first trip to take him out of Russia since the beginning of the Ukrainian War in February. It has also been his first overnight trip abroad since the pandemic began.
In a short speech to other leaders of the summit, including the presidents of Kazakhstan, Iran and Azerbaijan, Putin talked about trade, tourism, fishing and environmental issues, but did not say a word about NATO or Ukraine. ..
But later that day, in a meeting with reporters after the summit, Putin ridiculed the importance of Finland and Sweden joining NATO while issuing warnings.
“If military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we need to respond in-kind and create the same threat to areas that pose a threat to us,” Putin said. Told. “Obviously, what do you know?
Ukrainian leaders praised NATO news.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter, “We welcome Russia’s clear stance and its accession to Finland and Sweden.” “A equally strong and positive position on Ukraine helps to protect the security and stability of the Euro Atlantic.”
Has been updated
June 30, 2022 12:58 am ET
However, it was not clear that this week’s progress could help Ukraine significantly outnumber its troops and change the course of the war that remains defeated. Mr Putin appeared unmoved by foreign criticism and sanctions as his troops used their superior cannons to attack and subdue Ukrainian cities.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian and Western officials sent thousands more soldiers and heavy weapons to eastern Ukraine as Moscow struggled to claim the final patch of Ukrainian sovereign territory in eastern Luhansk. He said he was doing it.
“There are battles everywhere,” said Serhiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk junta. “Where the enemy is trying to break through the line of defense. They are destroying all the settlements and later trying to enter only the territory, not the settlements.”
He said the Russians used rocket-propelled grenade launchers, artillery, mortars, tanks, bombers, and long-range missiles to clear the land of life so that infantry could move forward.
The scorched earth operation has allowed Russians closer than ever to the location of Ukraine in Lysychans’k city, Luhansk Oblast, which is part of Moscow’s willingness to insist on all of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. But despite the remarkable spending of ammunition, profits are slow.
Russian officials dismissed allegations of atrocities against Ukrainian civilians and claimed that their attacks were limited to legitimate military targets.
However, small-scale attacks that kill several people at once across the country are increasing the deaths of civilians every day. Civilian casualties are steadily increasing, even in cities and towns away from the fierce battles of war.
“They may be aiming for a military structure, but most are damaging civilian infrastructure,” Vitali Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, said in a news briefing Wednesday. “I think they’re going to scare the locals and demoralize our army.”
Avril D. Haynes, Director of National Intelligence of the Biden administration, said in a public update for the first time in more than a month that Putin still seems to be aiming to occupy most of Ukraine, but in the short term. Russian troops in the eastern part of the country remained unlikely. The consensus of US intelligence agencies is that the war is likely to last for a long time, Haynes said.
Ukraine has announced the largest prisoner exchange since Russia began its invasion. Among them were dozens of Ukrainian soldiers who defended the Russian siege of the iconic southern port city of Mariupol. Of Ukrainian rebellion.
The exchange was secretly covered, but Denis Pushilin, the head of Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk region of Donbas, exchanged 144 Russian and surrogate troops for 144 Ukrainians. He said he was returned.
NATO enlargement came after lengthy negotiations with Turkey, a member of the dissenting alliance. The exact reason for persuading Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to change his position on Wednesday was still unknown, but clues emerged. Some included Turkey’s concerns about Kurdish separatists.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde has formally agreed that Sweden and Finland will not provide assistance to Kurds and other organizations that could compromise Turkey’s security, regardless of weapons or other aid. rice field.
“I didn’t do that today, but now it’s explicitly written,” Linde told Sveriges Radio. She said her country would continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Kurds and others in northeastern Syria.
Sweden and Finland will also lift the informal arms embargo on Turkey in 2019 after Turkey intervenes in northern Syria. As NATO’s new members, Linde said the two countries “will make new promises to their allies, which also applies to Turkey.”
And on Wednesday, the United States showed a new willingness to sell upgraded F-16 fighters to Turkey, approaching meeting the long-standing demands of its allies.
US officials argued that this change had nothing to do with NATO expansion.
The report was contributed by Anton Troianovski in Paris. Michael Schwilts of Athens. Ivan Nechepurenko from Tbilisi, Georgia; Megan Specia from Lviv, Ukraine. Julian E. Burns from Washington. Warsaw Mark Soundtrack.
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