The war is heating up, can Trump save the situation?

(CLO) According to reports, evacuation operations are underway in Russia after Ukraine attacked domestic weapons depots over the past two days, including a series of UAVs and long-range missiles that the US had just authorized.

Newsweek quoted Siren on Telegram as saying that the Russian town of Kotovo is being evacuated, stating: "The administration of the Kotovsky rural settlement told journalists that Kotovo residents have been evacuated. They have been 'taken to safety.' The authorities did not provide any other details."

The source also said: "Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that 20 drones were shot down over the territory of the Novgorod region overnight. The governor of this region, Andrei Nikitin, also wrote about the destruction of 'several' drones."

Russia disperses civilians as the war heats up, can Trump save the situation? — The Russia-Ukraine war is at risk of escalating and getting out of control. Photo: AP

Worrying statements

The Ukrainian airstrikes came after Kiev was promised aid by the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden during his remaining time in the White House (the latest being a $275 million package), which in particular gave Ukraine the green light to use US-supplied ATACMS missiles to attack Russian territory.

The use of long-range missiles is seen by Russian politicians as an escalation of the war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the provision of these long-range missiles was a signal that the West was becoming more involved in the conflict.

Russian State Duma deputy Andrei Gurulyov said that if the US continues to supply these missiles, “there will be basically nothing left of the US, which is trying to drag us into escalation. There will be no Biden or Trump. The US is suffering 95% of the overall damage.”

The US's sudden permission for Ukraine to launch long-range missile strikes at this time is believed to be in response to the fact that thousands of North Korean troops are believed by the West to have been deployed to help Russia.

More importantly, experts agree that this move by the Biden administration is aimed at preventing Ukraine from being overwhelmed on the battlefield and at the negotiating table between now and President-elect Donald Trump taking office (January 20 next year).

As is well known, Mr. Trump declared an early end to the war in Ukraine shortly after taking office. Although he did not specify how, analysts all agreed that Mr. Trump would cut aid to Ukraine (as he has stated many times), forcing Kiev to sit at the negotiating table with Russia.

Trump's group opposes and will intervene?

Russian state media is expressing hope that the incoming Trump administration will stop the transfer of long-range missiles to Ukraine. These claims have not been directly confirmed by the Trump team. However, Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has claimed that the Biden administration is trying to cause "World War III" by helping Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“The Military Industrial Complex appears to want to make sure they start World War III before my father has a chance to make peace and save lives,” Trump Jr. posted on social media platform X. “That trillion dollars must be locked up. Lives will be destroyed!!!...”.

Meanwhile, Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence during Trump's first term and considered a potential candidate for US secretary of state, wrote: "No one predicted that Joe Biden would INCREASE the war in Ukraine during the transition period. It's as if he's starting a whole new war. Everything has changed now - all previous calculations are worthless."

Other Republicans speaking out included far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Utah Senator Mike Lee, who said: "Joe Biden just set out for World War III. Let's all pray that this doesn't happen."

“He is the only one who can bring both sides together to negotiate peace, towards the goal of ending the war and stopping the killing,” said Mr Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung.

Which direction can negotiations go?

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss a ceasefire in Ukraine with Mr Trump but has ruled out making any major territorial concessions and demanded Kiev abandon its ambitions to join NATO, according to five sources with ties to the Kremlin, Reuters reported.

Specifically, the five current and former Russian officials said the Kremlin could agree to freeze the conflict on the front lines. There could be room for negotiation over the exact division of Ukraine’s four eastern regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — which Russia has annexed and controls about 70 to 80 percent of the country, according to three people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Russia may also be ready to withdraw troops from the relatively small territories it holds in the Kharkiv and Mykolaiv regions of northern and southern Ukraine, two officials said.

According to these five current and former Russian officials, Russia will not accept Ukraine's accession to NATO or the presence of NATO troops on Ukrainian soil, but it is ready to discuss security guarantees for Kiev.

Other concessions from Ukraine that the Kremlin could push for include Kiev agreeing to limit the size of its armed forces and pledging not to restrict the use of the Russian language.

“Without neutrality, it is difficult to imagine any friendly neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin told the Valdai discussion group on November 7. “Why? Because this means that Ukraine will be constantly used as a tool in the wrong hands and to the detriment of the interests of the Russian Federation.”

If a ceasefire is not reached, Russia will continue fighting, two sources said.

Hoang Anh (according to Newsweek, Guardian, Reuters)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nga-di-tan-dan-cu-khi-chien-su-dang-nong-len-ong-trump-co-the-cuu-van-tinh-hinh-post322187.html