Kyiv, March 27
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief says that Russia could try to break Ukraine in two.Kyrylo Budanov said in remarks released by the Defence Ministry on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has realised “he can’t swallow the entire country” and would likely try to split the country under “the Korean scenario.”
That’s a reference to the decades-old division between North and South Korea.
Budanov said that “the occupiers will try to pull the occupied territories into a single quasi-state structure and pit it against independent Ukraine.” He pointed to Russian attempts to set up parallel government structures in occupied cities and to bar people from using the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia.
Budanov predicted that Ukrainian resistance will grow into a “total” guerrilla warfare, derailing Russia’s attempts.
Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron has distanced himself from US President Joe Biden’s comment that Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”. He is urging efforts to de-escalate tensions.
Macron, who has spoken several times to the Russian president in so-far unsuccessful peace-making efforts, is due to speak again with Putin Sunday or Monday.
“We should be factual and … do everything so that the situation doesn’t get out of control,” Macron said Sunday on France-3 television, when asked about Biden’s remark.
Macron said: “I wouldn’t use those terms, because I continue to speak to President Putin, because what we want to do collectively is that we want to stop the war Russia launched in Ukraine, without waging war and without an escalation.”
He stressed that the U.S. remains an important ally, saying, “We share many common values, but those who live next to Russia are the Europeans.”
Macron said he will talk with Putin about a proposed humanitarian corridor for the besieged city of Mariupol, also discussed with Turkey and Greece.
Istanbul: The Ukrainian embassy in Ankara says a group of 159 Ukrainian orphans has arrived in the southern Turkish city of Antalya.
The boys and girls aged 4 to 18 were evacuated from care homes in the Dnipro region, traveling first to Poland by train before flying to Turkey.
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