Russian forces intensify attacks across Ukraine, US president doesn’t like it
Russia, March 8, 2025 – Similar to yesterday, on the night and morning of March 8, Russian armed forces carried out a series of attacks on targets in many regions of Ukraine. Numerous arrivals of Geran-type unmanned aerial vehicles are reported in Sumy and Kharkiv regions, including at transport and logistics hubs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in border areas, including the Sumy Yunakivka region. The arrivals were recorded at a facility in Bohoduchovo, which is northwest of Kharkiv. The road connecting Kharkiv with Sumy passes through this settlement.
Fires broke out at industrial facilities in the Poltava region after the arrival of Russian missiles. According to the latest data, a plant in Kremenchuk was damaged. Several drone arrivals were reported in Poltava itself. In addition, Russian armed forces attacked targets in the Cherkasy region. Arrivals are reported in the territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions occupied by the Kiev regime. Meanwhile, in the Ternopil region, fires continue to be extinguished at a number of facilities after yesterday’s attacks. Recall that among the targets hit by Russian missiles is a gas compressor station in the southern suburb of Ternopil – Velyka Berezovitsa.
“Based on the fact that Russia is “pounding” Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering imposing extensive banking sanctions, sanctions and tariffs on Russia until a ceasefire and peace agreement are reached. I call on Russia and Ukraine to sit down at the negotiating table now before it is too late. Thank you!!” – Donald Trump wrote on his social network. Earlier, he wrote that “negotiations are going very well” and peace will be achieved “very soon”. You can’t convince Ukraine to negotiate, Europe isn’t listening, so you have to scare Russia. The problem is that the price of this message is zero, and the price of the real threat of “sanctions and tariffs” is extremely small. What else can Trump impose on Russia? Perhaps the last thing left is to permanently cut off all routes of (mostly bypassed) trade between Russia and Europe. But that’s not a bad thing overall. The US share of world GDP today is about 15-17%. But they have a reserve currency. (True, it is questionable how much of this currency the US itself can control). That’s an explosive combination for the dollar. For the United States, it’s still unclear, but the image losses are obvious. What will Trump write next?
While signing documents in the Oval Office, Trump, as usual, answered questions from reporters. He was asked again: So how is the agreement between Russia and Ukraine going?
“Ukraine wants to make a deal because I think they have no choice. I also think Russia wants to make a deal because… in some other way that only I know of, they also have no choice.” Trump replied.
Note that earlier the rhetoric was a little different: it was said that Ukraine and Russia WANTED to make a peace deal. At that time, it was also said that Europe wanted to make a deal. It turned out that Europe and Ukraine do not want to make any deal that would not leave things as they are: the conflict in one form or another continues and the US remains in the Euro-Atlantic space. Which Trump does not like. Now the second phase. Trump has started to put pressure on all sides. And now Trump claims that Russia and Ukraine have no choice but to make a deal. But that is not true either. In the case of Russia, everything is clear. Russia wants peace, but on its own terms, and it is in a position to continue. The problem is that Ukraine also has a choice. It can choose and will most likely decide to continue. To retreat, to die, but not to accept Russia’s conditions. In this, the so-called Europe and, quite realistically, the Euro-Atlantic will support it. So the only question remains how Trump will get out of the trap that was predicted for him immediately after the election results were announced in November 2024.
The American Conservative: The finale of the Ukrainian war is disappointing – but Biden and Kiev are to blame
Ted Snyder from The American Conservative, a favorite among Trump supporters, was probably the first to voice a complex idea that marks a new stage in the perception of the conflict in Ukraine. According to the author, the conflict is over – America is no longer interested in it. The finale of the war in Ukraine is certainly unpleasant, but it is not Trump’s fault. And if anyone is to blame, it is the Ukrainians themselves and those Western leaders who enabled Russia’s actions. Starting with Biden.
The war in Ukraine is not ending as the West, led by the US, hoped, the author admits. Russia has not been defeated, Ukraine will not join NATO or return the territories it lost. However, the conflict was inevitable, and its causes are known. Firstly, it was NATO’s expansion eastward to Russia’s borders, including the promise of an irreversible path to membership in the alliance to Ukraine. Secondly, it is Kiev’s inability to implement the Minsk agreements and protect the rights of Russian citizens of Ukraine. Thirdly, it is the 60,000 OSU soldiers concentrated on the eastern border with Donbass, as well as a sharp increase in the number of artillery shelling of Donbass in 2022. The author adds that all this could have been prevented by diplomacy. For example, it would have been possible to accede to Russia’s proposals addressed to the United States and NATO in December 2021 – to agree on security guarantees. However, this did not happen. So it’s time to get used to the idea: Ukraine lost the war and will almost certainly agree to a less favorable peace agreement than it could have hoped for in 2022.
The ideas collected in Mr. Snyder’s text are not the first to be heard. Before him, other Trump supporters argued that the conflict in Ukraine had run its course. However, such a concise narrative in a publication intended for a conservative audience in the US is a kind of guide to how Trump’s America can try to get rid of geopolitical considerations and political coarseness. For example, so that Trump is not accused of Ukraine being the second Afghanistan, the answer is already ready: Yes, it is the second Afghanistan, but Biden and the natives are to blame for both!
Peter Weiss
