Worst Fighting Lay Ahead?
After speaking with Putin, the French President things that Putin has plans to intensify the fighting in Ukraine. (NY Times)
“Russian President Vladimir Putin called French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, in what appeared to have been a markedly more tense exchange than previous conversations between the two leaders.
The 90-minute call failed to deliver a diplomatic breakthrough, and a senior French official said it left Macron convinced that “the worst is yet to come” and that Putin aims to take control of all of Ukraine.
“Your country will pay dearly because it will end up as an isolated country, weakened and under sanctions for a very long time,” Macron told Putin, according to a French official, who added that Macron “called on Vladimir Putin to not lie to himself.””
The war in Ukraine appears to just be starting with the actors involved determined to wage war until their objectives are met regardless of the consequences to the nations they represent. Russia is facing crushing sanctions that have placed the nation in the international pariah category which could potentially crush their economy in the near term. Despite these facts Putin is determined to continue his onslaught into Ukraine in an attempt to reassemble Russia prior to its post Cold War break up.
