Moscow says it has no plans to invade Ukraine but has massed about 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine and is moving its warships into the Black Sea. On Tuesday Russias defence ministry accused Ukraine of launching a spate of attempted drone strikes targeting infrastructure inside Russia, including near Moscow, after a fire broke out at an oil depot in Tuapse, Krasnodar and authorities briefly closed airspace above St Petersburg. On Twitter he said: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Ukraine doesnt strike at the Russian Federations territory. There was never full-scale conflict between the pair of ideologically-opposed blocs, and Warsaw dissolved in 1991 when the Soviet Union fell. According to a poll conducted by Pew Research Center the fall before, just over half of Ukrainians disapproved of NATO and the idea Ukraine might try to join, while just 28% approved. All 30 NATO allies must unanimously approve a new country becoming part of the alliance. Claire Harbage/NPR Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russias Wagner mercenary force, has said Ukrainian forces are putting up furious resistance against Moscows attempt to seize the key stronghold of Bakhmut. So far, theyve held the city, but, if need be, they will strategically pull back because were not going to sacrifice all of our people just for nothing. Russia's main demand is a commitment from NATO to end its further expansion into former Soviet republics especially Ukraine. "But there's this residual bitterness afterwards. Even after countries have been granted MAP status, it has taken them years to reach the point of acceptance. It is, in essence, a war between Russia on the one hand, and the United States and NATO, using Ukraine as a proxy. Moscow denied it but followed up with a series of specific demands from NATO and the United States that go far beyond Ukraine. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Several countries that were once under the influence of the erstwhile Soviet Union are now NATO allies. Putin had said in a speech suspending Tensions between China and Taiwan are at multi-decade highs. The U.S. and NATO deny they ever made such a deal, and there is no legal agreement preventing NATO from expanding eastward. Russia's actions are making the idea of NATO membership more appealing to Ukrainians, according to opinion polls. Afterward, popular support for joining NATO rose among Ukrainians, who had once been more ambivalent about the alliance. In this way, Russia feels a threat from NATO's expansion to the east and, above all, fears that Ukraine, a country in which it can exert influence, will end up joining NATO, something that has not yet happened. Ten years earlier, though, Gorbachev had insisted that he was promised NATO would not "move 1 centimeter further east," muddying the water around the historical debate. But several of Kyivs allies in NATO, with the exception of Germany, have supplied Kyiv with weapons as it ramps up preparations to repel a potential incursion. NATO's counter: This could be an area of compromise. That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to president Volodymr Zelenskiy, has denied that Ukraine mounts attacks within Russian territory. That is why Putin is threatening Ukraine and demanding a water-tight commitment from NATO Russias defence ministry has said its forces repelled what it described as a major Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula tha Moscow annexed in 2014. That is also why they refused to send Ukraine jet fighters to replace those destroyed by Russian attacks. The Kremlin responded to Podolyaks statement on Wednesday by saying it did not believe it. But Russia insists it was and now, Putin is demanding a permanent ban on Ukraine from joining the pact. Suspilne, Ukraines state broadcaster, reports that two people triggered explosive devices left behind by Russian occupiers in the Kherson region. The man died in the ambulance. However, if the block adds Ukraine, it would lead to additional deterioration in NATO-Russia ties. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had sent troops in two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine -- Donetsk and Luhansk -- after recognising them independent. In response, the alliance, the US and its European allies have been scrambling to negotiate with Moscow and de-escalate the situation. Meanwhile, the airspace in the area is closed. Ukraine in its modern form became an independent country in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email. France and Germany opposed it, fearing escalation with Russia. The U.S. has also put a focus on new groups like the Quad, which is a grouping of the U.S., Japan, India, and Australia. That is also why they refused to send Ukraine jet fighters to replace those destroyed by Russian attacks. Heres why Ukraine hasnt become a member of NATO, and whether it has any chance of joining in the future. Ukraines leaders in recent years have made enthusiastic pleas about their desire to bring the country into NATO especially current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was elected into office in 2019. Russia, the United States and its NATO allies are meeting this week for negotiations focused on Moscow's demand for Western security guarantees and Western concerns about a recent buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine. This photo taken from video distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service shows Russian military vehicles move during drills in Crimea, April 22, 2021. Just 19% of people had felt the same way in a similar question the group asked in 2012. A spokesperson for Ukraines Donetsk regional military administration told CNN today: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}About 4,500 civilians remain in Bakhmut. And that's the way it's been year after year." It is countries' sovereign choice to choose to come to NATO and say they want to join," Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said after a meeting between Russian and NATO officials in Brussels earlier this month. What does Russia want and why is it so hard for the U.S. to meet Moscow partway? Putin, specifically, does not want Ukraine to join NATO not because he has some principled disagreement related to the rule of law or something, it's because he has a Yes, many Russian policymakers opposed the concessions being made at the time by Gorbachev in part because of the implications for eastern Europe. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the NATO expansion question became more urgent both for the U.S. looking to cement its influence in Europe and for countries emerging from communist control, like Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, the airspace in the area is closed. The collective defense agreement could be one of the reasons that Russia doesn't want Ukraine to join NATO. But Mr Putin did not confirm this, instead issuing a warning to the West about the possibility of a full-scale war if Ukraine joined Nato and the West did not roll back its forces from eastern Europe. Timothy Snyder, a history professor at Yale University, told MSNBC in March that Ukraine was recognized as a distinct Soviet republic not arbitrarily by Vladimir Lenin, as Putin has argued, but because the Soviet leader recognized in Ukraine a distinct, existing national identity. Tensions have been high between Russia and Ukraine since the latter declared itself independent of the Soviet Union in 1991 and moved to a market economy. In June 2021, when asked for a yes or no on whether Ukraine would be allowed to join, he said "School's out on that question. Welcoming [Ukraine and Georgia] into the Membership Action Plan would send a signal to their citizens that if they continue on the path to democracy and reform they will be welcomed into the institutions of Europe, Bush said in a speech. When the two countries were independent, Crimea was a strategic place that Russia considered, so in 2014 it proceeded to invade the peninsula, and barely without opposition it took control of the area. The expansion of NATO membership to countries that were once part of the Soviet-era bloc is at the heart of the standoff in Ukraine. More countries joined NATO as the Cold War escalated through the latter half of the 20th century, while others aligned with the Soviet Union to make up the Warsaw Pact in 1955. "Putin, over his 22 years now in power, has tried and failed repeatedly to bring Ukraine back into the fold. Zelenskyy, while being a champion himself of Ukraine joining NATO, has acknowledged several times the seeming long-shot reality around the prospects of Ukraine joining the organization anytime soon: For years we have heard about the supposedly open door [to NATO], but we have also heard [lately] that we should not enter, and this is true and we must admit it, he said in March. In general, the domestic policy of China and the domestic policy of Belarus have a lot in common. Now Putin appears to be acting as if Russia is in a position to dictate new terms and rewrite the story of the end of the Cold War. At the same time, Russia cant promise credibly not to ask for more if Ukraine made some concessions now, whether it be territorial concessions, regime change, or a promise not to The claim that NATO is sending jet fighters and helicopters to help Ukraine is bullshit. MOSCOW First U.S. and Russian diplomats faced off in Geneva. Understanding Vietnams abstention not from a perspective of any universal moral values but as an outgrowth of the countrys own historical and geopolitical context will tell NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (center) and Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko arrive for the NATO-Russia Council at NATO headquarters, in Brussels, Wednesday. Russia's reasoning: Moscow sees NATO's addition of former communist countries in Eastern and Central Europe beginning in 1997 as violating a core promise by the United States when the Soviet army peacefully withdrew from Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall. But there was always a concern about Ukraine," Goldgeier said. Georgias and Ukraines membership in the alliance is a huge strategic mistake which would have most serious consequences for pan-European security, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said during the summit, according to Ukraines Interfax news agency. Russia This war is not just between Russia and Ukraine, says Gao. There were no casualties and destruction on the ground. Contemporaneous notes, letters, speeches and interviews show that Western leaders were, in fact, already contemplating NATO enlargement by the time the February 1990 talks took place, she says. Last-ditch attempts at diplomacy on Monday night between French President Emmanuel Macron and Mr Putin saw them meeting for lengthy talks. Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has accused Russia of throwing waves of men into battle in Bakhmut with no regard for their lives. A few years later in 2014, the mood had shifted drastically after protests deposed Ukraines then-president and Russia annexed Crimea. hide caption. "We don't trust the other side," Russia's chief negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, said after bilateral talks with the U.S. finished. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The U.S. says a ban on expansion was never on the table. Here are some of the latest images we have been sent over the news wires from Ukraine. Since NATO's Article 5 allows member countries to call on the support of others for their defense, admitting Ukraine to NATO could have immediately sparked conflict on disputed soil between Russia and the West, which countries have long gone out of their way to avoid even before Russia's invasion in 2022. "Putin has constructed in his head and in his heart, perhaps, the idea that NATO is encircling him, that that has always been the intention," said Rice, speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations panel on Friday. Kyiv has sought to ally itself with the West, applying to join Nato in 2008. President Vladimir Putin cast the confrontation with the West over the Ukraine war as an existential battle for the survival of Russia; A year since ordering the invasion of More Ukrainians have been looking toward the West as Russia has become aggressive. More NATO countries later provided resources for the war in Afghanistan, too. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately reply to an emailed request from Reuters for comment. Russia is trying to encircle Bakhmut and using their best and most well trained and the most experienced troops from the mercenary Wagner group, Ukraines economic adviser Alexander Rodnyansky told CNN on Tuesday. Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has been invited into MAP, was given a 35 on Transparency International's CPI for 2021. Nato member states have increasingly sent Ukraine air defence systems to protect its cities, as well as missile systems, artillery and drones that helped turn the tide This war is not just between Russia and Ukraine, says Gao. Seemingly conflicting comments from U.S. officials and Gorbachev made years later do not help clear this up. The pact agreement has only been called upon one time: by the United States in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, and countries followed through on their pledge to stand by and assist as needed. A military spokesperson said today that there is no such decision now to withdraw from the eastern city. It reports: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Russian troops shelled Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region: an apartment building was damaged, two people were injured. recalled Putin in recounting NATO's decisions to expand eastward in subsequent years. If you need a background recap on why Sweden and Finland decided to apply for Nato membership, then this video with our Europe correspondent Jon Henley has all you need to know. A EU source separately said the EU delegation would not support a statement at the G20 meeting if it did not include condemnation of the war. Why does Russia oppose Ukraine joining Nato? Ukraine has yet to be formally admitted to the North Atlantic Treaty organisation (Nato), established in 1949 to promote democratic values and co-operate on defence and security issues. Former Soviet states Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have already joined Nato, which means that of the 30 member countries, five now border Russia. NATO has also publicly stated that they want to avoid a direct confrontation with Russia, which could lead to a continent-wide conflict. The Crimean Peninsula is located north of the Black Sea. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian fighters putting up furious resistance in Bakhmut, says Wagner boss, Ukraines forces may pull back from Bakhmut where 4,500 civilians remain, Ukrainian official denies it launched drone attacks within Russian territory, Poland says 'Russians are responsible' for cyberattack on online tax system, Russia aims to strengthen censorship laws, Blinken and Lavrov arrive in India for G20 meeting, Nikopol attacked eight times overnight Ukrainian official, Blinken warns central Asia against ignoring Russian aggression, Theyre lobbying for Ukraine pro bono and making millions from arms firms, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. But why does Russia want to do anything in its power to prevent Ukraine from being part of NATO? Reuters reports that the Kremlin responded to the statement on Wednesday by saying it did not believe it. Alexander Lukashenko arrives in Beijing on Tuesday. He said: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Our military is obviously going to weigh all of the options. The newest member state is North Macedonia, which joined in 2020. This item dictates that if any member country of NATO is attacked, NATO will consider it an attack against them all, and all countries should step up to provide a defense. While NATO, the U.S. and other allies rejected this demand and have even downplayed the Ukraine-NATO issue as a reason for Russia's invasion NATO also avoided adding Ukraine despite requests from the country to join over several years. While its unclear exactly how each and every countrys leadership feels in 2022 about Ukraines status, the process has been largely stalled since 2008. Everyone, including Putin, knows that Ukraine will not become a NATO member in the foreseeable and unforeseeable future, explains former NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. What is NATO and why was it formed? Washington and NATO have rejected the Kremlins central demands that the alliance cease all military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine be barred from membership while Russia has refused to budge on its requests. People going about their day in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, earlier this week. Three years later, Zelenskyy sat in the Oval Office, meeting with President Joe Biden during an official visit to the U.S., and he told reporters he planned to press his American counterpart on the question of Ukraines chances to join NATO and the timeframe." Finnish MPs will vote this afternoon on speeding up the Finlands Nato accession process. Hungary and Turkey are the two Nato members yet to ratify the entry of Sweden and Finland. The current armed conflict has direct ties to this organization. Its something youll never hear NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg say; his position wont allow it. While the influence industry may have altruistic reasons for representing Ukraine pro-bono, some lobbying firms also have financial incentives for aiding Ukraine: theyve made millions lobbying for arms manufacturers that could profit from the war. The question: Should NATO, the mutual defense pact formed in the wake of World War II that has long served to represent Western interests and counter Russia's influence in Europe, expand eastward? A government official in Poland said on Wednesday that Russia was behind a hacking attack that blocked users access to the online tax filing system. For their part, the U.S., EU Nato came into being in 1949. Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the U.N. Security Council via a videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Friday. The historical record shows otherwise, according to Sarotte. Michele Kelemen contributed to this explainer from Washington, D.C. Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, Ukraine crisis deepens after U.K. says Russia may try to install a pro-Kremlin leader, 90 tons of U.S. military aid arrives in Ukraine as border tensions with Russia rise, U.S. is 'fully prepared' if Russia invades Ukraine, secretary of state says, abandoned in 2019 by the Trump administration, Historic Arms Control Treaty Ends With Washington And Moscow Blaming Each Other. "NATO has never expanded through force or coercion or subversion. Bush rejected the idea, and when more formal negotiations began later in 1990, a ban on NATO expansion was never actually offered, Sarotte said. of those countries. In the 1990s, as NATO reevaluated its purpose in a world without a powerful Soviet Union which the alliance was designed to counterbalance NATO formed a more organized process for prospective countries: the Membership Action Plan. That year, a dozen countries led by the United States made an agreement on mutual security and defense amid fears that the rising power of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe could become a threat to the countries in the western part of the continent. And the more Putin has tried to control Ukraine and its foreign policy, the more he has pushed Ukrainians themselves to look toward the West, experts said. All Rights Reserved. Hungarys president, Katalin Novk, urged lawmakers on Wednesday to ratify Finland and Swedens Nato entry as soon as possible as deputies started debating the motions after months of the bills being stranded in parliament. Top US diplomat Antony Blinken was due in New Delhi on Wednesday alongside Russias Sergei Lavrov for a G20 meeting. That peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, has stalled and Ukrainians are killed practically every week, but it allowed Russia to largely keep up the fiction it is not a party to the war in the Donbas region. An aerial view of fightings and destructions in the city of Bakhmut. Ukraine has long aspired to join NATO, but the alliance is not about to offer an invitation, due in part to Ukraines official corruption, shortcomings in its defense establishment, and its lack of control over its international borders. Weeks later, Russia threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency that broke out in Ukraines east. His election came on the heels of a move by Ukraines parliament to enshrine the goals of joining NATO and the European Union into the countrys constitution in September 2018. In effect, that would downgrade membership for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to symbolic status at best. Senior NATO and Russian officials met to try to bridge differences over the future of Ukraine. His claims have not been independently verified. Now, Russia's protests over Ukraine's future membership have put the U.S. and NATO in a difficult spot over NATO's "open-door" policy. In a show of force, Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops around Ukraines borders and sent sweeping security demands to Washington and NATO. While Western leaders may point to corruption as a primary reason for keeping Ukraine on hold, the alliance could still have chosen over the past decade to invite Ukraine to join MAP a nonbinding step, and a program designed explicitly "to assist aspiring countries in their preparations for possible future membership," NATO's site reads. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool, AP (Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said as recently as Friday that "nobody was even imagining Czechoslovakia or Poland or Hungary at that time."). Russia's reasoning: Moscow has long believed the U.S. calls the shots in Kyiv and the U.S. has expressed support for the Minsk accords as a path toward deescalation. You cheated us shamelessly," Putin said at a news conference in December. Including 48 children who cannot be evacuated because they live in places that are no longer accessible. While it was socialism and communism for the Soviet Union, NATO pushed forward capitalism and the democratic model. NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a group of countries in North America and Europe that maintains a military and political alliance. The Biden administration says it is ready to impose high-impact sanctions in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, a claim echoed by NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg. None of that has deterred Putin, for whom Ukraine is "personal," says Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former senior U.S. intelligence officer now with the Center for a New American Security. The situation is too complex to expect a decisive breakthrough after just one meeting, he said. "And so Secretary of State [James] Baker, in a speculative way in an early stage of negotiations, says to Gorbachev, 'How about this idea: How about you let your half of Germany go, and we agree to move that one piece forward?' But while Ukraines leadership has directly pressed for membership since at least 2008, it hasnt always been popular in the country. The president of Russia has always disowned the organization, considering that it posed a threat to his security. NATO's counter: The U.S. supports the Minsk agreements. Russia has previously denied accusations from Ukraine and Nato that it had been helping to arm and fund the rebels in a fight that has cost more than 14,000 lives. The U.S. hoped that its financial support, along with diplomatic overtures from NATO, could be enough to counterbalance Russia's displeasure over expansion but ultimately, that didn't work, Goldgeier said. Russia does not want Ukraine in NATO and has said as much in its list of security demands which were sent to the US last December. We condemn actions aimed at escalating tensions around Taiwan. Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the U.N. Security Council via a videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Friday. Putin is the undisputed leader in Russia and his muscular foreign and military policy is among the reasons that he's popular in Russia, despite reports of corruption against him. "NATO never even had any forces on its eastern edge because we didn't feel the need to have troops close to Russia until Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and led NATO members to be concerned that they might keep going into NATO territory," Victoria Nuland, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said. On Tuesday, Putin revoked a 2012 foreign policy decree that in part recognized Moldovas independence, according to Reuters. The truth is that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia goes back a long way and a third party, NATO, is at the "The Russians were always concerned about how far NATO enlargement was going to go. First, shiny gear and buzzwords does not an army make. "The topic of 'NATO expansion' was not discussed at all, and it wasn't brought up in those years," he said." Since 2014, Russias undeclared war against Ukraine has sparked understandable alarm within NATO and led to an increased military presence in front line member countries close to the conflict. NATO was created in 1949 with the purpose of, at that time, preventing the expansion of the Soviet Union to other European countries. No timeline or further commitment came out of the meeting. What's NATO, and why does Ukraine want to join? NATO would defend these countries if they were threatened or attacked. "The Americans guess that maybe what Gorbachev wants in exchange for letting Germany unify is a promise that NATO will not expand eastward," Sarotte said. In the decades since, it has steadily expanded its orbit, bringing a swathe of central and eastern European states into its ranks after the USSR collapsed. Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, said that any public dissemination of knowingly false information about the forces will be punishable, The US does not expect Russia to make significant territorial gains in Ukraine in the near term, a US undersecretary of defence has said. This communal work in practice has played out in many different ways, from providing relief and goods in response to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to defending international aid ships from piracy off the Horn of Africa starting in 2008. Russia brought new law amendments to parliament on Wednesday that further strengthen the countrys censorship laws, envisaging up to 15 years in jail for discrediting the armed forces and voluntary military organisations such as the Wagner group. At the Munich Security Conference in 2007, Putin said, It is obvious that Nato expansion does not have any relation with the modernization of the alliance itself or with ensuring security in Europe. He added, On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust., Russia is at war.