By Afshain Afzal

This Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again stressed on the point that negotiations are the potential path to end the war. Earlier, he clearly spelled out, “If there is just a 1% chance for us to stop this war, I think that we need to take this chance”. Since few weeks there are political changes noticed in the country’s demography as new faces were seen in the streets of different cities. One local said, Hezbollah loyalists along the side of Russian are are fighting against Ukrainians, especially in the port city of Mariupol.

In a systematic move, NATO is working out plans to enforce No-Fly Zone over and around Ukraine and demilitarize Bosporus. In the recent development, Turkey detected and neutralized a mine-like object at the mouth of the Bosporus Strait from Northern side; Moscow claims that these may be old mines that had drifted out to sea after breaking off from cables near Ukrainian ports. If true it set a warning that mines and other traps have been set all along the entrances to Ukrainian ports. Whatever, the case may be, it is a case fit as additional evidences of threat to international peace that may allow US and NATO to win United Nations Security Council mandate to enforce o-Fly Zone over and around Ukraine and demining and sweeping operations around the Bosporus and the Black Sea. In case Bosporus is blocked, the wheat and other supplies to Middle Eastern nations would create food shortage, which depended on their exports.

A pre-recorded video speech by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy shared on social media reflected Ukraine’s intention of joining the 27-nation European Union group. It said, "Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal. I'm sure that's fair. I am sure we deserve it," He said, “Europeans are witnessing how our soldiers are fighting not only for our country, but for all of Europe, for peace, for peace for all, for all the countries of the European Union." Presidents of Eastern European countries including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia signed a letter on 28 February 2022, recommending “Ukraine deserves receiving an immediate EU accession perspective." German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement in reaction to video, “Ukraine is part of the "house of Europe" in which it is welcome. .. Ukraine's accession would not signal that the EU wished to partition it off from Russia but would reflect a desire to fulfill the wish of many Ukrainians to join”. The question arises if Ukraine is given European Union membership in an emergency, where will EU standards through reforms in several policy areas will go. On contrary, if not done NATO would be on weaker side as regard to the legitimacy  of their operations involving Belarus and other vantage points.

This Saturday Ukrainian President appealed at Qatar’s Doha Forum, "I ask you to increase the output of energy to ensure that everyone in Russia understands that no one can use energy as a weapon to blackmail the world." In another front taking benefit of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, Azerbaijani units marched into the zone of responsibility of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation in Nagorno-Karabakh. There are high changes of renewed fighting in case the ceasefire between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia in 2020, is violated. The foot prints of the Christian fighters have already been questioned by Russia. Two days back Russian President Vladimir Putin talked to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on phone to discuss the situation and request that Azerbaijani armed forces should withdraw to their initial agreed positions.

Meanwhile, the United States of America has approved US $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine as part of national security program. Interestingly, in the name of emergency aid, major chunk would go intelligence community across the globe of hybrid influence operations and Pentagon under the head costs of deploying American troops to allies in Eastern Europe. The document mentions weapons Washington has already sent to the government of President Zelenskyy before the war and aid to six other groups. The remaining small portion of aid would be dedicated for emergency food assistance and health care to Ukrainian refugees in the camps in various the region. In nutshell, the Ukrainian would get noting or mere peanuts out of US $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine.

Where the US, NATO and other nations have adopted a neutral path, Turkey, on ground, is playing the role of policeman and peacekeeper of Eastern Europe. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has adopted the role of de facto United Nations Organization. There is not doubt, that Ankara is trying her best to bring Russia and Ukraine to President-level table talks but the media operations exaggerating the security situation as well as creating suspicion has brought the world to the brink of a regional war. The United Nations Secretary General must put a ban on irresponsible statements by world powers and organizations as well as media propaganda and negotiate for the return of thousands of Ukrainian refugees back to their homeland. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.