Opinion : As the fight shifts east, there is a race against time to arm Ukraine
Washington PostApr 20, 2022
At least 13 were killed and 21 injured on Monday, when a gunman opened fire at a school in the city of Izhevsk, central Russia. Seven of the school's 1k pupils were reportedly among those killed, as were two security guards and two teachers. The region will observe a period of mourning until Sept. 29.
The news came as Kazakhstan announced it will not recognize ongoing referendums on the potential annexation of eastern regions of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian forces. "We reconfirm our readiness to provide all possible assistance to the establishment of a political dialogue," said foreign ministry spokesperson Aibek Smdiyarov.
As the war shifts to the strategically important Donbas region of Donetsk, the US and its allies need to continue to do everything in their power to arm Ukraine with all the weapons they need. Doing so is the only way to push Putin's forces back as was done in Kyiv.
As stated by Putin, the whole purpose of the war was never to invade Kyiv, but to liberate the ethnically Russian people of Donetsk and Luhansk, who have been subjected to systematic killing by Ukrainian forces for not recognizing the 2014 coup in Kyiv.
There is a 5% chance that Putin and Zelenskyy will meet to discuss the peaceful resolution of the Russian-Ukraine conflict before 2023, according to the Metaculus prediction community.