Ukraine’s parliament approved this Wednesday (23) a declaration of a state of emergency valid for the entire country, except for the two regions in the east, where such a measure has already been in place since 2014.
In this situation, the government can impose restrictions on travel, distribution of information, and what is reported in the media, in addition to introducing citizen document checking. President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed introducing the state of emergency earlier, in the face of a possible large-scale Russian military offensive.
Tensions in Ukraine, which had been rising since November with the deployment of troops from Moscow to its border, reached new heights this week after President Vladimir Putin recognized two self-proclaimed ethnic Russian provinces.
The president had also announced the deployment of troops to these locations, but he backed out the next day. There were reports, however, that military personnel from Moscow were in the region.
Faced with the threat, Kiev also urged its 2.5 million citizens living in Russia to leave the neighboring country, given the climate of animosity. The night before, Russia had said it would withdraw diplomats from Ukraine, although the countries still maintain relations.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces also announced the mobilization of their reservists, a contingent of around 200,000 people aged between 18 and 60, to which hundreds of civilians have been added over the past few months as tensions have escalated.
For now, Putin maintains the initiative in the crisis, which he started with the deployment of perhaps 150,000 troops around Ukraine since November. In addition to wanting to resolve the status of the newly recognized areas, which have 800,000 of their nearly 4 million inhabitants with Moscow passports, the president has maintained his demands.
The main ones are to veto Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other ex-Soviet countries in NATO (western military alliance); withdraw offensive forces in the 14 countries that have already been incorporated; negotiate security issues such as missile placement and transparency of war maneuvers.
Only the last topic was accepted by US President Joe Biden and NATO, which has led to the current impasse.
Both Putin and Zelensky say they are open to negotiations, but at the same time maintain that they contradict the discourse. The Ukrainian mobilizes the population to the risk of an invasion, and the Russian follows the militaristic tone.
Meanwhile, the West works on sanctions. The US has imposed a new round of sanctions, preventing Russia’s government from making financial transactions involving its debt securities with US and European companies.
In Europe, Duma lawmakers who approved the recognition of republics are banned from EU countries and have had their assets in the region frozen, while banks that financed separatist activities are also targeted by the measures. Germany individually froze the Nord Stream 2 pipeline certification.
