#eyeofstorm

G20 Bali: The Most Explosive Diplomatic Event of the Year — EXPRESS  |  By Aleks Phillips  | PART 3

Continued from the previous post  » » »  Regardless of Ukraine’s presence at the summit, Putin will still be taken to task by the UK’s new Prime Minister.

Ms Truss pledged during a leadership debate with Rishi Sunak that she was prepared to face him directly and “call him out in front of those very important swing countries like India and Indonesia”.  In August, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo told Bloomberg: “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come.” 

*Photo: EU Commissioner Ursula von Der Leyen thinks Putin should be publicly punished - via video clip from YouTube © CRUX

Ms Truss’s campaign said at the time she stood by her earlier comments. Despite previous attempts to mock the then-Foreign Secretary, the Kremlin appeared to view Ms Truss as perhaps an even more avid supporter of Ukraine than Mr Johnson.

Shortly before she was announced as the winner of the Tory leadership contest on Monday, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, said of relations with the UK: “I wouldn’t like to say that things can change for the worse, because it’s hard to imagine anything worse. But unfortunately, this cannot be ruled out.”

*Photo: Truss pledged she was prepared to face Putin directly at the summit

Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, welcomed the new leader, stating: “We in Ukraine know her well – she has always been on the bright side of European politics. And I believe that together we will be able to do a lot more to protect our nations and to thwart all Russian destructive efforts. The main thing is to preserve our unity, and this will definitely be the case.”

*Photo: Zelensky mentioned “We in Ukraine know her well – she has always been on the bright side of European politics”

In a congratulatory call with Ms Truss after she was made Britain’s new Prime Minister yesterday, the two leaders vowed “continued close cooperation on global challenges, including supporting Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression” and “addressing the challenges posed by China”.

*Photo: Biden earlier called for Russia to be removed from the G20 bloc altogether

The US President, meanwhile, earlier called for Russia to be removed from the G20 bloc altogether, and American officials had been pressuring Indonesia to exclude Putin from the summit. Mr Biden is still expected to attend the summit, but has not yet publicly stated whether he will.

▶️  Read the latest Ukraine News with videos on EXPRESS.co.uk

Putin will come face-to-face with Zelensky, his military adversary - © Getty Images

Putin to Come Face-to-Face With Truss and Zelensky For First Time Since Ukraine Invasion

EXPRESS  |  By Aleks Phillips

9/7/2022 — VLADIMIR PUTIN will come face-to-face with Volodymyr Zelensky, his military adversary, and his strongest critics on the world stage as well as Liz Truss and Joe Biden, it has been confirmed. 

G20 will be a historic showdown between Zekensky and Putin - video clip from © CRUX/YouTube

The Russian President had been mooted to attend a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia later this year by the nation’s President Joko Widodo, along with China’s Xi Jinping. Beijing has yet to confirm whether its leader would be at the summit in person. But in a briefing held today in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, Lyudmila Vorobieva, Russia’s ambassador to the country said Putin intends to be there. 

G20 will be the global battle ground for Face-Off event of the West VS Putin - image from YouTube video clip of © CRUX

It is the first time Moscow has said definitively that the despot would attend in-person, and the first meeting in which he will sit across from non-aligned world leaders since the invasion of Ukraine began in February. 

Critical Moment After 6 Months of War in Ukraine

EXPRESS  |  By Aleks Phillips | PART 2:

Continued from the previous post » » »  Six months into what is already being described as a war of attrition, and the Russian armed forces continue to struggle to assert any lasting control, despite on paper being the superior military.  Russian forces have occupied much of the Donbas region — where the residents are relatively sympathetic to them — to the east of the embattled nation and a swathe of the south, but have come under heavy fire in key areas such as Kherson in recent weeks.

*Top Photo: This video was published on March 23, right before Putin starting the invasion - video clip from © CRUX/YouTube

Photo above: He will sit across from non-aligned world leaders for the first time since the invasion began  - Express / ©Getty Images

Ukraine’s military has made use of Western-supplied missiles to pinpoint Russian military targets in the region, halting a planned referendum in the region — widely seen as an attempt to give legitimacy to the occupation.  Ukrainian armed forces and resistance fighters have been able to inflict lasting damage in Crimea as well — annexed by Russia since 2014 — believed to have crippled the Black Sea fleet aiding ground assaults in the south. 

Photo above : In early July, Indonesia’s PM visited Moscow to persuade Putin to attend G20 in Bali - video clip from © CRUX/YouTube

On the backdrop of a war Putin started and, by the time the summit takes place, will be nearly nine months into with no sweeping gains, he may come to breath the same air as the Ukrainian President. 

Mr Zelensky said at the end of June he had accepted an invitation to attend the summit, but said Ukraine’s participation would “depend on the security situation in the country and on the composition of the summit’s participants” – a thinly-veiled reference to Putin. » » » Continue to the following post.