War between Ukraine and Russia: Trump offers to “settle” the war while Biden calls Putin a “war criminal” at presidential debate

The Kremlin said Russia was considering a possible downgrade of diplomatic relations with the West due to the increased involvement of the United States and its allies in the war in Ukraine. However, no decision had been made yet.

“The issue of downgrading diplomatic relations is a common practice for states faced with unfriendly or hostile statements,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the possibility of such a move.

“Given the increasing Western interference in the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian Federation cannot help but consider various options for responding to such hostile Western interference in the Ukrainian crisis.”

Mr Peskov said no decision had yet been made on the matter and Russia was considering various options to respond to the West.

Donald Trump has suggested that Russia would never have attacked Ukraine if there had been a “real president” in office in the United States.

“If we had a real president, a president who knew that Putin respected him, he would never have invaded Ukraine,” he said as the former president faced Joe Biden in the first presidential debate on CNN.

“He knew not to play games with me,” Trump said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The former president said he would settle the war between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if he were elected president. “Before I take office on January 20, I will settle this war,” he said.

Biden, however, called Putin a “war criminal” and warned that Putin would not stop at Kiev if Russia was allowed to wage war. “He wants all of Ukraine. That’s what he wants,” Biden said.

“He killed thousands and thousands of people,” said the US President.

Biden also fired back at claims he was pushing European allies to spend more money on defense. “This is a guy who wants to get out of NATO,” Biden said, adding that he had “got 50 other nations” to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

However, Republican face Trump denied accepting Putin’s terms to end the war in Ukraine. “Look, this is a war that should never have started if we had a leader,” Trump said.

Russia claims it has carried out missile attacks on Ukrainian airfields that it believes are intended for the stationing of Western military aircraft, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

Russia used sea-based long-range precision weapons, the Kinzhal hypersonic missile and drones in the attack, it said.

All intended targets had been met, the ministry added, without however providing a list of the targets.

Russia is considering a possible downgrade of relations with the West due to the increased involvement of the USA and its allies in the Ukraine war, but a decision has not yet been made, the Kremlin said yesterday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Izvestia newspaper that ambassadors had a difficult but important task in maintaining a channel of communication in difficult times.

However, Mr Ryabkov also said that a possible downgrade of relations with the West was being examined.

Asked about the possibility of such a move, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that given the current West’s stance toward Russia, this was one of several options being considered, but no decision had been made yet.

“The issue of downgrading diplomatic relations is a common practice for states faced with unfriendly or hostile statements,” Peskov said.

“Given the increasing Western interference in the Ukrainian conflict, the Russian Federation cannot help but consider various options for responding to such hostile Western interference in the Ukrainian crisis.”

A deterioration in relations – or even a breakdown – would underscore the severity of the confrontation between Russia and the West in Ukraine, following an escalation in tensions in recent months as a result of the war.

Even during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the Cold War came closest to nuclear war, Russia did not break off relations with the United States. However, Moscow severed its relations with Israel in the wake of the Middle East war of 1967.

The Ukrainian military said its forces had expelled Russian troops from a district in the town of Chasiv Yar on the war’s eastern front, which is seen as Moscow’s next target in its slow advance through the area.

Russian forces are slowly advancing through parts of eastern Ukraine and have captured several villages since taking the important town of Avdiivka in February.

Chasiv Yar is located on a hill 20 km west of Bakhmut, a town that Russian troops captured a year ago after months of fighting. Both sides view Chasiv Yar as a possible base for Russia to advance on the main cities of the eastern Donetsk region, including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

Nazar Voloshin, a spokesman for the southern Ukrainian group of forces, told the Ukrinform news agency that Russian troops had withdrawn from the Kanal district in the village of Chasiv Yar along the Seversky-Donets-Donbass canal, which runs along the eastern edge of the city.

“Ukrainian defenders have indeed pushed Russian forces out of the Kanal district in Khasiv Yar in Donetsk region,” Ukrinform quoted Voloshin as saying. “The enemy army is no longer there.”

Voloshin told other Ukrainian media that Russian troops had fired on Kyiv’s armed forces in more than 200 incidents within 24 hours, mostly at the southern approaches to the city.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in a late evening report yesterday that Russian troops had attempted to push back Ukrainian forces near Khasiv Yar six times. Three attacks were repelled and fighting in the area is still in full swing.

According to an unconfirmed Russian report, Moscow forces destroyed a communications tower near the city and made further progress.

A fire broke out this morning at a fuel depot in the Tambov region in central Russia due to a drone attack, the region’s governor, Maksim Yegorov, wrote on the messaging app Telegram.

No one was injured in the incident, he said, and firefighters were on site.

The Ukrainian president called on European Union leaders to make good on their pledges to supply his war-torn country with military equipment, just days after the Union began accession talks with his government.

“We need to work on the next steps,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in Brussels as he arrived for a summit of EU leaders. He said he and the leaders would “discuss the most urgent things – air defense is one of them.”

Mr Zelensky thanked the countries that have promised equipment, weapons and ammunition, but stressed: “We urgently need them on the battlefield.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed three defense agreements – two individual agreements with Lithuania and Estonia and one with the EU.

The agreement with the EU reaffirms commitments to assist Ukraine in the areas of security and defence policy.

Meanwhile, Lithuania and Estonia said they would provide about 0.25 percent of their GDP for military aid to Ukraine.