Talking Points: Ukraine

April 4, 2023 - Topics include Bakhmut, Prigozhin, Finland, NATO, and Orban

Edited by Sarah Ashton-Cirillo (Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahAshtonLV)

Photo by Sarah Ashton-Cirillo (Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahashtonlv)

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1.      The battles in Bakhmut

Prigozhin, the head of the PMC “Wagner” posted a video with an enemy flag, stating that Bakhmut is “legally taken.”

●      Prigozhin is a liar. City battles in Bakhmut continue.

Enemy reports about Bakhmut were refuted by the commander of the Khortytsia operational-strategic group, General Oleksandr Syrskyi.

●      The building mentioned by Prigozhin no longer exists: the city council structure is completely destroyed.

●      A video, filmed under the cover of night, confirms nothing but Prigozhin’s lies and cowardice. When Ukrainian forces liberate cities, the Blue and Yellow flag is hung in broad daylight with the participation of the local population.

●      Prigozhin’s performance with flags is a consequence of the Kremlin's pressure on him, and the hatred other members of the enemy forces feel for him and his band of war criminals. This is the behavior of a man who has failed to deliver on his promises and is now desperately attempting to save face.

●      Despite the goals set by the occupiers, not only did they fail to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk region, they couldn’t even capture Bakhmut.

2.      Finland's accession to NATO

On April 4, Finland officially joins the North Atlantic Alliance.

●      For the first time in 19 years, NATO has expanded eastward. This gifts Russia with an additional 1,340 km of shared border with the alliance.

●      Finland remained neutral for decades, but Putin's aggression against Ukraine convinced the Finns that being neighbors with Russia, was no longer a burden they needed to carry alone.

●      The Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine under the slogan of preventing NATO expansion, in doing so they achieved the opposite outcome.

●      Geopolitically, Finland's membership in NATO makes Russia more vulnerable than even the future accession of Ukraine to the alliance: NATO now approaches St. Petersburg and the bases of two Russian fleets — the Northern and Baltic.

●      Finland was the first, but it won't be the last. Euro-Atlantic integration in Eastern Europe has received powerful new momentum. NATO expansion is non-negotiable.

3.      Overcoming the Hungarian veto in NATO

On April 4, for the first time since 2017, a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the level of foreign ministers will be held in Brussels, which in previous years was blocked by Budapest.

●      The NATO-Ukraine Commission is an important platform for discussing issues related to Euro-Atlantic integration and military assistance to Ukraine.

●      Procedural solutions were utilized to overcome the Hungarian veto on the convening of the NATO-Ukraine Commission.

●      Brussels is fed up with Viktor Orban's anti-Ukrainian policy, it is now apparent that Hungary can no longer stand in the way of NATO's relations with Ukraine.

●      Secretary General Stoltenberg assured Ukraine and the entire alliance that the decision to bypass Hungary's veto is not the last of its kind.

●      Unblocking an important format of cooperation opens up opportunities for inviting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023.