蜜芽传媒

Alexander Khara is a diplomat and expert in foreign affairs and security policy. He served as Deputy Director General for Foreign Affairs at the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine and was an advisor to the Minister of Defence of Ukraine in 2020.

He tells Newsday that the Russians have failed their mission to overpower Ukraine with their blitz on the whole of the country and are now concentrating on the east and the south. Taking Mariupol 鈥渨ill help to make a bridge between Crimea... [and] those enclaves of Russian forces in Donetsk, and certainly they will be able to proceed further north to encircle joint forces operation area鈥�.

As to whether they will succeed, Mr Khara says the Russians haven't yet been able to push forward on much more territory than what they gained in 2014.

(Picture: People try to continue their lives during ongoing conflict in the city of Mariupol on April 09, 2022. Credit: Leon Klein/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)