Defence secretary Ben Wallace has said Russia could “dig in” in Ukraine for several years. Foreign secretary Liz Truss has said that the conflict could last for years. “Russia recognises that it is losing it could do another strategy which is to dig in, fortify what it’s got and make it some form of frozen conflict. It could turn into a slow-moving, frozen occupation – a cancerous growth in Ukraine" he said.
Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched the war on Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates Vladimir Putin has warned any countries attempting to interfere in Ukraine would be met with a “lightning-fast” response from Moscow. Russia has warned other EU customers may be cut off from Russian natural gas supplies if they refuse to pay in roubles. However, the White House denounced Russia’s move to cut off energy supplies to Poland and Bulgaria. Press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a daily briefing on Wednesday: “Unfortunately this is the type of step, the type of almost weaponising energy supplies that we had predicted that Russia could take in this conflict.” Commenting on this Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Russia’s actions as amounting to “energy blackmail” against Europe in his nightly national address. Zelenskiy said Russia’s decision to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria shows “no one in Europe can hope to maintain any normal economic cooperation with Russia”.