欧洲战争 对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰的回应

War in Europe:Responding to Russias Invasion of UkraineRussias assault on Ukraine threatens to become the largest European conflict in decades.A vigorous but judicious Western and global response is critical to limit the damage.In a chilling act of aggression,Russian Presi-dent Vladimir Putin launched a military assault on Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February.That Western leaders had warned of this possibility for weeks did little to cushion the shock.President Putin announced what he characterised as a“special military operation”to demilitarise and“denazify”Ukraine,and made a barely coded threat of nuclear strikes upon any outside power that might come to its aid.Residents of Ukraines capital,Kyiv,and cities throughout the country woke to explo-sions as Russian bombs and missiles fell on military facilities and infrastructure.The bom-bardment follows a months-long build-up of as many as 200,000 Russian troops on Ukraines borders,to the north,west and south.Ground forces that then entered Ukraine indicate that Russia has embarked upon not only an air cam-paign aimed at toppling Ukraines government but a full-scale invasion.The human toll could be catastrophic.Russias belligere