Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, shares his perspective from Santa Monica, California:
Has Russia committed genocide in Ukraine?
Well, that's for the legal experts to sort out. There's a somewhat more liberal use of that particular term in American political debate than in Europe. In Europe, we are somewhat more careful with the use of that particular word for obvious historical reasons. But there's no question whatsoever that massive war crimes have been committed, and that primarily Putin has committed the number one crime on the international law, and that is aggression against another country. No question whatsoever.
Are there any prospects for peace?
Not at the moment. Putin made clear the other day that he doesn't see any reason to continue the talks that were somewhat limited in Istanbul a couple of weeks ago. And he's clearly now aiming for a major military offensive in the east where he is amassing lots of forces in order to do what he hoped would be a decisive defeat for Ukrainians. That will decide a lot of the outcome of the rest of this particular conflict.
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