Blasts in Kyiv – Kyiv rejects Russian ultimatum to Mariupol

new York The Ukrainian capital Kyiv was rocked by several explosions late Sunday evening. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, several residential buildings in the Podil district were damaged and set on fire in the attack.

A shopping center was also hit, bursting into flames along with a number of cars parked in front of it. “Rescue teams and paramedics are already on site,” Klitschko said on Telegram.

At least four people were killed when buildings in the west of the Ukrainian capital were shelled late Sunday evening. This was announced by the local civil defense on its Facebook page on Monday morning. The information cannot be independently verified.

Russia uses Kinzhal missile again

The Russian military has again used a Kinzhal hypersonic missile in its war against Ukraine, according to the Defense Ministry. The missile hit a fuel depot in Kostiantynivka near the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday. A senior Ukrainian adviser confirmed the attack. The information cannot be verified independently.

According to Russia, it has used the missile twice in the past few days. According to Russian information, the rockets, which are about eight meters long, fly extremely fast and extremely high, but remain manoeuvrable. They destroy their target with a conventional warhead weighing up to 480 kilograms or a nuclear warhead.

The CDU defense politician Johann Wadephul also sees the use of the missile by Russia in the Ukraine war as a sign to NATO. “The use of the hypersonic weapon is a real test before the eyes of the world and a signal to NATO: Do not interfere, because we have weapons against which you can hardly defend yourself,” Wadephul told the “Welt” ( Monday). “Unfortunately, there is a capability gap in NATO that we urgently need to close.” Ulrich Lechte, foreign policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, said the mission was “historic and another level of escalation.”

In the city of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine, too, the problems do not seem to be coming to an end. Highly toxic ammonia escaped in a chemical plant on Monday morning, probably for reasons that are still unknown.

The regional military chief Dmitro Schywytzky raised the alarm via Telegram, among other things, and appealed to all residents within a five-kilometer radius of the chemical plant to go to the basement or apartments on the ground floor if possible so as not to come into contact with the ammonia. The information cannot be independently verified. The strongly pungent-smelling gas is lighter than air.

Schywytzky did not provide any information on how the ammonia leaked out at the Sumychimprom chemical plant. An independent clarification on site was not possible. The Russian military last week accused Ukraine of preparing a false flag attack on civilians with chemical weapons.

Kyiv rejects Russian ultimatum for Mariupol

The Ukrainian leadership has categorically rejected an ultimatum issued by the Russian military to the Mariupol defenders to surrender. “There will be no surrender, no laying down of arms,” ​​Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told Ukrayinska Pravda early Monday morning. This had already been communicated to the Russian side. Rather, she demanded that the Russian military open a humanitarian corridor to the embattled port city on the Azov Sea.

On Sunday, Russia asked the Ukrainian troops in Mariupol to lay down their arms and leave the city on Monday morning. For this purpose, a corridor should be set up between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. Moscow time (8 a.m. to 10 a.m. CET), Major General Mikhail Mizintsev said on Sunday, according to the Russian state agency TASS.

Accordingly, Russia proposed to Ukraine a plan according to which all armed units of Ukraine should leave the city “without weapons and ammunition by the route agreed with Ukraine”. Russia insisted on a “formal written response” from Ukraine to the proposals by 5:00 a.m. Moscow time (3:00 a.m. CET) on Monday morning.

To this end, the Russian military had sent the Ukrainian side an eight-page letter. “Instead of wasting your time on eight pages of letter, just open a corridor,” Vereshchuk quoted from her reply to opponents.

Mariupol residents are in a humanitarian crisis with little food, water and electricity. Kiev’s rejection of the ultimatum increases the pressure on European leaders to tighten sanctions against Moscow.

New round of negotiations planned between Russia and Ukraine

Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia have agreed on a new round of negotiations via video link for Monday. The two teams wanted to start talks in the morning, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak told the Ukrainian news agency Unian late on Sunday evening. “Recently, working groups on both sides have been working intensively.” Last Monday, the last peace talks were held at a higher level.

According to Podoliak, negotiations with Moscow on an end to the war could last “several weeks”. However, there are now signs that Moscow’s position has recently become “more appropriate” and more realistic. He did not provide any further details.

Moscow’s maximum demands include Ukraine’s neutrality and the demilitarization of the neighboring country. In addition, Russia is demanding the recognition of Crimea as Russian territory and the independence of the breakaway so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Ukraine has so far signaled a willingness to compromise in the talks on the country’s neutrality, but is demanding strong security guarantees from the West. In addition, Kyiv insists on territorial integrity.

Ultimately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists on meeting directly with his opponent Vladimir Putin to negotiate. The Kremlin has so far rejected this.

Biden is also traveling to Poland next week because of the war in Ukraine

US President Joe Biden wants to travel to Poland in the coming week in view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The White House announced on Sunday evening (local time) that Biden would initially attend the NATO, EU and G7 summits in Brussels this Thursday as planned.

On Friday he will continue to Warsaw. A bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda is planned there for Saturday. It should be about the humanitarian crisis “triggered by Russia’s unjustified and unfounded war against Ukraine.”

The White House also announced that Biden would be discussing this Monday in a video conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The subject of the switch at 11:00 a.m. (local time/4:00 p.m. CET) is the coordinated response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Biden’s departure for Brussels is scheduled for Wednesday.

More on the Ukraine war:

The heads of state and government of the leading democratic economic powers will meet in Brussels on Thursday for a G7 summit. The summit is embedded in two other summits in Brussels on the same day: First the NATO heads of state and government will meet.

It will also be about the Ukraine war. An EU summit will take place in the afternoon. Biden is attending all three summits. It is his third trip to Europe since taking office in January 2021.

UN General Assembly to vote on humanitarian Ukraine resolution

The United Nations General Assembly is due to vote shortly on another resolution in the wake of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. According to information from the German Press Agency, a corresponding draft resolution entitled “Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine” was distributed among the 193 members of the largest UN body on Sunday evening (local time).

Broad approval is expected in a vote that is still to be scheduled in the coming days – according to diplomats, the aim is for at least 141 yes votes to be achieved again, as was the case with a resolution in the general assembly at the beginning of March. The resolution in early March condemned Russia’s war.

Actually, a resolution to improve the humanitarian situation in Ukraine should have been voted on in the more powerful UN Security Council. However, a draft by France and Mexico failed because of an internal disagreement, particularly with the US, about how anti-Moscow the text should be.

Another proposal by Russia itself did not find enough support, so Moscow withdrew from the vote. A resolution in the Security Council is binding under international law, but a resolution in the General Assembly is not.

With agency material
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