British intelligence sees evidence of war crimes – Ukraine issues new sanctions

Berlin With the withdrawal of Russian troops from northern Ukraine, evidence of war crimes committed by Russia is mounting. British intelligence sees evidence that civilians have been disproportionately targeted. There are mass graves, hostages were used as human shields and civilian infrastructure was mined, the British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday night on Twitter with.

Russian forces continued to use IEDs to inflict casualties on Ukraine, lower morale and limit Ukrainian movement. In addition, the troops continued to attack infrastructure targets where the risk of harming the civilian population was high – such as the recent shelling of a nitric acid storage facility near Rubishne in the Donbass.

The military situation

Meanwhile, at least five civilians were killed and five others injured in shelling in the Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian sources. The local military administration blamed Russia for this.

Russian artillery shelled settlements in the north-eastern region of Kharkiv on Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said. At least two people were killed and one person injured. Many houses were destroyed.

In the Mykolayiv region in the south, the Ukrainian military counted seven rocket attacks by the Russian army, it said. Nobody was killed in the process.

Ukrainian forces, for their part, killed 80 soldiers and destroyed three tanks and one plane and one helicopter in three attacks on Russian troops on Saturday. The information could not be independently verified.

Moscow recently announced that it would focus combat operations on eastern Ukraine. Since the invasion began on February 24, Russian troops have failed to capture any major city.

The armed forces have withdrawn from the vicinity of the capital Kyiv and are regrouping in eastern Ukraine. A Russian offensive is expected there in the Donbass, parts of which have been under the control of pro-Russian separatists for years.

Some cities – like the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov – have been under heavy shelling for a long time. Tens of thousands of people are trapped and cannot be brought to safety.

The humanitarian situation

According to the Presidential Office in Kyiv, more than 4,500 civilians were able to flee the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia on Saturday. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk accused Russia of not allowing buses for refugees to pass on certain routes, despite an agreement. “The buses have returned to Zaporizhia and will try again to reach the cities on Sunday to evacuate our citizens,” Vereshchuk said.

Evacuation attempts are said to be made again on Sunday. According to Governor Serhiy Gaidai, nine trains are ready for this in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. The residents of the besieged places could use these to get to safety, writes Gaidai on Telegram. An offensive by Russian troops is expected in eastern Ukraine.

According to military information in Moscow, more than 700,000 people from the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and other parts of Ukraine have been evacuated to Russia since February 24. On Saturday alone, almost 27,000 people left the contested regions for Russia, said Colonel General Mikhail Mizinzew from the Russian Defense Ministry.

134,000 people have been rescued from the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which has been contested since the beginning of March. The figures cannot be independently verified. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of sabotaging the evacuation of towns.

The situation in the talks between Ukraine and Russia

Ukraine does not expect President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin any time soon to negotiate an end to the war. “To say that they will meet in a week, in two weeks – no, it will not happen like that,” said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak on Ukrainian television.

Ukraine continues to insist on strong security guarantees and pays a very high price for it, Podoljak said. “Yeah, it’s tough, we’re losing people and infrastructure every day. But Russia must free itself from its imperial illusions.”

Ukraine’s chief negotiator David Arakhamiya said there was no tangible progress. For Kyiv, territorial unity remains a red line.

“We will not give up any territories and we will not recognize anything,” he said, referring to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014 and the eastern Ukrainian “People’s Republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk. Putin recognized both as independent states and then launched a war of aggression against Ukraine.

Referring to the expected offensive in the east, Zelenski himself said: “It will be a tough fight, we believe in this fight and our victory.” to end the war.”

The Ukrainian President reiterated that he remained open to talks on a peace settlement despite the atrocities committed by Russia. “No one wants to deal with a person or people who have tortured their nation. It’s all understandable,” Zelensky said. “But we don’t want to miss opportunities for a diplomatic solution when we have them.”

He was confident that the Ukrainians would ultimately accept a possible peace agreement, despite everything they had to endure since the Russian troops invaded. At the same time, he must realistically face the fact that the chances of a quick agreement are slim, said Zelenski.

New Zelensky video message: Russia’s aggression is not only aimed at Ukraine

According to the Ukrainian President, Russia’s aggression does not only apply to his country, but to all of Europe. He again called on the West to supply Ukraine with more arms and impose a total embargo on energy supplies from Russia.

Russia’s use of force is a catastrophe that will inevitably affect everyone, said Selenski in a video message published on Sunday night. “Russia’s aggression should never be limited to Ukraine (…), the entire European project is a target for Russia.”

Russia can still afford to live in illusions and bring more and more soldiers and equipment to Ukraine, Zelensky said. “And that means we need more sanctions and more weapons for our state.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the fourth top Western politician to travel to Kyiv on Saturday. Selenski had previously received the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in the Ukrainian capital.

Selenski thanked Johnson and Nehammer late Saturday night for their recent visits. The meeting with Johnson on Saturday shows that there are “no obstacles to freedom,” he said in a video message released that evening.

“Britain’s leadership in our support, especially in the area of ​​defence, and also the leadership in sanctions policy – they will go down in history forever.” He also spoke with Johnson about further financial and defense aid for Kyiv.

More coverage of the Ukraine war

Among other things, he discussed the EU perspective with Nehammer, said Selenski. “I also heard the promise that Austria and its partners in the European Union will continue the policy of sanctions against Russia as long as real security in our region is not fully restored. As long as Russia does not withdraw all of its forces from Ukrainian territory.”

Ukraine tightens sanctions against Russia

Meanwhile, Ukraine is pushing ahead with its course of sanctions against Russia. Ukraine has now imposed a complete trade embargo on Russia. “This is the legal anchor of the actual cessation of trade relations with the Russian Federation on February 24,” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said, according to the public broadcaster on Saturday.

The government estimates Moscow’s losses from the boycott at the equivalent of around 5.5 billion euros. A partial ban on imports of Russian goods has been in effect since 2015. However, Kyiv continues to transport more than 100 million cubic meters of Russian natural gas westwards every day.

Zelensky is now demanding further steps from the western allies – specifically an import substance from oil from Russia. “If tyranny has launched an aggression against everything on which peace in Europe rests, we must act immediately,” he said in his nightly video message. An oil embargo must be the first step for the “entire civilized world”. “Then Russia will feel it. Then it will be an argument for them to seek peace, to end senseless violence,” Zelenskiy said. The democratic world could definitely do without Russian oil.

The aim of the “anti-war coalition” is clear – to end the war more quickly, said the president. “It is therefore not only a moral obligation of all democratic states, of all forces in Europe, to support Ukraine’s desire for peace.” Russian aggression will not be limited to his country. “The whole European project is a target for Russia.”

Four criminal charges at the car parade in Lübeck

The police in Lübeck stopped a motorcade on Saturday because participants had shown approval of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Accordingly, the police said on Sunday night that signs of unconstitutional organizations were also used.

Actually, the demonstration in the district of St. Lorenz took place with reference to the war in Ukraine under the motto “Against hatred!”. Around 150 people gathered in the afternoon and, after an opening rally, started the parade of 60 vehicles.

Pro-Russian demonstrations, but also pro-Ukrainian counter-events, are planned in several German cities for Sunday. A rally is to take place in Frankfurt under strict conditions – but no motorcade. According to the city, up to 2,000 participants are expected. The police want to “closely follow” the demonstration and punish violations. Several groups are calling for counter-demonstrations.

With agency material.

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