Defense Minister confirms focus on Donbass

New York/Dusseldorf Has the Russian offensive failed in Kyiv? The British Ministry of Defense has already come to this conclusion. Russia had announced in the evening that it wanted to withdraw troops from the region around the Ukrainian capital. British military experts now considered it “highly likely” that Russia would shift its combat capability from northern Ukraine to the south-east of the country. The offensive in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions should now be stepped up there.

The US Department of Defense agrees that the Russian troop withdrawal means a reallocation of forces. However, US Department of Defense spokesman John Kerby appealed not to “delude” the Russian announcement. So far, it has only been observed that “a very small number” of Russian troops are moving away from the capital north of Kyiv. “We are not ready to believe the Russian reasoning that it is a deduction,” he said.

It is possible that the soldiers would only be withdrawn there to be deployed in another part of Ukraine, such as the contested eastern Donbass region. “We believe this is a repositioning, not a withdrawal, and that we should all be prepared to anticipate a major offensive against other parts of Ukraine,” Kirby said.

The Russians failed in their attempt to take Kyiv. However, rocket fire could also come from far away, Kirby said. “The threat to Kyiv is not over.” Meanwhile, Kirby does not believe that the threat situation in the capital has changed significantly with the announcement of Russia. “What I can tell you is that the vast majority of the forces assembled at Kyiv are still there.”

Peace negotiations in Turkey

Ukraine also warns against attributing too much importance to Russia’s announcement. The “so-called troop withdrawal” is more of a rotation of units, said the Ukrainian general staff. This is also intended to create a false image of the allegedly discontinued plan to encircle Kiev.

Russia’s announcement of the troop withdrawal came after renewed peace talks between the two parties in Turkey. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, these signals can be seen as positive. In his nightly video address, however, he also spoke of Russia’s lack of trustworthiness.

Current reporting on the crisis:

The Ukrainians would continue with the negotiation process, deciding the scope themselves, Zelensky said. The Ukrainian delegation will not make any compromises “on sovereignty and territorial integrity”. Zelensky stressed that he was suspicious of representatives of Russia – the country continues to try to destroy Ukraine.

US forces deploy fighter jets

In view of the war, the US armed forces are relocating more combat aircraft, transport aircraft and soldiers to Eastern Europe. A unit of around 200 marines from the US had been transferred to Lithuania after maneuvers in Norway, Kirby said on Tuesday.

In addition, ten “F/A-18 Hornet” combat aircraft and “a few” C-130 Hercules transport aircraft with around 200 associated soldiers would be brought to Eastern Europe from the USA. Their exact destination is still unclear, but they will be relocated shortly, Kirby said.

The US military is not concerned with reaching a certain number of soldiers on NATO’s eastern flank, but with having the “right skills” available there. We are always in contact with our partners about this. “We’re trying to be flexible,” Kirby said.

He also referred to Monday’s announcement that six electronic warfare aircraft would be relocated to Germany. The Boeing EA-18 Growler fighter jets of the US Navy are stationed with around 240 soldiers at the US base in Spangdahlem in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for floating mines in the Black Sea. “The threat from Ukrainian mines floating on the coasts of Black Sea states remains,” Russian officer Mikhail Mizintsev said on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has accused Russia of using Ukrainian mines it seized after the 2014 annexation of the Crimean peninsula. By ensuring that the mines are floating loosely in the sea, Russia wants to “discredit Ukraine in front of international partners”.

The Russian military has said the Ukrainian military used old sea mines to prevent Russian troops from landing on the coast. Some were said to have been severed from their anchors by a storm. The information provided by both sides could not be independently verified.

The Turkish Defense Ministry announced on Saturday that a sea mine had been discovered near the Bosphorus. She was rendered harmless.

Russia with heavy losses

After almost five weeks of war, the humanitarian situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate. According to the head of the UN World Food Program, David Beasley, the war was “a disaster upon a disaster”.

Even before the war, for example, there were severe hunger crises in Yemen or in some places in Africa, where it was only with great effort that sufficient help could be given, Beasley told the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday. Now the crisis in Ukraine has come on top of that.

The country was changed within a few weeks “from the bread basket to bread snakes”. The consequences worldwide could be the worst since World War II in terms of feeding the hungry, Beasley warned before the Security Council, which had met again to discuss the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.

Because of the severe loss of military resources on the Russian side, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslyzja, says that Russia’s demilitarization is well advanced.

Since the beginning of its invasion, Russia has lost more than 17,000 soldiers, more than 1,700 armored vehicles and almost 600 tanks, Kyslytsia said on Tuesday (local time) in the UN Security Council. Russia also lost 300 artillery systems, 127 aircraft and 129 helicopters, almost 100 rocket launcher systems, 54 air defense systems and seven ships.

That will be important on Wednesday

At a summit meeting with employers and trade unions this Wednesday, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil primarily wants to resolve practical issues relating to the labor market integration of Ukrainian refugees. “We have already made sure that these people with the residence permit have the right to work,” the SPD politician told the editorial network Germany (RND). “In order for this to actually be possible, very practical questions must now be solved quickly and pragmatically

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