Italy now for Swift exclusion of Russia

Now, has the Kremlin offered Ukraine talks or not? Are Russian troops in Ukraine making progress as Kremlin war propaganda sounds, are they not? Are Western sanctions as weak as Putin’s supporters taunt, or aren’t they? As the third day of the war progresses in a gruesome manner and the German government now also – at least indirectly – clears the way for arms deliveries to Kiev, statements from Moscow become more puzzling.

There’s the matter of the talks. According to the Kremlin, Ukraine has rejected peace talks with Russia. “Since the Ukrainian side refused to negotiate in principle, the advance of the main Russian forces resumed this afternoon according to the operational plan,” a Kremlin spokesman said.

Despite the fact that, according to Western intelligence, the advance never stopped, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolak said: “Your comments that we canceled negotiations are just part of your tactics. “They seem to want to deadlock the negotiations before they’ve even started.”

It also remained unclear over the course of Saturday exactly how Russian troops are really making progress in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian sources, the number of Russian soldiers killed is over 3,500. In addition, 14 planes, eight helicopters and 102 tanks and more than 530 other military vehicles were destroyed. Russian opposition figures also report that the Russian system media is no longer reporting on the status of the attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kiev. This is taken as a sign that Putin’s plans are not working there.

And Russia’s mockery of Western sanctions, which swelled on Friday, faded as Saturday wore on. Probably also because more and more Western countries were in favor of tougher sanctions against Russia and in particular an exclusion of the country from the SWIFT payment system. So almost all, except for Germany. In return, the German government gave up its hard no to arms deliveries to Ukraine – and is now approving the transfer of German rocket-propelled grenades to Kiev via the Netherlands.

Medvedev’s shrill tones

The sounds from Moscow are correspondingly shrill. In particular, Putin’s confidante Dimitri Medjedev stood out. The ex-president wrote that diplomatic relations with the West are “not particularly necessary”. It was time to “lock the messages with padlocks”. After Russia’s suspension from the Council of Europe, he also brought up the reintroduction of the death penalty.

Above all these threats lay the shadow of a further escalation of hostilities, especially in Kiev. Fighting also broke out around Odessa, Mariupol and other cities across the country on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted in the afternoon: “More than 100,000 invaders are in our country. They are insidiously shooting at residential buildings.” He appealed to the UN Security Council to give Ukraine political support as a matter of urgency.

Ukrainian authorities warned: “Fighting operations are now ongoing on the streets of our city. We ask you to keep calm and be as careful as possible!” Kiev’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko stressed, however, that the capital was still in Ukrainian hands.

The Ukrainian army called on the population to stop the Russian advance by any means necessary. “Cut down trees, build barricades, burn tires! Use everything you have at hand!” quoted the Unian agency from a statement. The government distributed more than 25,000 weapons with more than a million shots to residents of Kiev in the afternoon to stop the Russians.

Ukraine mourns 198 civilian casualties

A total of 198 civilians were killed as of Saturday afternoon, according to Ukraine’s Health Ministry. Russia denies that civilian facilities are being attacked and for its part accused the Ukrainian side of shelling residential areas in the separatist region of Donbass.

This information from the warring parties cannot be independently verified. Reliable information is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Many Western journalists have left Kiev.

The first refugees arrived in Germany, but their number was initially small. Ukrainian citizens can enter the EU without a visa. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that 860,000 internally displaced persons were already in the country before the Russian invasion began.

Demonstrations in solidarity with Ukraine continue around the world. Thousands took to the streets in several German cities, and there were larger rallies in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich in particular. A demonstration is planned for Sunday in Berlin.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the developments in the Ukraine crisis:

Trittin: “NATO countries must reassure each other”

How impressive the events are currently is also shown by how much the attitude of the Greens is changing. More money for the Bundeswehr? Postpone coal phase-out to become independent of Russia’s gas? Everything seems possible now.

The Greens member of the Bundestag and foreign politician Jürgen Trittin explains why in an interview with Der Spiegel in the afternoon. He points out that it is not clear whether Putin will stop at the NATO countries. You have to adapt to this by having the “NATO countries reassure each other”.

The foreign policy spokesman for his group said that his party was also in favor of moving more soldiers to Lithuania. “That is the signal to Putin: if you attack Lithuania, you are not only attacking Lithuania, but German soldiers. If you attack Romania, you attack US soldiers. If you attack Estonia, you attack British soldiers.”

Will the Chancellor, who has come under pressure, also take these signals? He is currently consulting with counterparts from Poland and Lithuania. Tomorrow Scholz will make a government statement in front of the Bundestag.
With agency material.

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