Kyiv is preparing for a major offensive

Berlin Around two weeks after withdrawing from the greater Kyiv area, Russia plans to launch more rocket attacks on the Ukrainian capital. The Moscow Ministry of Defense announced this on Friday after military buildings near Kyiv had been fired at with cruise missiles the night before.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, according to Ukraine, fighting for the Ilyich steelworks continued, while Russia reported the complete capture of the strategically important factory premises.

In the ranks of the Berlin governing coalition, the pressure was growing on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to make a decision in the debate about the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. According to insiders, Scholz wants to provide two billion euros for military aid.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv on Friday, the likes of which have hardly been heard since Russian troops withdrew from the region. The Russian Ministry of Defense justified the night attack on Kyiv and further attacks there as retaliation for alleged Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.

The first attacks on Friday night were aimed at a factory that also produces anti-ship missiles. Observers therefore assumed a retaliatory action for the loss of the Black Sea flagship “Moskva”.

On the military situation: the sinking of the Moskva is considered a serious setback

However, Russia rejects the government’s account in Kyiv that the “Moskva” was hit by Ukrainian rockets. Rather, a fire triggered an ammunition explosion. The “Moskva” sank in heavy seas when being towed to a port.

Information from the war zone cannot always be verified independently. In its actions in Ukraine, Russia does not speak of war, but of a special operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.

The sinking of the “Moskva” is considered to be one of the most serious setbacks that Russia has had to accept to date. No warship of a comparable size has gone down during ongoing combat operations for around 40 years. Most recently, in 1982, during the Falklands War, the Argentine “General Belgrano” was hit by British torpedoes.

According to the Ukrainian government, Russia is said to have used supersonic bombers in the war against Ukraine. Bombs were dropped from long-range Tu-22M3 bombers on the particularly hard-fought port city of Mariupol, Defense Ministry spokesman Olexander Motusyanyk said in Kyiv on Friday.

Russia bombs Mariupol with supersonic bombers

Motusianyk stressed that Mariupol had not been completely taken by Russian troops. There is fierce fighting, including in the port area and around the Ilyich steelworks. For days, Russia has claimed complete control of the port. According to information from Moscow, the Russian troops now have the steelworks under control.

After withdrawing from the Kyiv region, Russia says it is concentrating on taking control of the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. First, Mariupol is to be taken in the south-east. After seven weeks of bombardment and siege, the port city is largely in ruins. Thousands of civilians have been killed, tens of thousands are trapped.

Ukrainian troops tried to break the siege ring, a Defense Ministry spokesman said in Kyiv. The situation is difficult. “The Russian army is constantly calling in additional units to storm the city.” Russia also used long-range bombers to attack Mariupol for the first time.

Otherwise, Russia is concentrating on taking the towns of Rubischne and Popasna in addition to the port city that has been under siege for weeks. Here, however, Russian troops were pushed back.

Dispute over arms deliveries to Ukraine

According to a newspaper report, Russia has demanded an end to arms deliveries to Ukraine. “We call on the United States and its allies to refrain from the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which has unpredictable consequences for regional and international security,” the Washington Post said in a diplomatic note to the United States.

Germany, on the other hand, wants to increase its military aid to Ukraine. As the Reuters news agency learned from government circles, a large part of the additional two billion euros approved by Scholz is earmarked for Ukraine. The money should be spent on new military equipment, it said.

Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck pushed for an increase in arms deliveries. “More weapons must come,” said the Green politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group, according to the preliminary report. Ukraine must not lose, Putin must not win.

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In the debate about heavy weapons, politicians from the FDP and the Greens pushed for speed: “We should now make the necessary decisions quickly instead of getting lost in a discussion about the difference between offensive and defensive weapons,” said the parliamentary manager of the FDP Bundestag faction, Stephan Thomae, the “Welt am Sonntag”.

In the same newspaper, the chairman of the European Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Anton Hofreiter, addressed Scholz directly: “Germany needs to take more leadership, but that is not happening. The reason is that the chancellor does not lead.” The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz raised serious allegations against Scholz in the “FAZ”. Through his behavior in Ukraine politics, the SPD politician is endangering the cohesion of the entire international community towards Russia.

Russia continues to restrict media freedom

According to a media report, a Russian court is now threatening Google and Wikimedia with a fine in connection with the depiction of the war. The US company and the owner of Wikipedia have not deleted incorrect information about the special operation in Ukraine, reports the Interfax news agency. Google is threatened with a fine of up to twelve million rubles (almost 133,400 euros), Wikipedia of up to eight million rubles.

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In addition, the Russian authorities have blocked access to other media. As reported by the newspaper “The Moscow Times”, the Russian-language website of the paper will be blocked. According to the newspaper, Russian Internet service providers were reacting to an order from the responsible supervisory authority, which could not initially be reached for a comment.

According to the English-language page of the Moscow Times, the reason for the blockade is an article about the alleged refusal of Russian riot police to fight in Ukraine.

The authorities classified the article as false, according to the newspaper, which has reported on Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, access to Radio France International’s website is also being blocked, according to records from the communications watchdog Roskomnadzor. Details are not known at first.

Russia expels 18 diplomats

In response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the European Union, Russia is expelling 18 diplomats from the EU representation in Moscow. This was announced by the Foreign Ministry on Friday in Moscow. At the same time, it accused the EU of “consistently destroying the architecture of bilateral dialogue and cooperation that has been created over decades”.

With a view to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Brussels declared 19 officials from the Russian representation to the European Union as undesirable persons in early April. This was justified by the fact that they carried out activities that contradicted their diplomatic status. Numerous EU member states – including Germany – have also expelled Russian diplomats who were employed in the various capitals in recent weeks.

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