Large part of Luhansk under Russian control

Kyiv Russian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine. According to Mayor Ihor Terekhov, Kharkiv is under heavy fire. “Huge explosions, the Russian Federation is furiously bombing the city,” Terekhov said in a televised address.

Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine after Kyiv and is located in the northeast of the country. About a million people are still in Kharkiv, says Terekhov. Around 30 percent of the approximately 1.5 million inhabitants in peacetime have been brought to safety – especially women, children and the elderly.

According to British information, the Russian armed forces are advancing from their deployment areas in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region towards Kramatorsk. The city is still under rocket fire, the British Ministry of Defense said on the basis of a situation report by military intelligence. The Russian military is trying to destroy Ukraine’s air defense capabilities in the east of the country.

But there is probably a certain amount of time pressure with the Russian offensive. Russia is likely keen to make significant gains ahead of the annual May 9 celebrations of Victory Day over Nazi Germany. “This could impact how quickly and vigorously they attempt to conduct operations leading up to that date,” the tweet said.

The Russian military itself said it had hit 1,001 military targets in Ukraine with rockets and artillery during the night. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced that 162 combat posts were among them. In addition, Russian forces and Russian-backed separatists have taken complete control of the city of Kreminna in eastern Ukraine.

On Tuesday, the secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, reported in a radio interview that the Russians were attacking along the entire front in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. At this point in time, however, he still spoke of the fact that these were probably “test attacks”. A major offensive is imminent.

The US Department of Defense also states that it sees the latest Russian attacks only as a sign of a major offensive by Moscow. The US Department of Defense also said on Tuesday that it saw the latest Russian attacks only as a sign of a major offensive by Moscow. However, according to Ukrainian information, most of Luhansk is already under Russian control.

Putin calls off storming of Mariupol steel mill

In the port city of Mariupol, Russia does not want to storm the last bastion of the Ukrainian army and instead relies on a siege. “I don’t think the proposed storming of the industrial zone is necessary,” President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Thursday. “I order you to cancel these.”

According to Russian information, around 2,000 fighters are still holed up in the steelworks there. There is no need to penetrate the catacombs under the plant, Putin said. “Seal off the area so no flies can get through,” he ordered Shoigu. According to the defense minister, the rest of Mariupol is now entirely under Russian control.

The city of Mariupol, which once had more than 400,000 inhabitants, has been fiercely fought over since the beginning of the war and has been surrounded by Russian troops for weeks. Attempts to evacuate the civilians largely failed. According to Schoigu, more than 140,000 of them were allowed to leave the city. Almost 1,500 fighters have already surrendered from the Ukrainian forces surrounding the steel plant.

The remaining fighters were promised respectful treatment upon surrender.

Ukrainian authorities assume that around a thousand civilians are also on the premises of the steel plant, as well as several hundred injured fighters. Mariupol on the Azov Sea is considered strategically important. It lies between the pro-Russian, self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.

More Handelsblatt articles on the war in Ukraine

Germany prepares ring exchange for arms deliveries

The federal government is preparing a ring exchange for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. According to information from the German Press Agency on Thursday, NATO partner Slovenia is to hand over a large number of its T-72 main battle tanks to Ukraine and receive the Marder infantry fighting vehicle and the Fuchs wheeled armored vehicle from Germany in return.

The T-72 weapon system, which dates back to Soviet times, is already being used by the Ukrainian army and does not require extensive additional training. According to information from the dpa from government circles, Slovenia has also requested more modern equipment from Germany as compensation, including the German Leopard 2 battle tank, the Boxer wheeled tank and the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, which is being introduced in the Bundeswehr as the successor to the Marder, which has been in use for 50 years.

Meanwhile, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) confirmed on Thursday that Germany would train Ukrainian soldiers on the Panzerhaubitze 2000. “Because we have the know-how to train on it. This is one way of providing this support,” said Lambrecht on RTL/ntv’s “Frühstart” program.

According to earlier reports, the Panzerhaubitze 2000 will be delivered to Ukraine by the Netherlands. Germany cannot do this because the “Bundeswehr is not so equipped,” Lambrecht said, adding, “But where we can provide training, we will.”

Since the beginning of the war, Germany has received a good 2,500 anti-aircraft missiles, 900 Panzerfausts with 3,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 machine guns and 15 Bunkerfausts with 50 rockets. In addition, 100,000 hand grenades, 2000 mines, around 5300 explosive charges and more than 16 million rounds of ammunition of various calibers for handguns, the German press agency learned from Ukrainian government circles. Heavy weapons such as tanks or artillery are not on the list.

That will be important on Thursday

US President Joe Biden wants to speak again today about the war in Ukraine in a speech at the White House. It will probably also be about the US efforts for further support of Ukraine and arms deliveries, it was said in government circles. The speech is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. (9:45 a.m. local time).

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Frederiksen promised to supply more weapons to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Estonia, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is consulting with the political leadership of the Baltic state about the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Talks by Baerbock with her colleague Eva-Maria Liimets and a meeting with Prime Minister Kaja Kallas are planned in Tallinn. An international meeting in support of Ukraine will be held in Washington on the same day with the participation of World Bank head David Malpass and IMF head Georgieva.
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