Kyiv In Ukraine, both sides are engaged in costly battles for dominance in the east of the country. Ukraine’s presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych on Friday acknowledged heavy losses but stressed they were much higher on the Russian side. “Their losses are colossal.” Western experts, however, stated that Russian losses had decreased but “still been quite high”. US President Joe Biden announced that aid to Ukraine would be multiplied. Germany also wants to supply more heavy weapons.
According to US sources, Russia is apparently lagging behind its military schedule in Donbass in eastern Ukraine. The British Ministry of Defense reported particularly heavy fighting around the cities of Lysychansk and Severodonetsk in the Donbass. “Russia’s territorial gains are limited and have been achieved at a significant cost to the Russian armed forces,” it said of the military situation.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an attack on Ukrainian military targets with cruise missiles from a submarine in the Black Sea. According to the Interfax news agency, it was the first time that Russia made such an attack public.
The respective information could not be verified by an independent party. The Russian advance is apparently focused on eastern Ukraine, where parts of the country have long been controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The Ukrainian military leadership reported on Friday there that their positions had been shelled in order to prevent a reorganization of the defenders.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Russian authorities reported shelling on their border territory from Ukraine. The government in Moscow is not talking about a war, but about a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.
Until the evening there was no movement on the question of evacuating the large steel mill in the southeastern port city of Mariupol. Ukrainian soldiers have entrenched themselves there, and civilians have also taken refuge in the huge complex. The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had announced an operation to extract civilians. According to the city council, about 100,000 residents in Mariupol are in mortal danger from Russian shelling and lack of supplies and hygiene.
There is a catastrophic shortage of drinking water and food. Russia announced victory in Mariupol last week. President Vladimir Putin has announced that the remaining Ukrainian soldiers will not be allowed to withdraw.
Selenski thanks Biden for help
In Washington, Biden announced he would seek $33 billion from Congress for Ukraine. According to the President’s ideas, 20 billion dollars are earmarked for weapons, ammunition and other military equipment. Around $8.5 billion will flow into economic aid and $3 billion into humanitarian and food aid. “The cost of this fight isn’t cheap, but giving in to aggression will cost more,” Biden said.
Since the outbreak of war, the US has spent $3 billion on aid to Ukraine. Zelensky tweeted his thanks, “Thank you @POTUS and the American people for leading the support of Ukraine in the fight against the Russian onslaught.”
More Handelsblatt articles on the war in Ukraine
The federal government also wants to expand its aid and is considering the delivery of further heavy weapons. According to security circles, the handover of the Panzerhaubitze 2000 will be checked after the approved delivery of Gepard tanks. In doing so, the German government is ignoring threats from the Russian government, which sees arms deliveries to Ukraine as a threat to security in Europe. The Panzerhaubitze 2000 is the Bundeswehr’s most powerful artillery weapon and can fire shells over a distance of up to 40 kilometers.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz accused Putin of wanting to destroy democratic forms of government. “After all, Putin’s goal isn’t just to destroy Ukraine. His war is directed against everything that constitutes democracy: freedom, equality before the law, self-determination, human dignity,” he wrote in a guest article https://www.welt.de/debatte/kommentare/plus238443465/Kanzler-Olaf-Scholz- in the guest article why we-crisis-proof-are-than-the-authoritarian-states.html for the newspaper “Welt”.
More: You can follow the latest developments in our news blog