“Not a single building is undamaged”

Dusseldorf On the 22nd day of the Ukraine war, positive news is still extremely rare, but it is there. During the heavy bombing raid that destroyed a theater in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, in which, according to Ukrainian sources, more than 1,000 civilians sought shelter, the air raid shelter apparently prevented the worst.

Ukrainian MP Serhiy Taruta wrote on Facebook: “The air raid shelter held out.” The debris had started to be removed. “People come out alive!” The information, like much information from Ukraine, has not yet been independently verified. The search for survivors continued as of midday.

Overall, however, many civilians continue to die every day in Russian attacks on residential areas of Ukrainian cities. According to regional governor Viatscheslav Tschaus, 53 people were killed in the embattled northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Wednesday alone: ​​”We are suffering heavy losses.”

In Kyiv, debris from a missile launched by anti-aircraft defenses hit a 16-story residential building. One person was killed and three others injured. About 30 people were evacuated from the house and a fire was extinguished, according to the Ukrainian civil protection authority.

Russia continues to deny shooting at civilians, but also speaks of Ukrainian nationalists who are deliberately moving military equipment into residential areas.

Humanitarian situation in the Ukraine war: Still hardly any open escape routes

The Ukrainian authorities hope to be able to allow civilians to escape through a total of nine corridors from contested areas on Thursday. This also includes the encircled port city of Mariupol, explains Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk. According to Ukrainian information, numerous people in the particularly hard-fought city in the south-east of the country have been without heating, electricity and running water for around two weeks.

Deputy Mayor of Mariupol Serhiy Orlov told Forbes Ukraine magazine that the lack of water supply is particularly dramatic. Since the heaters were no longer working anyway, some people took water from the heating pipes to drink.
80 to 90 percent of the buildings in Mariupol have now been bombed, Orlov said: “Not a single building is undamaged.” He accused the Russians of targeting civilians in order to force the city, with its 400,000 inhabitants at the outbreak of the war, to capitulate .

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia continued airstrikes on the port city on Thursday morning. “People are fleeing Mariupol using their own transport,” Zelensky’s office said. However, the risk is high because the Russian armed forces had previously shot at civilians.

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Refugee movements are also stagnating outside of Ukraine: in large parts of Poland, rail traffic is at a standstill due to a failure of the traffic control system. Many refugees from Ukraine use the Polish railway to get to safety or to visit friends and relatives. According to the railway operator PKP PLK, rail traffic is affected by the failure of the traffic control system almost throughout the country on 820 kilometers of route.

Military Developments: Russia’s attack falters

The President’s Office in Kyiv continues to report artillery and air strikes across the country, including in Kalynivka and Brovary near the capital Kyiv. The Russian troops also tried to enter the city of Mykolayiv in the south. Artillery fire was reported from Avdiivka in the east during the night.

Russian news agencies also refer to the Moscow Ministry of Defense and report the shelling of a military depot in western Ukraine. Rocket and ammunition stores were destroyed. The depot is located in the city of Sarny, about 300 kilometers west of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

According to Ukraine, Russian forces have increasingly resorted to artillery and air strikes since their advance stalled. The Ukrainian General Staff stated that the enemy was unsuccessful in its ground operation and therefore continued to launch rocket and bomb attacks on the infrastructure and densely populated areas of Ukrainian cities.

British military intelligence reports support Ukraine’s account: In the past few days, the Russian military had made only minimal advances on land, sea and air. The Russian forces also suffered heavy casualties. “Ukrainian resistance remains steadfast and well-coordinated,” the London Ministry of Defense said. Most of the country, including all major cities, is still in Ukrainian hands.

Peace negotiations continue without much progress

After the adviser to the Ukrainian President Zelenskiy, Alexander Rodnyansky, the Russian side is now also expressing doubts about the peace negotiations. Russia is investing a lot of energy in talks on a peace deal in order to reach an agreement with “clear parameters,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. He accused Ukraine of dragging out the negotiations and said a previous day’s Financial Times report on rapprochement was only partially correct.

Zelenski advisor Rodnyansky said on Wednesday evening in the ARD program “Maischberger” that the Russian interest in a peaceful solution was a deceptive maneuver.

Peskov called people who are quitting their jobs and leaving Russia because of the Ukraine war “traitors”. Peskov called the statement by US President Joe Biden, who called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal, unacceptable.

>> Read about this: “There is no future for me under Putin” – More and more Russians are leaving their country

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, on the other hand, is appealing to members of the European Parliament to also declare Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin a war criminal. In a video link, he gives examples to support his claim. He also cited the destruction of the theater in Mariupol, where many civilians had taken shelter.

Selenski on the Bundestag: “Why is a country that lies across the ocean closer to us?”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke to the Bundestag this morning about the situation in his country. As the day before in the US Senate, he reported on the destruction and countless civilian casualties in the Ukraine war. “We are fighting for our lives, for our freedom,” says Selenski. In the middle of Europe there is a wall between freedom and bondage. This increases with every bomb that falls in Ukraine.

Zelensky reported in detail on the dramatic situation in the port city of Mariupol, which has been under fire for days. Everything is being destroyed there, “around the clock,” reports Selenski. For days it has hardly been possible to save people from the city. Because of Russian bombs, it was also impossible to set up an airlift.

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Selenski also criticized the cautious reactions of many European countries, which had put sanctions on the back burner. There were warnings even before the war – especially before the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. With regard to the aid from the USA, Selenski asked: “Why is a country that lies over the ocean closer to us?” He appealed Germany and other European countries to step up efforts to end the war.

In particular, he called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to take the lead in Europe and stop the war. “Give Germany the leadership role that Germany deserves.” Zelensky ended his speech with the words “Slava Ukrajini!” – “Long live Ukraine!” – to applause lasting several minutes from the deputies.

Later on Thursday morning, Scholz and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg again sharply criticized Russia for the attacks in Ukraine. At the same time, they emphasized that NATO will not intervene in the conflict. “NATO bears the responsibility for not allowing this conflict to escalate any further,” said Stoltenberg. “Putin relies solely on violence,” criticized Scholz. The Russian President unleashes terrible suffering in Ukraine. Scholz and Stoltenberg promised Ukraine further support, including military support.

Uncertainty about possible Russian state bankruptcy

Meanwhile, the guesswork about a possible state bankruptcy of Russia continued: the Moscow Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday that it had instructed the interest payments due on Wednesday for dollar bonds with a volume of 117 million dollars. However, some bondholders said they did not receive any payments.

>> Read about this: Confusion over interest payments on Russian dollar bonds

Because of the invasion of Ukraine, the West has imposed sanctions on Russia that, among other things, make international money transfers more difficult. However, a default by Russia will only become official once the 30-day grace period has expired. It would be the first time since the 1917 Russian Revolution that the country would default on its commitments. At that time, the Bolsheviks had not recognized the debts of the Tsarist era.

With agency material.

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