Russia continues to attack cities – negotiations in Istanbul

Berlin The horror in Ukraine never ends: the Russian military attacked Ukrainian cities ahead of negotiations scheduled for Tuesday in Istanbul. In the city of Kharkiv in the east of the country alone, according to Ukrainian information, almost 1,180 multi-storey residential buildings have been destroyed since the beginning of the war.

According to their own statements, Ukrainian troops launched successful counterattacks in the area of ​​Kharkiv. Meanwhile, the United States announced that it was relocating six electronic warfare aircraft to Germany in view of the war.

The EU Commission and the French EU Council Presidency presented a ten-point plan to better coordinate the reception of refugees from Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian sources, Russian troops want to continue to break through defense lines around Kyiv. In the northwest and east, the Ukrainian army is fending off attempts by Russian soldiers to take control of important roads and settlements.

During the Ukrainian counterattacks in the Kharkiv area, Russian troops were pushed out of several towns, regional military chief Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram. The Ukrainian general staff also reported fighting in other parts of the country – including in the Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions. Again, this information cannot be independently verified.

Russia and Ukraine hold talks in Istanbul on Tuesday

Russia and Ukraine will start a new round of negotiations in Istanbul on Tuesday. The delegations from Russia and Ukraine will meet at around 9:30 a.m. Central European Time on Tuesday morning at the President’s Dolmabahce office in Istanbul, the Turkish Presidential Office said.

Before the talks begin, the Turkish side wants to meet with the delegations, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He stressed again that he hoped for an early ceasefire. Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia have already met three times in the Belarusian border area. After that, the talks were held in video conferences.

Negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations are proving extremely difficult more than four weeks into the Russian war of aggression. For example, Kyiv wants Russian troops to withdraw and security guarantees.

Moscow is demanding that Ukraine renounce NATO and recognize the breakaway eastern Ukrainian separatist areas as separate states and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, as part of Russia. Ankara maintains good relations with Moscow and Kyiv and sees itself as a mediator.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Russian journalists, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Russian troops to be withdrawn from Ukrainian territory. Only then can there be security guarantees for Ukraine, which in turn are the basis for Ukraine’s renunciation of NATO demanded by Moscow. Russia’s Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev dismissed reports of an allegedly planned replacement of the Ukrainian leadership as fake news.

US moves electronic warfare aircraft to Germany

The US armed forces are moving six US Navy Boeing fighter jets with around 240 soldiers to the Spangdahlem base in Rhineland-Palatinate, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said.

The fighter jets are useful, for example, to disable the air defenses of an enemy country. The machines were not intended to be used against Russian troops in Ukraine, but to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank and act as a deterrent to Russia.

Habeck: G7 countries reject gas payments in rubles

The Group of the seven leading democratic economic powers (G7) rejected Russian demands for gas bills to be paid in rubles. Economics Minister Robert Habeck said in Berlin after a virtual meeting with the G7 energy ministers. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced last week that gas deliveries to “unfriendly states” would only be billed in rubles.

The admission of the Ukraine refugees should be better coordinated at EU level. The EU Commission and the French EU Council Presidency presented a corresponding ten-point plan at the meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels. Among other things, the transport of refugees within the EU should be better managed. In addition, a joint system for registering those seeking protection should be set up.

Germany and the European Union rely on voluntary admission when distributing the millions of refugees from Ukraine. At the meeting with her EU colleagues, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser no longer wanted to hear about a mandatory quota for the EU countries. According to the UN, more than 3.86 million of the more than 44 million Ukrainians have left the country since the beginning of the war. Almost 2.3 million arrived in Poland, and according to the Interior Ministry, 272,338 refugees were registered in Germany.

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Chancellor Scholz reminded the other EU countries of their commitment to take in refugees. So far, many people seeking protection have mainly arrived in the countries bordering Ukraine and also in Germany, said Scholz in Berlin. But now it must be a question of other countries also taking in some of the people who do not know exactly where to go.

Biden denies call for change of power in Russia

US President Joe Biden denied that he called for the fall of the Russian President in his speech in Warsaw. A reporter asked Biden Sunday night, “Mr. President, do you want Putin removed (from office)? Mr. President, did you call for regime change?” Biden replied, “No.” Biden on Saturday night had called Putin a “dictator” and said, “For God’s sake, this man cannot stay in power.”

Russia has classified Deutsche Welle (DW), which has already been banned from broadcasting, as a “foreign agent”. The foreign broadcaster of the Federal Republic of Germany appeared in a corresponding register of the Russian Ministry of Justice. At the beginning of February, Russia ordered the closure of the DW correspondent’s office in Moscow and the withdrawal of journalists’ accreditations.

In addition, the newspaper “Novaya Gazeta”, which is critical of the Kremlin, will temporarily cease publication due to pressure from Russian authorities until the end of the war in Ukraine, as the editors announced on the short message service Twitter.

More: Interview with Jan Egeland – How will Ukraine find peace? “There is a way out of this spiral of aggression”