Russian missiles severely damage dam – Zelensky involved in car accident

Kyiv According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian army severely damaged a dam in a massive rocket attack on the central Ukrainian industrial city of Kryvyi Rih. Such large amounts of water flowed through the destroyed pumping station on Wednesday that the Inhulez River threatened to burst its banks. President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of an attempt to flood his hometown.

The Ukrainian leadership aligned the attack on civilian infrastructure with the shelling of power plants near Kharkiv a few days earlier. The electricity failed over a large area in eastern Ukraine.

“All the occupiers can do is sow panic, create an emergency, leave people without light, heat, water or food,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. “Can this break us? Not at all.”

The President had previously visited the recaptured city of Izyum in the east of the country on Wednesday. According to his spokesman, he was involved in an accident with his motorcade in Kyiv in the evening.

After telephone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UN Secretary-General António Guterres each came to the conclusion that there was currently no talk with him about an end to the war.

On Thursday, the 204th day of the Russian invasion, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv again. The European politician announced her trip on Wednesday.

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According to the British Ministry of Defence, Ukraine is meanwhile consolidating its control of the recaptured areas in the Kharkiv region. The Russian troops have largely withdrawn west of the Oskil River, the ministry said.

Russia and China begin naval maneuvers in the Pacific

According to the government in Moscow, the Russian and Chinese navies have started a joint military exercise in the Pacific. The training includes tactical maneuvers and the use of artillery and helicopters, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on the short message service Telegram.

The aim is to “maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region”. In October 2021, Russian and Chinese warships undertook joint patrols in the western Pacific for the first time, in what Japan had described as an “unusual” maneuver at the time. Russia’s military and diplomatic rapprochement with China is viewed with concern in the West.

Von der Leyen visits Kyiv

Von der Leyen has arrived in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv for political talks. There she will discuss with Zelenski and Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal how the economies of the EU and Ukraine can get closer, the German politician wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning. It is von der Leyen’s third trip to Ukraine since Russia attacked the country on February 24.

Von der Leyen had announced the visit to Kyiv the day before. Work must be done to ensure that Ukraine has access to the European internal market and vice versa, she said. “Our single market is one of Europe’s greatest success stories. Now it is time to make it a success story for our Ukrainian friends as well.”

Putin arrived in Uzbekistan

Russia’s President has arrived in Uzbekistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit. To begin with, an informal dinner is planned at the invitation of Uzbek President Shawkat Mirsiyoyev, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday. Several bilateral meetings between Putin and China’s head of state, Xi Jinping, are also planned.

The meeting is the first face-to-face encounter between the two leaders since the outbreak of Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The Chinese leadership has given the Kremlin political backing and has portrayed the US and NATO as the main culprits in the war. However, Beijing is cautiously tackling the conflict, and many Chinese companies are reluctant to do business with Russia because of Western sanctions.

Putin will also meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Moscow has already announced that it will discuss the implementation of the grain agreement.

Shelling on dam triggers tidal wave

According to various Ukrainian reports, seven or eight rockets were fired at Kryvyi Rih. The head of administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentin Resnichenko, spoke of cruise missiles of the type Ch-22, which had been fired from a distance by Russian fighter jets.

The city’s transport infrastructure was also attacked. There was initially no talk of victims. In this case, too, the information provided by the warring parties could not be independently verified.

The reservoir serves the drinking water supply of the city with 625,000 inhabitants. Due to the damage to the pumping station, the water supply had failed in large parts of the city, it said.

Despite the high water level on the river, the situation is under control, said Zelenskiy’s deputy chief of staff Kyrylo Tymoshenko. The situation in the parts of the city where there is a risk of flooding is constantly being monitored.

112 houses were flooded, said the head of the local military administration, Olexandr Wilkul, on Telegram. The work to repair the dam was going on, the water would recede.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called the attack a war crime and an act of terrorism. “Because they were defeated by the Ukrainian army on the battlefield, the Russian cowards are now waging war against our infrastructure and civilians,” he wrote on Twitter. In his evening video speech, Zelensky called the Russians weaklings: Such attacks on civilian objects are one reason “why Russia is losing”.

However, according to the Ukrainian media, the tidal wave on the Inhulez also has possible military effects. Further south at Cherson, the Dnipro tributary currently forms the front line between Ukrainian and Russian troops. The high water level could make crossing the river difficult.

Narrator: Zelensky involved in car accident

After the withdrawal of Russian troops, Zelenskyi got an idea of ​​the situation on Wednesday during a surprise visit to the strategically important town of Izyum in the east of the country. It was a picture of devastation, Selenski said in his video speech. “They only destroyed, only confiscated, only expelled.” In some villages there is no longer a house. Russia has consistently denied targeting civilians.

After returning from the east of the country, a car in Kyiv collided with the head of state’s car and his escort vehicles, Zelensky’s spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov wrote on Facebook early Thursday morning. The President had been examined by a doctor.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war and the consequences:

“No serious injuries were found.” Further details on Selenski’s state of health were not initially communicated.

Paramedics took care of the driver of the other car and took him to a hospital, it said. The police are investigating the circumstances of the incident.

Two phone calls with Putin

After talks with Russian President Putin, UN Secretary-General António Guterres currently sees no hope of peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in the near future. “It would be naïve to think that we are close to the possibility of a peace deal,” Guterres said in New York. Although the United Nations is prepared to work on a diplomatic solution in every respect, the chances of this are currently “minimal”.

A day earlier, Chancellor Scholz (SPD) had called the Kremlin boss again after a long break. But he sees no change in his attitude to the war against Ukraine, said Scholz on Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that the realization has grown there that it was a mistake to start this war.” Nevertheless, it is right to talk to one another and to explain your own point of view to Putin. Scholz said he was convinced that Russia had to pull out of Ukraine.

Ukrainian parliament leader calls for German tanks

At the start of a visit to Germany, the President of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefantschuk, called on the federal government to play a leading role in supplying the Ukraine with battle tanks. “Germany should live up to its leadership role and be the first country to deliver battle tanks,” Stefantschuk told the German Press Agency late Wednesday evening in Berlin, where he is taking part in a parliamentary conference of the G7 of economically strong democracies.

“A country like Germany does not wait for what others do.” Scholz has repeatedly emphasized that he does not want to go it alone when it comes to arms deliveries.

Meanwhile, Selenski’s personal participation in the general debate at the UN General Assembly next week is becoming less likely. As several diplomats in New York confirmed to the German Press Agency on Wednesday, a resolution is in the works that would allow the Ukrainian head of state to address the major political event via video.

Personal participation by Selenski would mean a higher security risk on arrival. It would be the first time since the beginning of the war that he made headlines with a trip abroad. Putin has stated that he does not want to take part in the general assembly and instead wants to send Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to New York.

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