Situation in the evening: Ukraine and Russia: optimistic negotiations

Berlin In the struggle for a negotiated solution to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, both sides expressed cautiously optimistic views. “If we compare the positions of the two delegations today with those at the beginning, we will see clear progress,” said Russian foreign politician Leonid Slutsky on state television on Sunday. He is part of the delegation that has been negotiating with Ukraine for two weeks, but so far without a breakthrough.

According to Slutzki, both sides could agree on a common position “in the next few days” and sign the relevant documents.

The Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak also expected “concrete results in a few days”. In a video published on Twitter, he said that Russia is not making ultimatums in the negotiations, but is listening to Ukrainian proposals.

According to Russian information, there are currently no talks between Russia and Ukraine. These would continue on Monday, the Ria Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quoted as saying. Earlier, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Alexei Arestovych said the two countries would actively hold talks on Sunday.

Moscow demands that Kyiv recognize the annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea as Russian and the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine as independent “people’s republics”. Ukraine rejects that.

Kyiv will not give up any of its positions, Podoliak said. According to him, Ukraine is demanding an end to the war and the withdrawal of Russian troops. “There is a dialogue,” Podoliak said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on state television on Sunday. “But we have to understand what the outcome of this meeting is supposed to be and what will be discussed there.” The conditions for direct talks at the highest level would be discussed at the meetings of the delegations.

Hundreds dead after attack near Polish border

At least 35 people were killed and 134 injured in a rocket attack on a military training area near the city of Lviv on Sunday morning, according to Ukrainian sources. A spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry says “up to 180 foreign mercenaries” were killed in the attack.

In addition, many weapons that had been supplied by foreign nations had been destroyed. Russia will continue its attacks on foreign mercenaries. Countless refugees from the embattled regions of Ukraine have been gathering in Lviv for days to get to Poland.

The Jaworiw training ground is only about 15 kilometers from the border with EU and NATO member Poland. Military trainers from NATO countries also worked there before the war. Videos and photos showed severe destruction. Regional governor Maxym Kosytskyi announced that more than 30 rockets were fired.

After the attack, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov again called for an internationally controlled no-fly zone over Ukraine. This was again rejected by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with the newspaper “Welt am Sonntag”.

After the missile attack near the Polish border, the US Department of Defense reaffirmed the NATO countries’ commitment to provide assistance. “An armed attack against one is treated as an armed attack against all,” spokesman John Kirby told ABC TV on Sunday. This is also the reason why the US and NATO forces are increasing their presence on the eastern border of the alliance area.

The rocket attack has worried the population in the neighboring Polish border region. “The war has never come so close to us,” said a resident of Korczowa on Polish television on Sunday. “I heard the explosions.”

Another woman reported that her windows shook. “It was like an earthquake.” In an interview with the newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza”, a resident of Przemysl spoke of a nervous mood.

Fighting in Kyiv and Mariupol continues

According to Ukrainian sources, heavy fighting also broke out around the Ukrainian capital on Sunday, for example in Irpin and further west in Makariv. On Saturday, around 20,000 people from places around Kyiv managed to be brought to safety.

The capital is preparing for a possible complete blockade by Russian troops. Stocks of food have been stocked up to supply two million Kievans for two weeks, said the deputy head of the city administration, Valentyn Mondryivskyj, on Sunday. “These two million Kievans who have not left their homes will not be left alone.”

In the south-east of the country, Russian troops continue to harass the port city of Mariupol, which has around 400,000 inhabitants and has been under siege for days. According to Ukrainian information, around 2,200 residents have been killed there so far.

According to information from Kyiv, another attempt to bring people from the besieged port city of Mariupol to safety failed again on Sunday. “It was not possible to reach Mariupol,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told the strana.news portal on Sunday. The convoy remained in the city of Berdyansk because of air raids on Mariupol. “But we’ll try again tomorrow morning,” announced Wereshchuk.

>> Read also: All current developments in the news blog

So far, no attempt has been successful to transport relief supplies to the embattled city on the Azov Sea and to get residents out. Both sides blame each other.

In the city of Melitopol, west of Mariupol, Russia installed its own governor for the first time in a conquered area. Local deputy Halyna Danilchenko called on the population to “adapt to the new reality”. According to Kiev sources, the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, had previously been kidnapped to an unknown location, as had the mayor of the small town of Dniprorudne.

Northwest of Melitopol, near the industrial town of Kryvyi Rih, which has a population of 600,000, there were reports of a large concentration of Russian troops. The information was not independently verifiable.

A US video journalist died in an attack by Russian troops in the Kyiv area, police said. Another journalist was injured, the police said on Sunday on their website.

Russian soldiers opened fire on the car of Brent Renaud and his colleagues in Irpin, near the capital. The injured man was taken to a hospital in Kyiv.

“Of course, the profession of journalism involves risks,” the police statement said. “Nevertheless, US citizen Brent Renaud paid with his life trying to expose the treachery, cruelty and ruthlessness of the aggressor.”

Arrests at demonstrations in Russia

According to civil rights activists, more than 800 people have been arrested nationwide in new demonstrations against the war in Russia. Overall, demonstrators took to the streets in more than 35 Russian cities on Sunday, the organization Owd-Info announced in the evening.

The Russian Interior Ministry spoke of around 300 arrests at the unauthorized rallies in the capital Moscow alone. There were also actions in Vladivostok in the far east of Russia and in Irkutsk on Lake Baikal.

Pictures and videos on social networks showed how people were dragged away by police officers wearing hard hats and heavy equipment. There were also videos of the inside of completely overcrowded prison vans.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:

According to Owd-Info, more than 14,100 people have been arrested since the Russian attack began on February 24. The imprisoned opponent of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalni, had also called on his compatriots to take to the streets against the war.

Hundreds of thousands demonstrate in Germany

In several major German cities, people took to the streets on Sunday against Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to the organizers, 125,000 people demonstrated nationwide for peace – 60,000 people in Berlin, 35,000 in Stuttgart, 12,000 in Frankfurt, 10,000 in Hamburg and 8,000 in Leipzig.

An alliance of peace, human rights and environmental protection organizations as well as trade unions and churches had called for the demonstrations. They demand that Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately cease all attacks, withdraw from Ukraine and restore the country’s territorial integrity.

In Berlin, the demonstrators ran from Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate. The police spoke of 20,000 to 30,000 participants, the organizers of 60,000. Among them were young and old people, families with children also took part.

Some had balloons in blue and yellow, the colors of Ukraine. Others carried banners with inscriptions such as “Stop War”, “Peace” or “Where is the vaccination against war”. Insults against Russian President Vladimir Putin such as “Master of War” or “Fuck you Putin” could also be read. 550 police officers were on duty. The mood in the capital was peaceful, most of the participants wore masks.

On February 27, three days after the start of the war, more than 100,000 people demonstrated in Berlin. This time, in the middle of the Berlin demonstration, a Düsseldorf carnival float drove along with a huge papier-mâché Putin stuffing Ukraine down his throat.

The motif with the slogan “Suffocate on it!!!” comes from Jacques Tilly from Düsseldorf, who designs and builds carnival floats. The carnival procession in Düsseldorf had been postponed because of the corona pandemic. The car was brought to Berlin by a private initiative.

In Stuttgart, around 35,000 people protested against Putin at the Upper Palace Garden in front of the opera house, which was decorated with a large Ukraine flag. Many people held Ukraine flags and flags with peace doves or the peace sign in their hands.

Thousands of people also came together in Frankfurt am Main. There were also numerous families with children among the participants. Prams and baby carriers sported Ukrainian flags and self-made signs calling for peace.

According to the organizer and the police, at least 10,000 people came together in Hamburg for a rally on Jungfernstieg. The organizers of the demo demanded that the Russian government immediately stop all attacks and withdraw from Ukraine. According to police reports, a peak of 30,000 people took to the streets in Hamburg last weekend against the Russian war of aggression.

With agency material

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