Ukraine is said to have fired on a Russian frigate – Russia describes Poland as a possible threat

Berlin, Kyiv, Moscow According to Ukrainian media reports, a Russian frigate caught fire in the Black Sea after rocket fire. The reports were initially not officially confirmed in either Moscow or Kyiv. However, the Ukrainian general staff has already increased the number of allegedly sunk Russian ships by one more to a total of eleven. “The explosion and subsequent fire occurred on board the project 11356 frigate “Burevestnik”, which is located near Snake Island,” the Odessa-based medium Dumskaya.net reported on Friday.

According to other media reports, however, the ship that was hit by a Neptun anti-ship missile is said to be the “Admiral Makarov”.

When asked by journalists, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We have no information on this.” The first reports of the alleged incident appeared on social networks on Thursday.

Dumskaya.net presented a satellite photo from the night of the fire on a ship near Snake Island to support its report. The authenticity of the image could not be verified independently.

The “Burevestnik” is a new type of ship that has only been introduced into the Russian armed forces since 2016. So far there are five frigates of this type in total, three of them in the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It was unclear which ship it should be exactly.

In mid-April, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, sank after a fire. According to Ukrainian sources, the warship was also sunk by a Neptun missile.

Russia describes Poland as a possible threat

Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Poland of hostile rhetoric and said the government in Warsaw could become a source of the threat. Poland is one of the Western countries that is particularly committed to sanctions against Russia. “Poland is proud to be on Putin’s list of unfriendly countries,” Environment Minister Anna Moskva said on Monday.

Federal government wants to deliver seven self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine

The federal government wants to deliver seven Panzerhaubitz 2000 to the Ukraine to support it against the Russian attack. During a visit to Sliac in Slovakia on Friday, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) described the state-of-the-art artillery systems as “a special weapon” that will be provided as part of an overall package with training and ammunition and possible contributions from other NATO partners.

The self-propelled howitzer is a heavy artillery system with a cannon mounted on a tracked vehicle, resembling a tank. According to the Bundeswehr, it can shoot at distances of 30 kilometers with standard ammunition. With range-enhanced ammunition, 40 kilometers are possible.

When exactly the howitzers will be delivered was initially unclear. They should come from an ongoing repair. As soon as this was completed, they could be handed in, the Ministry of Defense said.

Scholz plans TV speech – G7 switch with Selenski

The anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe through the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945 is marked this Sunday by the war in Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is planning a television speech.

He also wants to discuss the situation in Ukraine with the partners of the G7 countries. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is said to be on board. It was “a very special May 8th this year,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann. The fact that two countries that fell victim to German aggression in World War II are now at war with one another is “a very depressing circumstance”.

Selenski invites Scholz to Kyiv on May 9th

Scholz could take a “very strong political step” and come to the Ukrainian capital on May 9, Selenski said on Friday at an event hosted by the London think tank Chatham House. The invitation has been there for a while. On the same day, Russia wants to celebrate “Victory Day” with a military parade, which traditionally commemorates the victory of the Soviet army over Hitler’s Germany.

The federal government announced on Thursday that Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) would first travel to Kyiv. Relations between Kyiv and Berlin had been tense for weeks because a visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Kyiv was undesirable. Steinmeier and Selenski cleared up these irritations in a telephone call on Thursday.

When asked whether he was satisfied with the support from the EU – especially from Germany – Selenski again expressed criticism during his online appearance in London. “You can’t be a little good and a little bad,” he said. On the one hand, sanctions would be imposed, but at the same time contracts with Russia would be signed. “That is not right. That is hypocrisy.”

In an interview with the BBC, Zelensky also expressed his minimum requirements for a successful negotiation with Moscow: For this, the Russians would have to withdraw to their position of February 23 – i.e. before the outbreak of war. That requires diplomacy. “From our side, not all diplomatic bridges have been burned down,” said the head of government.

Ukraine confirms liberation of civilians in Mariupol

According to Ukrainian sources, hundreds of civilians were freed in the course of the recent evacuation of the Azovstal steel works in the besieged Ukrainian port of Mariupol. “We managed to get 500 civilians out,” said the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak.

He spoke of a “further stage of the evacuation” that should continue in the next few days and thanked the UN for its help in organizing the refugee corridors. Up to 200 civilians and an unknown number of Ukrainian fighters are said to be still holding out in the steelworks – the last bastion of Mariupol’s defenders.

At the same time, Ukrainian fighters have accused Russia of another breach of the ceasefire surrounding the besieged steelworks. A car that was supposed to be used to evacuate civilians was fired at with an anti-tank missile, the fighters of the Azov National Guard Regiment said on Friday in the Telegram news service. One of their soldiers was killed and six were injured. The information could not be independently verified.

According to the Russian military, it destroyed a large ammunition depot in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. In addition, the tactical air force and artillery had been very active again in the past 24 hours. The air force fired on 24 military objects, the artillery over 200.

London: Attacks on Azovstal plant result in heavy casualties for Moscow

According to British intelligence experts, the Russian troops suffered heavy losses when they stormed the steelworks. Russia probably wants to conquer the plant for the victory celebration on May 9, the Defense Ministry said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wishes a symbolic victory in Ukraine on the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany. But Russia had to pay for this with high losses of soldiers, material and ammunition. Contrary to many expert assessments to the contrary, the Kremlin was satisfied with the performance of its own military. “The operation is going according to plan,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow on Friday, according to the Russian agency Interfax.

Media: Ukraine sank Moscow thanks to US information

According to media reports, US intelligence information helped the Ukrainian military sink the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva.

However, the US government had no knowledge of Ukraine’s plans, several US media such as the Washington Post or the New York Times reported on Thursday evening (local time), citing unnamed people involved in the matter be familiar.

The New York Times previously reported that the Ukrainian army was partially citing information from the United States in its resistance to Russia. For example, the Ukrainian army claims to have killed twelve Russian generals through targeted fire since the beginning of the Russian attack. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby denied the report.

Still no agreement on oil embargo

EU member states remain at odds over the Commission’s proposed sanctions on oil imports from Russia. Several countries have reservations about it – one of the loudest critics is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who said of the proposal on Friday: “It amounts to a nuclear bomb dropped on the Hungarian economy.” replace the 20-month period that the first draft of the sanctions package explicitly provided for Hungary.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:

In addition to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are also heavily dependent on Russian oil. A compromise solution could include even longer transition periods for some EU countries. The sanctions package can only be implemented with the consent of all countries.

Amnesty accuses Russia of “unlawful use of force”.

Amnesty International accuses Russia of knowingly committing crimes against people living in the Kyiv area. “In a rare, if not historic, move, Amnesty International denounced Russia’s unlawful use of force as a violation of the UN Charter and as an act of aggression,” Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said in Kyiv. Amnesty documented more than 40 civilians killed in airstrikes in Borodyanka and 22 cases of unlawful killings in and around Bucha.

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