Ukraine rallies support for Crimea as nervousness mounts over possible Russian missile attack

Kyiv For the second time, war-torn Ukraine is mobilizing international support for the repatriation of Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed from Russia in 2014. At the online summit of the so-called Crimea platform on Tuesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) should also speak.

More than 50 participants from Europe, Asia, America and Africa have been announced. The format will be expanded this year with more participants and more topics discussed, said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

At the same time, nervousness about possible Russian rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities is growing in Kyiv because important holidays are coming up. On Tuesday, Ukraine is celebrating the day of its blue and yellow national flag.

Wednesday is Independence Day. The date coincides with half a year of the Russian invasion, which began on February 24. The Ukrainian military intelligence service warned citizens to be more cautious: “Air alert is a serious signal and everyone should heed it.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded the Order of Bravery to war supporter Darya Dugina, who was killed in an attack.

Crimea Platform meets for the second time

In 2021, Ukraine discussed with international supporters for the first time how the lost Crimea could be brought back. When Ukraine was weakened in 2014, Russia militarily occupied the Black Sea peninsula and annexed it after an internationally unrecognized referendum. Almost all states continue to count Crimea as part of Ukraine under international law.

In the war ordered by Putin, Russia uses Crimea to attack southern Ukraine. In the past two weeks, however, explosions at Russian military installations have brought the war back to the tourist peninsula. Zelensky and his leadership speak of an impending recapture of Crimea.

In addition to Scholz, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg are also to speak at the Crimean platform.

Russian anti-aircraft defenses deployed over Sevastopol

As in the previous nights, the Russian anti-aircraft defense in Crimea was deployed against suspected Ukrainian drones on Monday. Local residents heard explosions over Sevastopol, the home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. “An object was shot down at high altitude. That is why the noise could be heard in different parts of the city,” the head of administration, Mikhail Rasvozhayev, wrote on Telegram. There were no reports of damage. In Kyiv, Zelensky’s adviser, Mykhailo Podoliak, announced that such attacks would increase in intensity.

In the largely occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian troops on Monday attacked the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro to make it impassable for Russian troops. The Russian occupation administration announced that the Himars multiple rocket launchers from the USA were used. Two people were killed.

There were no Ukrainian confirmations. With such attacks, however, the Ukrainian army is systematically trying to cut off the supply routes for Russian troops on the right bank of the Dnipro.

In eastern Ukraine, Russian attacks continued with heavy artillery fire and airstrikes, the Ukrainian General Staff said. According to Zelensky, Russia has fired 3,500 cruise missiles at Ukraine since the start of the war. The artillery shells could not be counted, the fire was so intense.

Order of Putin for dead nationalist Dugina

Two days after the death of nationalist publicist Dugina, President Putin awarded her the Order of Bravery. According to the Kremlin, her “bravery and dedication in fulfilling her professional task” was honored.

Dugina, daughter of right-wing nationalist and imperialist philosopher Alexander Dugin, was killed by a car bomb on Sunday. Sources in the security apparatus told the agency Tass that the attack was really aimed at the daughter (29), not the father.

The Russian domestic secret service FSB announced on Monday alleged investigation results according to which a Ukrainian woman is said to have murdered Dugina on behalf of the Kiev secret services. After that she left for Estonia with her daughter. Ukraine denies any responsibility for the attack. Experts pointed to numerous inconsistencies in the alleged evidence presented by the FSB.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu rejected claims that the alleged assassin fled to his country. According to the current assessment of the foreign office in Tallinn, it is Russian propaganda, he said on Estonian radio.

Ukraine works more closely with its neighbors

Ukraine and its EU neighbors have established the so-called Kiev Initiative to strengthen their regional cooperation. This was announced by Selensky in Kyiv. He named the neighbors Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary as well as the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as participants.

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

Cooperation is open to other countries. One particularly wants to cooperate on security issues, said Selenski.

That will also be important on Tuesday

Russia appealed to the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday about the fighting over Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Moscow justified this with allegedly ongoing Ukrainian shelling of the power plant site, which Russian troops have occupied. Kyiv, on the other hand, always emphasizes that the Russians would shoot at the nuclear power plant themselves.

More: Don’t miss any development – Everything new in our news blog about the Ukraine war