Ukraine war: Kremlin warns of NATO peacekeeping mission

Frankfurt The Russian presidential office warns against sending NATO units to Ukraine. “Any possible confrontation between our troops and NATO forces could have clear consequences that are difficult to rectify,” Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. Poland’s idea is daring and extremely dangerous.

The government in Warsaw has discussed sending NATO troops to Ukraine to act as a buffer between the warring factions and be able to defend themselves. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also warned the West against sending units with such a mission to Ukraine. That could lead to a direct confrontation between his country and NATO.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also spoke out against the deployment of NATO troops. Germany would not give in to the demands, Scholz said on Wednesday at a general debate in the Bundestag. It must remain the case that a direct military confrontation between the western defense alliance and Russia is avoided.

Lavrov will meet with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, in Moscow on Thursday. According to Lavrov’s ministry, the talks will deal with “the ICRC’s core tasks in the field of humanitarian aid”.

This Wednesday, US President Joe Biden is expected in Europe, where he will take part in a NATO and G7 summit in Brussels on Thursday. This will also include further sanctions against Russia.

New sanctions expected against Russia

According to information from US government circles, Washington is planning further punitive measures against members of the Russian parliament. The US government is expected to announce new sanctions on Thursday.

Biden had already agreed on how to proceed with the heads of government of Germany, Great Britain, France and Italy on Monday. It was also about the warning that Russia could use chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.

The EU is also working on further sanctions. Chancellor Scholz made it clear on Tuesday evening that Germany and other EU countries are against an immediate stop to coal, gas and oil supplies from Russia. Should there be an energy boycott, hundreds of thousands of jobs would be at risk, the Chancellor warned in an interview with the weekly newspaper “Zeit”.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Nowak warns of a collapse in the global oil and gas markets if there are extensive sanctions against Russia in the energy sector. In such a case, the rise in energy prices is not foreseeable. The end of the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline to Germany is absurd and will lead to higher inflation.

There were cautious reactions to a Polish proposal to exclude Russia from the G20 group of the most important industrial nations. Scholz said that finding a ceasefire was a priority. In G20 circles, important members such as China or India are also expected to veto an exclusion.

Putin plans to attend G20 summit

Poland itself is also not a member of the G20 group. According to the Russian embassy in Jakarta, Putin plans to attend the G20 summit later this year. Indonesia is chairing the group of states this year. The World Trade Organization (WTO) said numerous delegations are currently refusing to work with the Russian delegation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also wants to connect via video to the extraordinary NATO summit on Thursday. The meeting comes exactly four weeks after Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began.

At the summit, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the support of the NATO countries for Ukraine and the further strengthening of deterrence and defense against Russia will be discussed.

To fight against the Russian troops, Ukraine is demanding further arms deliveries. A modern air defense as well as cruise missiles and grenades are necessary, tweeted Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak. This applies above all in the event that there is still no no-fly zone over Ukraine. NATO rejects this because it fears that it will lead to a direct conflict with Russia.

Selenski sees little progress

Despite the heavy fighting, Zelenski sees little progress in the negotiations with the government in Moscow. “We continue to work at various levels to encourage Russia to move towards peace,” he said in an address broadcast early Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, fights were reported from different parts of the country. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, 121 children have been killed and 167 injured in the war so far. The information provided by both sides about the course of the war cannot be verified at this time.

Ukraine and Western countries speak of a war of aggression and a Russian invasion of the neighboring country that began on February 24. Russia, on the other hand, describes its actions in Ukraine as a special operation to destroy military bases and to demilitarize and “denazify” Ukraine.

According to Ukraine and Western security circles, tens of thousands of people have already died in the war. The UN now speaks of 3.5 million refugees from Ukraine.

President Zelensky continued to insist on negotiations with Russia. Representatives of his country negotiate with the Russian side practically every day. “It’s very difficult, sometimes confrontational.” Nevertheless, he was confident: “We’re making progress step by step.” However, both sides assume that an agreement is a long way off.

escape corridors for civilians

According to information from Kyiv, a total of nine escape corridors are planned on Wednesday to rescue the civilian population from embattled towns and villages in Ukraine. The evacuation of the besieged port city of Mariupol is to be continued, as Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk said in a video message.

Around two dozen buses are ready for the trip to the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia. According to Russian information, there are still 100,000 to 150,000 people in Mariupol on the Azov Sea. The conditions there are catastrophic, there is hardly any food, water or electricity.

Meanwhile, the Russian military fired rockets at unspecified military installations around the city of Rivne in north-western Ukraine overnight. Three rockets hit the country on Tuesday, regional military chief Vitaly Kowalj told the Ukrainian news agency Unian. The messages cannot be checked.

“During the evening alert, the enemy fired three times at an object of military infrastructure,” it said. “A commission is on site, the losses are being determined.” Kowalj did not give any details.

More on the Ukraine war:

According to their own account, Ukrainian units have fended off an attack by Russian troops in new fighting for Kharkiv in the east of the country. Ka-52 combat helicopters were also deployed by the Russian side on Tuesday evening, regional commander Oleg Sinegubow was quoted as saying by Ukrajinska Pravda. “Our troops are holding their positions.”

The situation in the besieged Izjum, about 100 kilometers away, is difficult. There is no longer any connection to the city. All efforts to create a humanitarian corridor have so far been rejected by the Russian side. The information could not be independently verified.

USA: Ukraine on the offensive

According to the US military, there are indications of Ukrainian offensives. According to the Ministry of Defense, this is particularly the case in the south of the country. Reports that Ukrainian forces had recaptured a suburb of the capital Kyiv from Russian troops could not be confirmed.

On the other hand, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said the Russian military operation in Ukraine was proceeding “strictly according to plan”. The course of the mission corresponds to the goals set in advance, said Peskow in English in an interview with the TV channel CNN on Tuesday. “It’s a significant mission with significant goals,” he said.

When asked what President Putin had achieved in Ukraine so far, Peskov said the goals had “not yet” been achieved. Among other goals, he named the decimation of the Ukrainian military and Kiev’s understanding that the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, is now an “unmovable part of Russia”. In addition, Ukraine must recognize that the separatist regions in the east are now “independent states”.

humanitarian situation

According to the Interior Ministry, the federal police have now registered 238,932 war refugees from Ukraine. About 95 percent of them are Ukrainian nationals, says a spokesman.

Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser calls for the solidarity of the EU countries when taking in the refugees. “It is now an absolute priority to ensure fair distribution throughout the EU,” says the SPD politician to the editorial network Germany.

The agreements on joint admission would now have to be implemented jointly by everyone. She rejected criticism of the federal government from the federal states: “Since the first day of the war, we have been coordinating the reception and care of the refugees very closely with the federal states.” She emphasizes: “We are much better positioned than we were with previous refugee movements .”

With agency material

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