New York, Dusseldorf Russian President Vladimir Putin has sharpened his rhetoric towards the West and sharply criticized the punitive measures imposed. “These sanctions that are being imposed are tantamount to a declaration of war,” the Kremlin chief said in a televised speech on Saturday.
At the same time, at a meeting with Aeroflot employees, he warned NATO against setting up a no-fly zone for Ukraine. “In the same second we will consider them as participants in the military conflict,” said the Russian president. Any step in such a direction would be seen as an intervention that posed a threat to Russian troops, Putin threatened.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had urged NATO to set up a no-fly zone over his country to prevent Russia from launching airstrikes on his country.
NATO refused, saying such a no-fly zone could trigger a major war in Europe. The Allies are in agreement that NATO aircraft should not operate in Ukrainian airspace, the Secretary General of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, said several times recently.
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At least Putin put the brakes on a hot topic: he doesn’t see the conditions for declaring martial law within Russia. Such a situation requires external aggression or fighting in specific regions, Putin said on Saturday, according to Russian agencies in Moscow.
“But we don’t have such a situation, and I hope it doesn’t come either.” He is also not planning a state of emergency. He countered the fears of many Russians. As a result, many have already left the country.
His speech to Aeroflot employees was televised.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
The issues may also have been discussed during his exchange with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whom he surprisingly met in Moscow on Saturday. After the conversation, Bennett traveled to Berlin to consult with Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
>> Read about this: After Putin, Bennett also meets Scholz – is Israel slipping into the role of mediator?
Once again, during his appearances, Putin reiterated his conditions for an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Our proposals are on the table with a group of negotiators from Kyiv. We hope that they will respond positively.” The most important demand is the demilitarization of Ukraine.
“We need to know clearly which weapons are where and under what control they are.” Various options are currently being discussed with the Ukrainian delegation.
New negotiations probably not until Monday
However, new negotiations between the two are only planned for next Monday. The head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamiya, wrote this on Facebook on Saturday evening. He did not give details.
Later, Russian foreign policy expert Leonid Slutsky said on state television: “The third round can really take place in the next few days. It is possible on Monday, March 7th.” Initially, further talks had already been expected this weekend.
Both sides last met on Thursday in western Belarus and agreed on humanitarian corridors in their second round. They should help that people can leave embattled towns and villages.
Evacuations failed
However, evacuations from the Ukrainian port of Mariupol failed today. Ukraine and Russia accused each other of violating the agreed ceasefire.
Ukrainians said Russian artillery fire and airstrikes prevented residents from leaving the region before the agreed evacuations began. Russian President Putin, on the other hand, accused Ukraine of sabotaging the effort.
The civilian population should be allowed to leave the city on Saturday morning. The project failed.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko said on Ukrainian television that thousands of residents gathered for evacuation when the shelling began on Saturday. “We value the life of every resident of Mariupol and cannot risk it, so we stopped the evacuation,” he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said: “The scenes in Mariupol and other cities today are heartbreaking”. The organization remains in touch with all parties involved to facilitate a safe evacuation of civilians from various cities affected by the conflict.
>> Read about this: The first evacuations have failed – what does the humanitarian corridor bring and what comes after it?
According to the Interfax agency, at 4 p.m. (CET) the Russian military continued its attacks on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol and the city of Volnowacha.
The military situation
According to Putin, the “destruction of military infrastructure” in Ukraine “as part of the operation (…) is practically complete”. He mentioned weapons and ammunition depots.
According to Ukrainian information, Russian troops continued to concentrate on encircling the capital Kyiv and the second largest city Kharkiv on Saturday. Explosions were heard in central Kiev. In the south of Ukraine they want to create a land bridge to the annexed peninsula of Crimea.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian armed forces hold important cities in the center and south-east of the country. Russian soldiers tried to surround and blockade Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv and Sumy, Zelensky said on Saturday.
“We are inflicting losses on the occupiers that they could not imagine in their worst nightmares,” Zelenskiy said. He stated that 10,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the ten days of the war. This number could not be independently verified. The Russian armed forces do not regularly report their losses. So far they have only commented on this once, on Wednesday, and spoke of almost 500 Russian fatalities.
On Saturday afternoon, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced in a report by the Interfax news agency that several towns and villages in Ukraine had been taken. In addition, four Ukrainian Su-27 jets were locked, it is said. This information cannot be independently verified either.
>> Read here the current developments in the Ukraine war in our news blog
Klitschkos: Unbroken will to resist
The brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko want to stay in Ukraine and continue fighting against the Russian troops. They have no choice but to fight, said Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, in a joint interview with his brother of the “Welt am Sonntag”.
It would be “really embarrassing” for him if he were to leave his country as the elected mayor. “If I left, it would be a betrayal and I could never look in the mirror again. We are staying here.”
According to the boxing legends, the will to resist on the part of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians is unbroken. “It is touching to see how much our people are fighting for their rights,” Vitali Klitschko told the newspaper.
Both brothers said they would stay in Kyiv and cover each other. “It’s not just about Ukraine, but also about peace in the world,” said Wladimir Klitschko. “If one of our nuclear power plants explodes, it could be the end of Europe.”
>> Read about this: Semester break at the front: “I don’t want to die – but I have to do it now”
More and more people are trying to flee
At the same time, more and more Ukrainians are seeking protection in other countries because of the Russian war of aggression. The number of war refugees is also increasing in Germany.
As the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced on Saturday, the federal police in Germany have so far registered 27,491 displaced persons from Ukraine. However, the actual number of Ukrainians who entered Germany could be “much higher”, it said.
According to estimates by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, around 1.3 million people had fled Ukraine by Friday, most of them to Poland. The UNHCR estimates the number of Ukrainian refugees there as of last Thursday at almost 650,000.
This is how the Handelsblatt is currently reporting on the Ukraine war:
In Poland, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited a reception center for refugees near the border with Ukraine. The minister spoke to mothers and their children in the former shopping center in Korczowa, who told about their long and dangerous escape.
After that, Blinken drove to the border crossing, where Polish border guards escorted small groups of refugees across the border from the Ukrainian town of Krakovets.
After the conversation with Blinken, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said both agreed that NATO’s eastern flank needed to be further strengthened and the European security architecture expanded. Poland wants more US troops on its territory, where more than 10,000 American soldiers are currently stationed.
The two men also discussed tightening sanctions against Russia, which Morawiecki said should be crushing on the Russian economy. No Russian banks should be exempted from being excluded from the Swift system, the prime minister said. Currently, the largest Russian banks still have access to the system.
>> Read about this: Around 1.3 million people have fled Ukraine – at least 27,500 to Germany
Sanctions also affect the West indirectly
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine are already “very serious”. In a statement, the IMF referred to the sharp rise in energy and grain prices.
The sanctions imposed on Russia would have a substantial impact on the global economy and also have significant consequences for other countries. Ukraine has asked for $1.4 billion in financial support. The application is expected to be reviewed next week.
Meanwhile, other companies have announced that they will restrict their business in Russia, put it on hold or withdraw entirely: the sporting goods manufacturer Puma is closing its stores in Russia. The company announced on Saturday in Herzogenaurach that operations would be “temporarily stopped”. Puma operates more than 90 stores in the country, and the sporting goods manufacturer recently stated that the number of employees was over 900.
The Italian fashion house Prada also announces a sales stop in Russia.
>> Read about this: Snakes like in the Soviet era – the war has arrived in the everyday life of the Russians
With agency material