On Tuesday evening, the Russian side reportedly used Ka-52 attack helicopters in the attack on the city.
(Photo: dpa)
new York Despite the heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenski sees little progress in 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.
Zelenskyy accused the Russian armed forces of thwarting the evacuation of civilians from the heavily contested southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol. In the port city, 100,000 people would live in inhumane conditions. They are constantly under fire. They lacked food, water and medicine.
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.
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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.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz pointed out on Tuesday evening that Selenski was ready for an immediate meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia must withdraw its invading troops.
New sanctions against Russia under discussion
US President Joe Biden is expected in Europe this Wednesday, where he will attend a NATO and G7 summit in Brussels on Thursday. This will also include further sanctions against Russia.
According to information from US government circles, Washington is planning further sanctions 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 were against an immediate stop to coal, gas and oil supplies from Russia.
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. 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 holds the G20 presidency this year.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) said numerous delegations are currently refusing to work with the Russian delegation.
Negotiations with Russia are difficult, the Ukrainian President said in his video address.
(Photo: dpa)
Meanwhile, the Russian military fired rockets at unspecified military installations around the city of Rivne in north-western Ukraine overnight. Three rockets fell on Tuesday, regional military chief Vitali Kowalj told Unian agency. 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.
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 attack 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.
Hopeless situation in Mariupol
The situation for the people in the port city of Mariupol, which has been surrounded for days, seems hopeless. Zelensky accused Russia of blocking a humanitarian convoy into the city and capturing several bus drivers and rescue workers.
In his video speech, he said the convoy was supposed to bring urgently needed relief supplies to the embattled port city on the Azov Sea on Tuesday. Russia had previously approved the route.
Russia’s goals have not yet been achieved, said Russian President Putin’s spokesman.
(Photo: dpa)
Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said the Russians arrested 11 bus drivers and four rescue workers and confiscated their vehicles. The fate of those affected is unknown. The numbers could not initially be independently confirmed.
“We are trying to organize stable humanitarian corridors for Mariupol residents, but unfortunately almost all of our attempts are thwarted by shelling or deliberate terror by the Russian occupiers,” said Zelensky.
More on the Ukraine war:
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.
In contrast, Kremlin spokesman Dimitri 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 that 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”.
“We are in a much better position than we were with previous refugee movements,” says Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser. Nevertheless, she calls for the solidarity of the EU countries in taking in the refugees.
(Photo: IMAGO/Reichwein)
humanitarian situation
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 material from dpa and Reuters.
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