Ukraine is increasingly complaining about Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.
(Photo: Reuters)
Frankfurt The Ukraine war continues in the fourth week with undiminished severity. An ultimatum issued by Russia for the surrounded Ukrainian city of Mariupol passed on Monday morning – as previously announced by the government in Kyiv.
Mariupol is encircled, Russian rockets are falling every 15 minutes, said Ihor Zhovkva, security adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on ZDF. A genocide is taking place in the city. Zhovkva called for tougher sanctions against Russia, anti-aircraft weapons and his country’s rapid accession to the EU. According to the government, it is still not possible to bring relief supplies to Mariupol to provide the remaining people there with the essentials.
On Sunday, Russia had asked Ukrainian troops in the contested and strategically important port city on the Sea of Azov to lay down their arms and leave Mariupol. However, the leadership of Ukraine very quickly made it clear that the ultimatum was unacceptable.
“There will be no surrender, no laying down of arms,” Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk told Ukrayinska Pravda early Monday morning. Rather, she demanded that the Russian military open a humanitarian corridor to Mariupol.
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Apparently this is still not the case. According to the Ukrainian government, eight escape corridors for civilians have been agreed for several besieged cities. But Mariupol is not among them, it said on Monday. According to media reports, hundreds of civilians have already died there, and independent verification is hardly possible. There is very little food, water and electricity left.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accuses Russia of war crimes in Mariupol. “Destroying everything, bombing and killing everyone in a random manner” – that was terrible, Borrell said on Monday before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. Russia no longer has a moral argument.
EU countries increase financial aid for arms purchases
The EU states now want to provide Ukraine with additional funds to procure weapons and are also considering new sanctions against Russia. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Brussels that the EU would increase the volume for arms deliveries to Ukraine to one billion euros. The federal government, in turn, will ensure that orders from German companies are implemented quickly.
Baerbock sharply criticized the actions of the Russian military. Ultimately, courts would have to decide, “but for me these are clearly war crimes,” said the Green politician, referring to reports of attacks against civilian targets such as hospitals. The images that reached the EU from the war zone were “simply heartbreaking”.
During the night, Russian troops continued their attacks on Kyiv. A shopping center was hit at midnight, the Ukrainian security adviser Ihor Zhovkwa reported on ZDF. On the whole, however, Russia is failing. So the Russian troops would not have managed to encircle Kyiv. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko also reported on the attack in the Podil district. Several houses were also damaged and set on fire. At least eight people were killed when buildings in the west of the Ukrainian capital were shelled. This was announced by the local civil defense on its Facebook page on Monday morning. The information cannot be independently verified.
The Ukrainian leadership has categorically rejected an ultimatum issued by the Russian military to the Mariupol defenders to surrender.
(Photo: imago images/Ukrinform)
New round of negotiations planned between Russia and Ukraine
Negotiators from Ukraine and Russia had originally agreed on a new round of negotiations via video link for Monday. It was initially unclear whether it would come about. Despite some progress, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is trying to mediate, sees major differences between the two sides. “There is still a long way to go because (…) there are several contentious issues, some of which are fundamental,” Bennett said in a speech, according to a transcript provided by his office. Bennett adds that Israel “along with other friends in the world will continue to try to bridge the gap and end the war.”
The Russian side said significant progress still had to be made before there could be a basis for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Moscow’s maximum demands include Ukraine’s neutrality and the demilitarization of the neighboring country. In addition, Russia is demanding the recognition of Crimea as Russian territory and the independence of the breakaway so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukraine has so far signaled a willingness to compromise in the talks on the country’s neutrality, but is demanding strong security guarantees from the West. In addition, Kyiv insists on territorial integrity.
In the hard-fought southern port city, the situation is said to be particularly bad: dead residents are buried on the side of the road.
(Photo: REUTERS)
Biden is consulting with European leaders
In the afternoon, Biden wants to hold a video conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The subject of the switch at 4 p.m. Central European Time is the coordinated response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Biden’s departure for Brussels is scheduled for Wednesday.
More on the Ukraine war:
The heads of state and government of the leading democratic economic powers will meet in Brussels on Thursday for a G7 summit. The summit is embedded in two other summits in Brussels on the same day: First the NATO heads of state and government will meet. It will also be about the Ukraine war. An EU summit will take place in the afternoon. Biden is attending all three summits. It is his third trip to Europe since taking office in January 2021.
Mariupol residents are in a humanitarian crisis with little food, water and electricity.
(Photo: AP)
UN General Assembly to vote on humanitarian Ukraine resolution
The United Nations General Assembly is due to vote shortly on another resolution in the wake of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. According to information from the German Press Agency, a corresponding draft resolution entitled “Humanitarian consequences of the aggression against Ukraine” was distributed among the 193 members of the largest UN body on Sunday evening (local time).
Broad approval is expected in a vote that is still to be scheduled in the coming days – according to diplomats, the aim is for at least 141 yes votes to be achieved again, as was the case with a resolution in the general assembly at the beginning of March. The resolution in early March condemned Russia’s war.
Actually, a resolution to improve the humanitarian situation in Ukraine should have been voted on in the more powerful UN Security Council. However, a draft by France and Mexico failed because of an internal disagreement, particularly with the US, about how anti-Moscow the text should be.
Another proposal by Russia itself did not find enough support, so Moscow withdrew from the vote. A resolution in the Security Council is binding under international law, but a resolution in the General Assembly is not.
With agency material
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