Zelenskiy for new sanctions against Moscow – fighting in Seyerodonetsk continues

As soon as these weapons are available, the army should start liberating the territories occupied by Russia. Ukraine will not rush to recapture its territories if that means tens of thousands of victims, but will instead wait for the necessary weapons, Zelensky said in Kyiv on Tuesday at a meeting with Slovakian President Zuzana Caputova.

Selenski also has hopes for the US government, which, according to Joe Biden, will deliver modern missile systems. The US President wrote in a guest article for the New York Times published on Tuesday evening (local time) that the attacked country should be able to hit “important targets on the battlefield in Ukraine” more precisely.

At the same time, Biden assured: “We do not want a war between NATO and Russia.” The USA also did not try to overthrow Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The White House said Ukraine had pledged not to attack targets on Russian territory with the US-made HIMARS artillery system.

The system is part of a $700 million package that also includes missiles, radar systems, Javelin anti-tank weapons, helicopters, vehicles and spare parts. A senior US official said the US would supply missiles with the HIMARS system that would only have a range of around 50 miles.

Biden underscored that there is currently no evidence that Russia intends to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Russia’s “occasional nuclear saber-rattling rhetoric” is in itself dangerous and irresponsible.

to the military situation

In the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Russian troops are poised to overthrow the last bastion of Ukrainian forces. If the embattled regional capital Sievjerodonetsk falls, Russia would have achieved one of its war aims: complete control of the Luhansk region.

From there, the Russian troops and the Moscow-loyal separatists could advance further west to capture the strategically important cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.

During fighting in Sieverodonetsk, an incident occurred at a chemical plant producing nitric acid. The Ukrainian authorities spoke on Tuesday of a Russian airstrike on the plant.

The pro-Russian separatists, on the other hand, announced that there had been an explosion there. A large plume of smoke could be seen in photos published by the Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, on his Telegram news channel.

Sieverodonetsk, the administrative center in the Luhansk region controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, has been contested for days. The leader of the People’s Republic of Luhansk, recognized by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin as a state, Leonid Pasechnik, said that two-thirds of the city was now under the control of pro-Russian forces.

Ukraine’s governor Hajday said most of Sieverodonetsk is now under Russian control. Still, the Ukrainian defenders didn’t give up. Ninety percent of the city’s buildings are damaged, and 60 percent are not worth rebuilding, he said. Of the once 100,000 inhabitants, 12,000 are said to have stayed there.

President Selensky was combative. In his video speech he said that the Ukrainian armed forces are in a difficult situation due to the lack of weapons. Ukraine will, however, take back its territories guaranteed under international law.

Russian communists expel MPs critical of the war

The Russian Communist Party has expelled two MPs from the Far Eastern region of Primorye around the port of Vladivostok for calling for an end to the war against Ukraine.

“These deputies have discredited our party with their initiative, so there is no place for them in our ranks,” said the leader of the Communist faction in the regional parliament, Anatoly Dolgachev, according to the daily newspaper “Kommersant”. The appeal by the two MPs attracted international attention because it showed that there is resistance to the war in Russian politics.

The incident happened during a parliamentary session last week. There, a member of parliament read out a statement in which he called on Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to end the “special military operation” – as the war is officially called in Russia. While he was supported by a colleague, the regional leadership and his own party leadership accused him of “treason” and threatened the consequences. It is not yet clear whether the two non-party MPs have to fear further disciplinary measures in addition to being excluded from the parliamentary group.

After the invasion of Ukraine began, the Russian leadership tightened laws to prevent anti-war protests. According to media reports, 50 criminal proceedings and hundreds of fines have already been initiated in Russia because of alleged false reports and “discrediting” of the Russian army.

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

What will be important on Wednesday

After weeks of discussions at a summit in Brussels, the EU countries agreed on an extensive boycott of oil supplies from Russia. This is part of the sixth package of sanctions, further details of which are to be worked out in Brussels this Wednesday. The package could then be formally approved.

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

It is planned to exclude the largest Russian bank Sberbank from the communication network Swift. In addition, the state television news channel Rossiya 24 and the state channels RTR Planeta and TV Center are to be banned in the EU.

The Russian state-owned company Gazprom will stop supplying gas to the Danish supplier Ørsted and Shell Energy Europe this Wednesday. Germany is also affected. Ørsted and Shell informed Gazprom Export that they would not pay the bills in rubles, as Moscow had requested.

Because no money had flowed for the month of April, deliveries would now be stopped. Shell has stated that gas deliveries to Germany will not be paid for in the Russian currency, Gazprom Export said. The maximum delivery volume per year under the contract is 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas.

More: You can read all current developments on the Ukraine war in our news blog.