The Polish President will deliver a speech in the Ukrainian Parliament on Sunday.
(Photo: IMAGO/CTK Photo)
Kyiv Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that the West should take further punitive measures against Russia. The sixth package of sanctions by the European states must be accelerated, said the head of state in a video message that was published on Sunday night. He recently spoke about this with Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Many Western countries have already imposed unprecedented punitive measures against Russia.
“The situation in Donbass is extremely difficult,” said Zelensky. The Russian army is trying to attack the cities of Sloviansk and Sievjerodonetsk in the east of the country. “Ukraine’s armed forces are holding back this offensive.” Every day that “our defenders” thwart Russia’s plans is a concrete contribution on the road to victory. But Selenskis also warned: “We have to keep fighting.”
Fights continue
On Sunday night, the Ukrainian military reported ongoing fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country. Nine attacks by Russian troops were repelled there on Saturday.
The Ukrainian army said five tanks, four artillery systems and one drone were destroyed during the day. According to the situation report, Russia is deploying combat aircraft, rocket launchers and tanks along the entire front.
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In the Zaporizhia region in southern Ukraine, the local administration says it has observed increasing numbers of Russian drone flights. The Russian military has increased aerial reconnaissance, it said. In addition, columns of military vehicles were sighted. Zaporizhia is northwest of the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which has since been occupied by Russia, on the Sea of Azov.
Killed more civilians
Ukraine once again blamed Russia for the deaths of seven civilians in the part of Donetsk region controlled by government forces. The governor of the region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, wrote on the Telegram news channel that three people had been killed in Lyman alone. He initially did not comment on the exact circumstances.
Kramatorsk is a city in Donetsk region. The city is about 40 kilometers from the front line, Russian troops are advancing on it.
(Photo: dpa)
In the Russian-held region of Kherson in the south, the local administration accused Ukrainian forces of killing three civilians and injuring ten in the town of Biloserka on Saturday. This information could not be verified.
Exchange for Ukrainian fighters from Mariupol?
Prominent Russian foreign politician Leonid Slutsky did not rule out an exchange of Ukrainian fighters captured in Mariupol for pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. “We will examine the possibility of replacing Medvedchuk with Azov militants,” Slutsky said, according to the Interfax agency. He later explained in his blog on the Telegram news channel that the fighters would have to be brought to justice in any case. There is no way around a tribunal, he stressed. Competent people would have to decide whether Medvedchuk should be replaced.
According to Russian sources, more than 2,400 Ukrainian soldiers have surrendered in Mariupol in the past few days. For weeks they had holed up in the bunkers of the Azov steelworks and defended the port city against the Russian occupiers.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
According to the pro-Russian separatists, among the fighters captured at the steel plant are 78 women. According to the Russian state agency TASS, the head of the Donetsk separatists, Denis Puschilin, said on Saturday evening that foreigners had also been taken into Russian captivity. He didn’t give a number. In addition to his compatriots, Zelenskiy had also called on foreigners to fight against Russia.
More Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol give up
That brings the day
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) sets off on his first trip to Africa since taking office almost six months ago. He also wants to talk about the effects of the Ukraine war on the continent. Africa is affected, among other things, by the sharp rise in grain prices in the course of the war, which has triggered a food crisis. After Senegal as the first travel stop, Scholz wants to visit Niger and South Africa.
Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda returned to the capital Kyiv to support Ukraine. The Polish presidential administration in Warsaw announced that on Sunday he would be the first head of state to give a speech in the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, since the war began three months ago. Duda is committed to ensuring that Ukraine is granted EU candidate status as quickly as possible.
More: You can read all current developments on the Ukraine war in our news blog.