Zelensky expects a large Russian troop deployment

new York Ukraine is facing a massive Russian troop deployment in the east of the country. “Now practically the entire combat-ready part of the Russian army is concentrated on the territory of our state and in the border areas of Russia,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video message published on Telegram on Wednesday night. The Russian side “rounded up almost everyone and everything capable of fighting with us.” Zelenskiy again called for heavier weapons.

In Germany, the debate about the delivery of such larger weapons continues after Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) promised Ukraine further aid, but without naming any specific heavy equipment.

Russia set another deadline for the defenders of the encircled city of Mariupol. The Ukrainian troops there asked to be admitted to a third country.

The Ukrainian General Staff also reported on unsuccessful Russian attempts to storm the cities of Rubishne and Sieverodonetsk in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk Oblast. “After attempts by the Russian occupiers to storm Rubishne and Seyerodonetsk, 130 wounded enemy soldiers were taken to the local hospital in Novoaidar,” the General Staff said in its situation report.

In addition, the Ukrainian military command reported Russian offensive efforts near the small town of Izyum in the Kharkov region and heavy fighting around Marjinka, Popasna, Torske, Selena Dolyna and Kreminna. The pro-Russian separatists had previously announced that they had taken control of Kreminna. The reports cannot be verified independently.

London sees problems for Russian troops

According to the London Defense Ministry, the Russian army is stepping up attacks along the border line to the Donbass in eastern Ukraine agreed between the states.

However, Ukraine is fending off numerous advances by Russian troops, the British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday evening, citing intelligence information. Russian advances would continue to be hampered by the terrain and logistical and technical difficulties. Added to this is the resilience of the highly motivated Ukrainian army.

The failure of Russia to break resistance in the embattled port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine and the indiscriminate Russian attacks hitting civilians are further indications that Moscow is not achieving its goals as quickly as hoped.

Moscow sets new deadline in Mariupol

In a dramatic appeal, the Ukrainian commander of the remaining marines in the heavily contested port city of Mariupol asked for an evacuation to a third country. “The enemy outnumbers us 10 to 1,” Serhiy Volyna, commander of Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade, said in a minute-long video message posted to Facebook early Wednesday morning. “We appeal to all world leaders to help us.”

Russia has advantages in the air, artillery, ground forces, equipment and tanks, Wolyna says. The Ukrainian side is defending only one object, the Azovstal Steel Works, where there are civilians in addition to the military. Volyna asks to use the “procedure of extraction” and to take everyone – the military of the Mariupol garrison, more than 500 wounded fighters and hundreds of civilians – to safety on the territory of a third country. “This is our appeal to the world,” said Wolyna. “This could be the last appeal of our lives.”

Wolyna told the CNN TV channel that an evacuation could be carried out by ship or helicopter. An international humanitarian mission is also a possibility. He did not say how many Ukrainian military personnel were on the premises of the steel mill.

On Tuesday evening, Moscow set a new deadline for the last defenders in Mariupol who were holed up in the steelworks. Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev announced a unilateral ceasefire including a “humanitarian corridor” from the steelworks for Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. Moscow time (1:00 p.m. CET).

During the ceasefire, Ukrainian fighters could surrender and civilians could be evacuated, the Russian colonel general said in a statement. Russia wants to take complete control of the strategically important port city. Previous ultimatums to the defenders allowed them to expire.

Explosions in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv

Shelling has been reported again from the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. “Explosions in Mykolayiv again,” the city’s mayor, Olexander Senkevych, wrote on Telegram early Wednesday morning. There was initially no information about damage or casualties.

Meanwhile, separatist groups from the “Luhansk People’s Republic” reported that they had captured a small town in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine. The city of Kreminna is “completely” under the control of the units of the “People’s Republic,” the Luhansk “People’s Militia” announced on Telegram on Tuesday evening.

According to the latest analysis by the US war research institute ISW, the advance to Kreminna was the only Russian ground offensive within 24 hours that made “significant progress”.

Debate about arms deliveries in Germany

In Germany, the debate about a delivery of heavy weapons continues even after the recent statement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). For the Green politician Anton Hofreiter and the FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Scholz’s statements on Tuesday evening do not go far enough. The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk was also dissatisfied.

Scholz has promised Ukraine to finance direct arms deliveries from German industry. “We asked the German armaments industry to tell us what material they can deliver in the near future,” he said on Tuesday. “Ukraine has now adopted a selection from this list and we are providing it with the money necessary for the purchase.” These include, as before, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft devices, ammunition “and also what can be used in an artillery battle “.

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Melnyk criticized the Chancellor’s announcement as insufficient. They were noted in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv “with great disappointment and bitterness,” Melnyk told the German Press Agency. In the ZDF “heute journal” he also complained: “The weapons that we need are not on this list.”

Hofreiter told the news portal t-online: “The support announced by Olaf Scholz for our partner countries in arms deliveries to Ukraine is another step in the right direction, but it is not enough.” On Twitter, Strack-Zimmermann welcomed the fact that Scholz would take up the proposal to supply Ukraine with weapons that can be used immediately via Eastern European partners, which Germany would then compensate. “You have to fight for freedom and human rights, you don’t get them for free. There was not enough concrete information on that today.”

US sees Ukrainian Air Force better equipped

Canada wants to send heavy artillery to defend Ukraine against Russian attack. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in New Brunswick on Tuesday. Details about the weapons and their costs will be presented in the coming days.

The US Department of Defense shared its assessment that the Ukrainian Air Force is currently in better shape than it was two weeks ago. Allied states that have experience with the same types of aircraft have helped the Ukrainians to get more aircraft operational, the spokesman said.

Five million displaced people from Ukraine

According to current calculations, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) assumes that more than five million people have fled Ukraine from the Russian war of aggression. In addition, around 7.1 million people have fled their homes within Ukraine, said UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements.

Communication restored between Chernobyl and Kyiv

After an interruption of more than a month, direct communication between the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the responsible Ukrainian supervisory authority has been restored.

This was announced by the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, on Tuesday evening, citing information from the Ukrainian nuclear regulatory authority. Grossi plans to lead a mission of IAEA experts to the Chernobyl site in April.

That’s going to be important today

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock travels to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. According to the Federal Foreign Office, the talks will focus on the reaction of the EU, NATO and the international community to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Another topic is likely to be the security situation in the entire region.

As a reaction to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, German Development Minister Svenja Schulze wants to campaign for the creation of an alliance for global food security at the World Bank conference in Washington.

Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak meets his US colleague Lloyd Austin in Washington.

With agency material

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