Kyiv The Ukrainian army remains under heavy pressure in the far east of its front against the invading Russian forces. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of a very difficult situation, but encouraged the military: “Donbass will be Ukrainian.”
The Russian military has claimed complete control of the strategically important small town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. “Due to the joint action of units of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Russian armed forces, the city of Krasny Liman was completely liberated from Ukrainian nationalists,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday. Krasny Liman is the name for Lyman that dates back to Soviet times.
According to Governor Serhiy Hajday, the city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Luhansk region is particularly hard-fought. (Today’s) Saturday is already the 94th day of the war. Russia attacked neighboring Ukraine on February 24.
Zelensky described the situation in the Donbass as very difficult given the Russian attacks. Moscow is using a maximum of artillery and reserves there, Zelensky said in a video speech. The Ukrainian army is defending the country with all currently available resources.
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“We are doing everything to strengthen the army,” assured the President. As far as the currently fiercely contested locations in the Donbass are concerned, Zelensky was combative.
“If the occupiers think that Lyman and Sieverodonetsk will be theirs, they are mistaken. Donbass will be Ukrainian.” If Russia brings destruction and suffering, Ukraine will restore any place. Only the Ukrainian flag will fly there – and no other, Zelenski emphasized.
Kherson closes border with Ukrainian-controlled territory
The Cherson region in southern Ukraine, occupied by Russian troops, has closed the border to the north to refugees. “The border crossing in the direction of Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts is very dangerous given the systematic shelling from Ukrainian militants,” said deputy head of the pro-Russian military administration Kirill Stremusov. Departures from the Cherson region are instead possible via the Crimean peninsula or the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporizhia region.
Combat operations in Ukraine
The new administration has taken numerous initiatives to cut off the Kherson region from Ukraine and connect it to Russia. The Russian national currency, the ruble, was introduced, the administration has demanded the issuance of Russian passports and the entry of the region into the Russian Federation – even without a prior referendum.
Scholz and Macron talk to Putin
During a telephone conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned against the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. This carries the risk of further destabilizing the situation and worsening the humanitarian crisis, Putin said, according to a statement published by the Kremlin in Moscow on Saturday. In the 80-minute conversation, Scholz and Macron again called for an end to the war, as the spokesman for the federal government, Steffen Hebestreit, announced.
“The Chancellor and the French President pushed for an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of the Russian troops,” Hebestreit said. “They called on the Russian president to engage in serious direct negotiations with the Ukrainian president and to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.” According to the Kremlin, Putin emphasized Moscow’s willingness to resume negotiations on a solution to the conflict, which were frozen “due to Kiev’s fault”.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
The Kremlin said that the phone call also dealt in detail with food safety in the world. The West, including Germany and France, is calling on Russia to end the blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports so the country can start exporting wheat again.
Putin once again blamed the “flawed economic and financial policies of Western countries” and the “anti-Russian sanctions” for the problems. The federal government always points out that there are no sanctions against food. Ukraine has accused Russia of blackmail in linking the fight against world hunger to the issue of sanctions.
Ukrainian Orthodox Church breaks away from Moscow Patriarchate
Because of the Russian war of aggression, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate declared its “complete autonomy and independence” from Moscow. The church in Kyiv said it disagreed with the position of Moscow Patriarch Kirill. Condemn the war and appeal to Ukraine and Russia to continue the negotiation process.
Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, stands firmly behind Russian President Vladimir Putin. Most recently, the pressure within the Church in Ukraine to break away from Moscow had increased.
Priests had even called for a church tribunal against Kirill. In terms of number of congregations, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate is the largest of the three mainstream churches in Ukraine.
Reports of dead and wounded in Russian attacks
Ukraine blamed Russia for the deaths of five civilians in the government-held part of the Donetsk region in the east of the country. “Today Russians killed five citizens of Donbass and wounded four others,” wrote the governor of the region, Pavlo Kirilenko, on the Telegram news channel.
In addition, Ukrainian media reported attacks in the Kharkiv area. The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajday, spoke of a difficult situation in the embattled city of Sieverodonetsk. You have enough resources to hold the defense. However, it could be that the Ukrainian military will withdraw for tactical reasons.
Ukraine: Germany should stop gas supply through Nord Stream 1
The Ukrainian state-owned company Naftogaz and the state network operator are appealing to Germany to stop Russian gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline or at least to curb them noticeably. The line through the Baltic Sea was allowed, among other things, to secure Europe’s gas supply, said CEO Serhij Makohon on Ukrainian television.
The Ukrainian state-owned company Naftogaz is demanding that the gas supply via the pipeline should be stopped.
(Photo: dpa)
“But we can see that Russia is completely violating these principles.” He is therefore calling on the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Network Agency to suspend deliveries or at least severely limit them.
Anti-Kremlin Khodorkovsky urges West to deliver heavy weapons
Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky is urging the West to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons. “If the Ukrainians are not supplied with the weapons they are requesting, there will soon be fighting around Kyiv again,” the 58-year-old told the “Bild” (Saturday).
He thinks Western politicians are most afraid of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “They think they are not in a war. That’s why they also believe that supplying certain weapons could lead to an escalation or turn them into a war party.” Khodorkovsky called this a “very stupid attitude” because, from Putin’s point of view, Western politicians and countries are already at war with Russia.
More: You can read all current developments on the Ukraine war in our news blog.