The administration of the surrounded city of Mariupol said on Tuesday that further Russian bombardment was turning it “to the ashes of a dead country”. Ukrainian authorities reported a looming famine in the Russian-held city of Kherson.
Food and medicine scarce in Kherson
According to the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv, food and medicine were becoming scarce for the 300,000 residents there. “Nevertheless, Russia is refusing an escape corridor to let civilians out of the city.”
Kyiv also accused Moscow of kidnapping civilians fleeing the war to Russia. “Women and children are being deported en masse from the areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” Ukrainian Parliament Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. Moscow repeatedly emphasizes that many Ukrainians are waiting to be evacuated from the besieged port city of Mariupol to Russia via escape corridors. Kyiv denies that.
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Serious allegations against Russia
Denisova made further serious allegations against Russia: “Women, children, old people are searched, their Ukrainian documents and telephones are taken away from them and they are sent to Russian areas near the border. There they are housed in concentration camps and then resettled in the depressive regions of Russia. ” However, she did not provide any evidence to support these allegations.
Anticipating heavy fighting near the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities ordered civilians in Boryspil, near the international airport of the same name, to leave the city. Russian troops have not managed to capture a major city since invading the neighboring country on February 24. The advance on Kyiv also falters. On the other hand, Russian troops in the south were apparently able to gain ground.
Guterres urges Russia to end ‘absurd war’
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the government in Moscow to end the “absurd war” that is only preparing a “living hell” for the Ukrainians and is leading nowhere. Russia cannot win the war. “Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house. Sooner or later you will have to switch from the battlefield to the peace table.” The Portuguese called for an immediate ceasefire. Continuing the war is morally unacceptable, politically unacceptable and militarily senseless.
The Ukrainian government assumes that the fighting with Russia could end within two to three weeks, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, in an interview. The main goal of the Russian troops is to bring Kyiv under their control. However, it is “suicide” to try. Western security experts have been warning for days that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use other weapons out of frustration at the lack of military success.
US warns against the use of biological or chemical weapons
The US warned that Russia could also use biological or chemical warfare agents. President Joe Biden accused Putin of preparing the ground for the use of these internationally banned weapons with untrue claims. Putin has his back to the wall and makes statements that are not true. US defense sources said there is currently no concrete evidence of any imminent use of biological or chemical weapons.
Ukraine and Western countries speak of a war of aggression. Russia, on the other hand, describes its actions in Ukraine as a special operation to destroy military bases and to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. According to Ukraine and Western security circles, tens of thousands of people died in the war. Independent verification is not possible. The UN now speaks of 3.5 million refugees.
Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to end the conflict continue. On Wednesday, Biden travels to Europe for a series of summits with Western partners. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov sees relations with the United States on the “brink of collapse” because of the war. He cited an end to the escalation on the part of the United States as a condition for further talks with Washington. “They have to stop making threats against Russia.”
Source: Nachrichten