Fear, destruction, distress: In the Ukraine war, hundreds of thousands long for a little bit of security. But how do you get closer to a solution to the conflict as a whole? The current situation at a glance.
Ahead of the meeting of foreign ministers from Ukraine and Russia, more civilians have been evacuated from cities in Ukraine besieged by Russian troops. However, the rescue is progressing slowly, and new incidents have been reported in many places.
In the port city of Mariupol alone, hundreds of thousands are stuck in catastrophic conditions. According to the Russian separatists in the Donetsk region, the agreed “humanitarian corridor” is still not working. Russia blames Ukrainian units for this, Ukraine in turn accuses Russia of shelling the escape corridors.
Foreign ministers meeting planned in Antalya
Tomorrow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Ukrainian colleague Dmytro Kuleba want to hold talks in Antalya, Turkey – it would be the highest-ranking talks since the beginning of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his advisers are now indicating that Ukraine is no longer insisting on immediate NATO membership. One does not rule out talking about the country’s neutrality, said Selenskyj’s foreign policy adviser Ihor Showkwa on Tuesday evening on ARD. That would meet Russian demands.
Unclear expectations of foreign ministers’ meetings
According to a report by the Tass agency, the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that Russia is not seeking a change of power in Ukraine. The aim is “neither the occupation of Ukraine nor the destruction of its statehood nor the overthrow of the current leadership”.
This had sounded different in earlier statements by the Kremlin. What to expect from the foreign ministers’ meeting remained unclear. Kuleba stressed that his expectations were low.
Russia attacked Ukraine two weeks ago, on February 24th. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled since the invasion began.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin again on Wednesday. Tangible results were not known. Both had discussed “political-diplomatic efforts” to resolve the conflict, the Kremlin said in Moscow.
Rescue from embattled cities in Ukraine
The military fronts today seemed largely static. According to Ukrainian information, there were attacks on several cities again, resulting in deaths and many injuries.
The evacuation of the civilian population from the embattled cities has now started. Ukrainian media published images from Irpin near Kyiv showing old and sick people being carried to safety on stretchers. Buses arrived in the city of Sumy in the north-east of the country at midday. According to the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the first vehicles with civilians left Enerhodar in southern Ukraine and Izyum near Kharkiv in the north-east.
According to the separatists in the Donetsk region, the agreed “humanitarian corridor” is still not working in the port city of Mariupol. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba wrote on Twitter: “Russia continues to hold more than 400,000 people hostage in Mariupol, blocked humanitarian aid and evacuation.”
Sanctions against Russia are being expanded
The EU states have agreed to extend the sanctions against Russia and its partner country Belarus again. As the EU Commission announced in Brussels, 14 more Russian oligarchs and prominent businessmen will be added to the list of those whose assets will be frozen in the EU and who will no longer be allowed to enter the country.
In addition, a ban on the export of shipping equipment and the exclusion of three Belarusian banks from the Swift communications network are planned. The EU states were still unable to agree on the stop on energy imports from Russia demanded by Ukraine, even after a corresponding decision by the USA.
No boycott of Russian energy
The federal government sees no further possibility for an immediate boycott of Russian energy supplies along the lines of the USA. The USA is an exporter of gas and oil, which cannot be said for Europe as a whole, stressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in Berlin in a joint press conference with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “And that’s why the things that can be done are also different.” Fuel prices in Germany continued to rise sharply.
The United States banned oil imports from Russia on Tuesday in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Great Britain first wants to reduce its oil imports from Russia by the end of the year and then stop importing oil from there.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused the United States of waging an economic war against Russia. He emphasized that Russia is a reliable supplier of oil and gas, but at the same time threatened restrictions.
“Hostile excesses by the West” made “the situation very complicated and make us think about it intensively,” said Peskov, referring to the massive sanctions against Russia. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Nowak had previously openly threatened to stop gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
Dispute over fighter jets for Ukraine
Chancellor Scholz rejected the Polish Foreign Ministry’s proposal to hand over combat aircraft to Ukraine. He referred to financial aid, humanitarian assistance and the delivery of individual weapon systems. “And otherwise it is the case that we have to think very carefully about what we are actually doing. And that certainly doesn’t include combat aircraft,” said Scholz.
The Polish Foreign Ministry had presented a plan for the indirect transfer of combat aircraft to Ukraine: The government in Warsaw was prepared to transfer MiG-29 jets to the US Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate and make them available to the United States.
The US Department of Defense immediately described the proposal as “untenable” and referred, among other things, to the geopolitical concerns when fighter jets fly from a US or NATO base into contested Ukrainian airspace.
Source: Stern
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