Live blog Ukraine war: Zelenskyj accuses Russia of attacking a children’s hospital

According to local authorities, more than 1,200 civilians have died in the past nine days in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which has been besieged by Russian forces. “1207 Peaceful Residents of Mariupol” died during the city’s “blockade,” according to a post published on the city government’s official Telegram channel. The city authorities had previously reported the destruction of a children’s hospital by Russian shelling.

In response to the war of aggression against Ukraine the world’s largest online retailer Amazon stops shipping products to private customers in Russia and Belaruss. The group also announced that it would block users in Russia from accessing its Prime Video streaming service until further notice. In addition, Amazon will no longer accept orders there for “New World” – the only video game that the company sells directly in Russia.

Amazon has also decided to close both its online marketplace and cloud platform AWS to new customers in Russia and Belarus. The group emphasizes that it does not operate any data centers, infrastructure or offices in Russia. Amazon has also long had a policy of not doing business with the Russian government. The group works closely with IT organizations to help Ukraine protect against cyber attacks.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the phone. The focus of the conversation was the Russian attack on Ukraine, said government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. “The Chancellor and the Secretary General urged the implementation of the agreed humanitarian corridors to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access,” it said.

For the refugees from the Ukraine there are so far in Germany around 200,000 private and public accommodations to disposal. “We are in the process of making these offers accessible on a digital platform. This will be available very soon,” said Interior Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter of the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. As with the refugee crisis in 2015, the federal government does not want to abandon the municipalities, according to the SPD politician, but “I can’t say that we already have a package”. Cities like Berlin, which are currently attracting a particularly large number of refugees, are to be further relieved: “The trains must be better distributed in the next few days.”

In the meantime, an impression of our reporter Jonas Breng, who is in the Ukraine:

https://twitter.com/jonasbreng/status/1501640256415805453

Before Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv on a possible peace settlement On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized his willingness to compromise. “In every negotiation, my goal is to end the war with Russia. And I’m also ready to take certain steps,” Zelenskyy told the “Bild” newspaper before the meeting of his Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Turkey.

“One can make compromises, but these must not be a betrayal of my country,” emphasized Zelenskyy, without giving details. However, the other side must also be willing to make compromises.

Because of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the EU has now also put Formula 1 racing driver Nikita Masepin and Aeroflot boss Mikhail Polubojarinow on its Russia sanctions list. Assets of the two existing in the EU will thus be frozen. In addition, they are no longer allowed to enter the EU, as the representation of the member states announced. Also affected by the new punitive measures are the son-in-law of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Alexander Vinokurovas the head of the Internet concern VK Company Limited, Vladimir Kiriyenko. VK Company Limited reportedly operates and controls, among other things, the three largest Russian social networking websites: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and Moi Mir.

All those affected are accused of directly or indirectly supporting the policies of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.

US Secretary of State Blinken has also reacted with great skepticism to Poland’s proposal to hand over MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine with a stopover at a US base in Germany. Poland’s proposal shows that the issue of security support for Ukraine is not an easy one, said the US chief diplomat. “We have to make sure we’re doing it right.” Poland’s idea raises serious concerns for the whole of NATO. For this reason, intensive consultations are currently underway with Poland and other NATO countries on the logistical challenges of this issue.

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin can only lose in the Ukraine war. “Ultimately, I firmly believe that Putin will fail and Russia will suffer a strategic defeat – no matter what short-term tactical gains it may make in Ukraine,” Blinken said in a joint press appearance in Washington with his British colleague Liz Truss. “You can win a battle, but that doesn’t mean you win the war. On the contrary. You can take a city, but not the hearts and minds of the people.“

The US government accuses Russia of using so-called free-fall bombs in Ukraine. There are indications that the Russians are dropping “stupid bombs,” a US defense official said. This means bombs that do not have a guidance system. “In other words, they are not targeted,” the official said. However, it is not entirely clear whether this is intentional or whether the Russians’ ability for precision guidance has been impaired. One cannot prove whether a bomb was intended for a specific target or not.

The German journalist Alice Bota, who is familiar with Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, also has video images of the destroyed hospital in the center of Mariupol:
https://twitter.com/AliceBota/status/1501574668574248967

Because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine the US has transferred Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Poland. Two Patriot systems, usually based in Germany, have been relocated to the eastern European country bordering Ukraine at the request of the Polish government, a US Defense Department official said. The Pentagon representative spoke of one “purely defensive use” to protect against possible threats to the USA and its NATO allies. The Patriot missile system is used to counter aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin announced the transfer of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to Slovakia.

Patriot anti-aircraft missile system in Rzeszow, Poland (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)

The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk, under the impression of the Russian attack on his homeland, has once again left diplomatic language. He has again accused the federal government of a lack of support. In the newspaper “Welt” he primarily criticized the fact that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had so far refused to impose an import ban on Russian gas, oil and coal. This is a “knife in Ukraine’s back”. Melnyk expressed the expectation that the federal government would correct its position on this point. “We believe that this position is morally untenable and will fall – if not in the next few days, then in the next few weeks,” he said in the interview.

“On Monday, my President Zelenskyj called Chancellor Scholz. It was like talking to a wall.”, Melnyk accused the Chancellor personally. The Ukrainian President made it clear that Ukraine is aiming to join the EU within the next five years. But the only answer from Germany was: “No, no, nope, nope.”

According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD), the reception of war refugees from Ukraine will work in Germany for the foreseeable future without a rigid distribution mechanism. So far, people have been taken in and accommodated by the federal states “on a basis of solidarity,” said the minister on the sidelines of a special session of the Bundestag’s Interior Committee. A great deal of solidarity can also be felt in the European Union. Greece, for example, organized the transport of war refugees by plane from Poland to Thessaloniki. More than 80,000 war refugees have been registered in Germany since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Here refugee children paint the sidewalk in front of the registration office in Hamburg (Photo: Christian Charisius / DPA)

The Union faction in the Bundestag has called for gas supplies to be stopped through the German-Russian Nord Stream 1 pipeline. There must be “a very clear and very clear signal (…) in response to Russia’s massive war crimes,” said Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) in Berlin. The CDU and CSU therefore demanded: “No further purchase of gas from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline”

Merz pointed out that there would still be alternative ways of supplying Russian gas. “We don’t want to completely cut ourselves off from gas deliveries from Russia,” said the CDU leader. There are at least three other pipeline systems for the delivery of Russian gas. However, Nord Stream 1 serves almost exclusively to supply Germany and bypasses all other EU countries and Ukraine.