Ukraine: Kyiv reports Russian attacks on entire front near Donetsk

Day 59 of the Russian war in Ukraine: According to Ukrainian information, the army of Kremlin chief President Vladimir Putin has established itself in several places in eastern Ukraine. UN chief Antonio Guterres wants to get involved in Ukraine diplomacy on a grand scale. After a meeting with Putin in Moscow, he will also travel to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine next week. Selenskyj himself called on the Ukrainians to defend themselves against the Russian occupation by any means necessary.

The most important thing about the Ukraine war on Saturday, April 23, at a glance:

+++ 8.41 a.m .: Several airports in southern Russia remain closed until May 1st +++

Because of the war against Ukraine, the Russian authorities are extending the flight bans in the south of their own country until May 1st. A total of eleven airports remain closed, according to the Rosawiazija aviation authority. Affected are the airfields in the Black Sea resorts of Anapa and Gelendschik, in the cities of Rostov-on-Don, Voronezh and Krasnodar, and in Belgorod not far from the Ukrainian border. Flights to the Black Sea metropolis of Sochi are still possible. In addition, the airports of Bryansk, Elista, Kursk and Lipetsk in western Russia and in Simferopol on Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, have temporarily suspended passenger traffic.

+++ 8.35 a.m .: escape corridor for Mariupol confirmed +++

The Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that an escape corridor has been established for the war-ravaged port city of Mariupol. “The evacuation from occupied Mariupol will begin at 11 a.m. from the Port-City shopping center,” the Mariupol City Council of Ukraine announced on Telegram. The buses to the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhia are intended for women, children and the elderly.

In the past few days there have been repeated attempts to evacuate civilians from the city. However, these efforts failed several times. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the failure.

+++ 7.01 a.m .: Ukraine reports Russian attacks on the entire front near Donetsk +++

According to Ukrainian sources, Russian troops have stepped up their attack efforts in the Donbass region. “In the direction of Donetsk, the enemy is carrying out offensive actions along the entire front line,” the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report. The strongest Russian attacks are aimed at the city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Luhansk region. In addition, there are ongoing storm attempts in Rubischne, Popasna and Marjinka. The attacks were repelled.

North of it, the Russian troops are trying to push further south near the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region in order to encircle the Ukrainian troops. The Russians also increased the pressure on the southern front sections, it was said. While there are no changes in the situation in Mariupol, the Russian troops in the Zaporizhia region are said to have been reinforced by fighters from the “Wagner” mercenary unit. Kyiv speaks of around 200 Wagner fighters. The reports cannot be independently verified.

+++ 4.15 a.m .: According to Ukraine, Russian units are fixed in several places +++

According to Ukrainian information, Russian units have established themselves in several places in the east. Within 24 hours, Russian troops launched attacks towards the city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region and gained a foothold in the small town of Lozova, a major railway junction in the Kharkiv region. In the areas of Selena Dolyna in the Donetsk region and Crimea in the Luhansk region, which is about 40 kilometers to the east and was conquered a few days ago, Russian troops are expanding their positions and preparing for further offensives. They could also have gained a foothold in the town of Stepne in the Donetsk region.

Among other things, attacks in the Luhansk region, around 80 percent of which is already under Russian control, according to Ukrainian information, in the area of ​​the city of Rubishne and the village of Novotoschkivske. In the port city of Mariupol, Russia is continuing airstrikes and blockading the Azovstal steelworks, where more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters are holed up. The information cannot be independently verified.

+++ 3.32 a.m .: According to Ukraine, 1200 people have been freed from the rubble since the beginning of the war +++

Since the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine began two months ago, Ukrainian rescue workers have rescued more than 1,200 civilians trapped under rubble. This was announced by Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj in a video message published on Facebook. In addition, more than 70,000 units of various types of ammunition or explosive devices were rendered harmless, including 2,000 aerial bombs. Around 12,000 hectares of land were searched for booby traps.

+++ 3.01 a.m .: UN Secretary General Guterres travels to Moscow and Kyiv +++

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will travel to Moscow next week and then to Kyiv. Guterres will be received by President Vladimir Putin in the Russian capital on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA Novosti news agency. The UN confirms this and adds that Guterres will then travel to Ukraine. There he has “an appointment with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and will be received by President Volodymyr Zelenskyj on April 28”. Accordingly, Guterres also wants to meet with the teams of the UN organizations on site “to discuss increasing humanitarian aid for the Ukrainians.”

+++ 2.30 a.m .: Ukraine considers the escape corridor from Mariupol to be possible today

According to Ukrainian information, an evacuation from the badly damaged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol could take place today. “There is a possibility that we will be able to open a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Facebook. Wereshchuk names a shopping center in the north of the city, which is directly on one of the exit roads, as the meeting point for 10 a.m. Escape corridors from the city have failed several times and she understands how difficult this is for people, writes the Deputy Prime Minister. “But you and I have to try so many times until it works.” She wants to share specific details in the morning.

+++ 2.20 a.m .: According to Medvedev, Europe will not survive “a week” without Russian gas

Ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is responding to a guideline issued by the EU Commission, according to which it appears that EU companies could pay for Russian gas without violating sanctions. The “consistency and loyalty to principles of the European partners is appreciated,” writes Medvedev on Telegram, adding a laughing smiley face and a clown emoji. Especially when you consider that, according to current data from the International Monetary Fund, Europe can do without Russian gas for a maximum of six months. “But seriously, they won’t last a week.”

+++ 2.15 a.m .: USA invite allies to Germany for consultations on Ukraine +++

The US government is inviting 40 allied countries to Germany on Tuesday for consultations on the defense of Ukraine. Defense ministers and military chiefs from 20 countries, including NATO members and other countries, have already agreed, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. The meeting, at the invitation of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is to take place at the US base in Ramstein. According to Kirby, the opportunity will be used to examine how Ukraine can be strengthened militarily after the war: “The main thing is to modernize the military and ensure that it remains powerful and capable in the future.”

+++ 1.35 a.m .: According to the British secret service, the change in Russian tactics should still take time +++

An announcement by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that he would use “new methods of warfare” is, according to the British assessment, a tacit admission that Russia is not progressing as planned in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Nevertheless, it will take a while to adapt tactics, techniques and procedures and to implement them with improved effectiveness, says the British Ministry of Defense, citing intelligence information. This applies in particular to land-based maneuver warfare.

Meanwhile, London expects Russia to continue using bombing to quell Ukrainian resistance to Russian forces. As a result, frustration at not being able to quickly defeat the Ukrainian defense is likely.

+++ 1.05 a.m .: Satellite images should show possible other graves near Mariupol

Not far from the south-east Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which was besieged by Russian troops, satellite images indicate another possible mass grave. “This time in the left-bank district near the Vynohradne cemetery,” city council deputy Petro Andryushchenko told Telegram. The occupying forces would try to cover up war crimes. The images distributed by the US satellite photo service Maxar from March 22 to April 15 are said to show a cemetery near Wynohradne before, during and after an expansion of the graves. Yesterday, Ukrainian officials, based on satellite images, suspected a possible mass grave in Manhush about 15 kilometers west of the city outskirts. The information cannot be independently verified.

+++ 0.25 a.m .: Selenskyj calls on Ukrainians to resist Russia +++

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is calling on his country’s citizens to resist Russia’s war of aggression. “Everyone has to defend themselves against the occupation at every opportunity,” says Zelenskyj in his daily video message at night. People shouldn’t cooperate with the Russians. Those living in areas controlled by Russian units should “cause them as many problems as possible.”

+++ 0.20 a.m. According to the EU Commission, Russian gas can be paid for without violating sanctions +++

According to the EU Commission, EU companies should be able to continue paying for Russian gas without violating European sanctions against Moscow. A spokesman for the authority says with regard to the Russian decree, which provides for ruble payments for gas supplies to the West: “We have carefully analyzed the new decree and are in contact with the authorities of the member states and the energy companies concerned.” Already on Thursday, the EU countries were sent a guide with a view to gas imports. It states that according to the Russian decree it still seems possible to pay for Russian gas without violating EU law.