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People carry children on a train at Kiev railway station
Photo: Emilio Morenatti / dpa
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is drastically worsening with each passing day of the war.
The United Nations is overwhelmed by the situation: the UN is currently not in a position to help the Ukrainians adequately.
There are currently around 200,000 war refugees in Lviv in western Ukraine alone.
Russia announced a ceasefire to evacuate residents in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol for Tuesday morning - but it is unclear whether it will last.
The most important current developments at a glance:
What has happened in the past few hours
Russia has now moved into Ukraine with almost all of the troops
that have gathered outside the country's borders in recent months.
US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said:
According to Western sources, Russia deployed more than 150,000 troops at the borders before beginning its attack on Ukraine.
Kirby also confirmed a US media report that Russia
wants to
recruit Syrian fighters for house-to-house fighting in Ukraine.
It is unclear how many fighters Russia wants to recruit or has already recruited.
Aside from advances in southern Ukraine, Russia "hasn't really made any significant progress in the past few days," Kirby said.
Moscow is increasingly using bombs and rockets
to compensate for the lack of success of the ground forces.
However, these increased bombings are having an "increasing impact" on civilians, with homes, churches, hospitals and schools being destroyed, Kirby said.
"The result is more civilians killed and injured."
According to its mayor, the city of Lviv in western Ukraine
alone
has now become a place of refuge for around 200,000 people who fled bomb and rocket attacks.
"This is an extremely heavy burden for the city, and today we are at the limit of our capabilities," said Andriy Sadovyi.
He asked international organizations for support in housing the war refugees.
The situation is also getting worse in the
port city of Mariupol
, which is under Russian siege .
"There is no street without broken windows, destroyed apartments or houses," said the city council of the southern Ukrainian municipality.
The city is without electricity, water and gas.
That says Kyiv
Despite the fighting in Kiev,
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not want to leave the capital.
"I'm staying in Kyiv," he said in a video message.
He does not hide and is not afraid of anyone.
»We are all on site, everyone is working.
Everyone where he has to.
I'm in Kyiv, my team with me.«
According to the Presidential Office, Zelenskyy recalled Ukrainian soldiers serving on foreign missions.
The "highly professional military" would be needed in the fight against "Russian aggression," it said.
According to Ukrainian media, the country is involved in operations in Kosovo, Congo and Ivory Coast.
Zelensky sharply criticized a Russian airstrike west of Kyiv that, according to Ukrainian sources, killed at least 13 civilians.
“Today they shelled a bakery in Makariv, Kyiv region.
For what?
An old bakery.
Think about it: they're shelling a bakery.
Who do you have to be to do something like that?”
Russian troops are located north-west of Kyiv and are also attempting to advance towards the capital from the west.
Russia further claims that its forces are not attacking civilian targets in Ukraine.
Zelenskyj said that talks with Russia would continue.
»We are realists.
That's why we're going to talk.
We will insist on negotiations until we find a way to say to our people: This is how we come to peace,” he said.
Every day of fighting creates "better conditions" for Ukraine.
'A strong position.
To secure our future.
After this war.«
In addition, Zelenskyj has blamed Russia for the failed evacuation of embattled cities.
"There was an agreement on humanitarian corridors," he said.
"Did it work?
The Russian tanks worked instead, the Russian 'Grad' (rocket launchers), the Russian mines.' , to have "mined".
In addition, Russian soldiers destroyed the buses that were supposed to take civilians out of the contested areas.
The Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure
Alexander Kubrakov
also spoke up: he estimates the damage to the country's transport system from the Russian invasion at more than ten billion US dollars (equivalent to around 9.2 billion euros).
Bridges, railways and airports are affected, he said, according to the online newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda.
And further: "This war is not ours." Ukraine defends the interests of the entire civilized world.
Moscow says so
The government in Moscow turned to Western politicians on Monday evening – and
threatened to
stop gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline
.
"We have every right to make a 'mirrored' decision and to issue an embargo on the transit of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which today has a maximum capacity of 100 percent," said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
“But we're not making that decision yet.
No one wins.” However, Russia now sees itself pushed in this direction by European politicians and their accusations.
Nowak also stated that it was "completely obvious that the abandonment of Russian oil leads to catastrophic consequences on the world market".
He predicted oil prices of around US$300 per barrel.
Nowak commented on the stopped Nord Stream 2 line, which Russia is striving to put into operation.
You can read more about his statements here.
That's what Ukraine's allies say
The United Nations are currently unable to cope with the millions of people in need in Ukraine.
"We are not able to meet the needs of the civilian population at this time," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator
Martin Griffiths
at another
UN Security Council meeting in New York
.
The meeting is the seventh emergency meeting of the most powerful UN body within two weeks.
Griffiths called for the protection of civilians given the high number of uninvolved victims.
During the fighting, care must be taken to protect civilians and civilian houses and infrastructure.
People should be able to decide freely whether and where to flee.
The safe delivery of relief supplies must also be ensured and permanent, stable communication between UN aid workers and the conflict parties must be ensured.
The
World Bank
decided on a package for Ukraine that should bring the country
more than 700 million dollars
(equivalent to around 645 million euros) in new loans and aid.
The organization is acting swiftly to support Ukraine in the face of violence and destruction resulting from the Russian invasion, World Bank President David Malpass said.
Czech President
Miloš Zeman
wants to award his Ukrainian colleague Zelenskyj his country's highest award: the Order of the White Lion.
In the face of Russian aggression, Selenskyj showed courage and bravery, Zeman said in justification.
He acknowledged that Zelenskyy turned down an evacuation offer from the US and stayed in Kyiv to oversee his country's defense.
How it goes on
For Tuesday has
According to its UN ambassador, Russia has announced a
ceasefire from 10 a.m.
(8 a.m. CET) to open humanitarian corridors.
Citizens from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Mariupol are to be evacuated in this way.
According to a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, the humanitarian corridors appeared to be headed mainly or entirely towards Russia or Belarus.
Ambassador Nebensia said, however, that refugees would not necessarily be sent to Russia.
At the weekend, two attempts to evacuate residents failed.
Both sides accuse each other of ignoring the ceasefire.
Selenskyj wants to speak via
video link in the British Parliament
.
The appointment is scheduled for 5 p.m. local time.
Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
, French President
Emmanuel Macron
and Chinese President
Xi Jinping
also want to talk to each other on Tuesday.
It should be about a possible diplomatic solution for an end to the war.
The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine want to
meet in Turkey
for talks on Thursday.
The meeting of Sergei Lavrov and Dmytro Kuleba is to take place on the sidelines of a conference in Antalya, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Twitter.
The government in Moscow confirmed this, according to Russian news agencies.
The talks are the first high-level meeting of the warring factions since the Russian invasion began 12 days ago.
aar/cop/dpa/AFP/Reuters