Russia-Ukraine War: That happened on Thursday night

Enlarge image

Destroyed houses after a Russian air raid in Sumy

Photo: STATE EMERGENCY SERVICES OF UKRAINE / VIA REUTERS

Officials from several Ukrainian cities report attacks.

According to the army, Russian troops are still working to encircle the capital Kyiv - Ukrainian forces are holding them back.

Meanwhile, 35,000 civilians are said to have been brought to safety on Wednesday.

Three escape corridors from the Sumy region of Ukraine are planned for the coming hours.

The most important current developments at a glance:

What has happened in the past few hours

During the night, various local officials from several Ukrainian cities reported shelling.

Russian planes bombed the area around the north-eastern Ukrainian city of

, the head of the Sumy regional administration, Dmytro Shyvytskyi, wrote on Telegram.

Residential areas were again shelled in the town of

south of Sumy.

There is also information that a gas line had also been hit there.

The mayor of the southern Ukrainian city of

also reported fire from multiple rocket launchers coming from the north.

"Either they are testing the robustness of our checkpoints, or they are preparing for an offensive," Mayor Olexandr Senkevich said in a live video on Facebook.

He called on people to sleep in the basement.

Meanwhile, according to the Ukrainian army, Russian troops continue

to encircle

The units around the southern Ukrainian city of

would also be strengthened.

There were also attacks in the

region in the east of the country on the city of

and the nearby villages

and

.

However, the information cannot be independently verified.

According to the Ukrainian general staff, their own armed forces are currently repelling and holding back the offensives of the Russian troops.

He shared this on Facebook.

In some areas of operation, the Russian units had lost their combat effectiveness and introduced reserves.

That says Kyiv

Ukraine increases pressure on Germany to stop energy imports from Russia.

In view of the high number of war victims among the civilian population, the German government's no to an import ban was "morally unacceptable," said the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin,

, to the dpa news agency.

"We call on the Germans to make the only right decision and to introduce this embargo immediately to put an end to Putin's war against Ukrainian women and children."

Germany and the European Union imposed massive sanctions on Russia after invading Ukraine.

However, cutting off billions in gas, oil and coal supplies is not one of them.

Germany is particularly dependent on Russian energy supplies.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz again ruled out an import freeze on Wednesday, although the USA had previously announced such a step.

At least 35,000 civilians were evacuated from cities besieged by Russian troops on Wednesday,

according to Ukrainian President

In a video address released overnight, Zelenskyy said three humanitarian corridors allowed residents to leave

the northeastern cities of

in the southeast and areas around the capital

.

On Tuesday, civilians were brought to safety

for the first time via an escape corridor from

As a result, Kiev and Moscow announced the establishment of several other escape corridors for Wednesday, including for the cities of

near Kiev.

Several attempts to create safe escape routes had previously failed.

Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for this.

International reactions

The

has finally

to Ukraine

.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the secret services had come to the conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin could misinterpret the deployment of fighter jets as an escalation step.

The United States also rejected a proposal by Poland to hand over MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine with a stopover at a US base in Germany.

On the one hand, Kirby commented directly on Poland's proposal - but also made general statements with regard to deliveries of fighter jets to Ukraine.

"We do not support handing over more fighter jets to the Ukrainian Air Force at this time," he said.

The

is also warning of a possible Russian use of

in Ukraine.

By spreading misinformation, Moscow wants to pave the way for further escalating the unjustified war of aggression in Ukraine, warned US President Joe Biden's spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Russia follows

- either to use weapons of mass destruction itself, or to fake an attack by the Ukrainians in

to construct a justification for continuing the war, Psaki wrote.

As a precaution, the USA has moved

from Germany to

.

However, details remained sparse.

A Pentagon spokesman: "We will not discuss where they are based, nor will we discuss their operational status."

British

has compared the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the

in the United States.

Vladimir Putin not only attacked the Ukrainian people, but also "the foundations of our societies" such as democracy and sovereignty, said the British diplomat: "He [Putin] shook the architecture of global security.

The invasion of Ukraine means a paradigm shift like 9/11.«

economic consequences

The German Federal Minister of

, urgently warns of the

that Germany would have to expect if it immediately

: "A five percent economic slump - if that were the case - is more than the Covid pandemic." The point is to ward off economic damage that would bind Germany for years and also paralyze it politically.

The

IMF) has granted Ukraine an

of 1.4 billion US dollars (almost 1.3 billion euros).

Because of the Russian war of aggression, the country has "urgent financial needs."

The war will lead to a severe recession in Ukraine this year, warned IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva.

In response to Russian aggression, the world's largest online retailer

has stopped shipping products to private customers in Russia and Belarus.

The group also announced that it would block users in Russia from accessing its Prime Video streaming service until further notice.

Heineken

, the world's second largest brewer, said on Wednesday it would end production, advertising and sales of its brands in Russia.

This is happening in response to "continued war escalation."

Last week, Heineken stopped new investments and exports to Russia.

Heineken's competitor

, the world's fourth-largest brewer, is also halting production and sales in Russia.

However, the majority-owned Baltika subsidiary will continue to operate as an independent company.

This is intended to support the 8,400 employees in Russia.

How to continue today

• The

  first face-to-face meeting of the foreign ministers of

  Russia and Ukraine since the start of the Russian attack is imminent.

  Talks between

  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

  and his

  Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba

  are scheduled to begin around 9:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. local time (7:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. CET) in the Turkish city of Antalya.

  They will be accompanied by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

• The

  heads of state and government of the European Union

  will discuss the consequences of the Ukraine war starting today (from 5:30 p.m.).

  The two-day

  summit meeting at the Palace of Versailles near Paris

  is about expanding the EU's defense capabilities, as Council President Charles Michel announced in his letter of invitation.

  In addition, the EU leaders are discussing greater independence from Russian oil and gas.

  On Friday it should be about a more robust economic basis for Europe.

  Shortly before the summit, the EU and the US had expanded their sanctions against Russia and neighboring Belarus.

  The Ukrainian wishes for further arms deliveries and EU accession are also likely to be discussed at the meeting.

• According to a Ukrainian official,

  three escape corridors are planned to evacuate people from the Sumy region

  in the north-east of the country.

  These led from the cities of Trostianets, Krasnopillya and Sumy in the direction of the central Ukrainian city of Poltava, said the head of the Sumy regional administration, Dmytro Shyvytskyi.

  The start of the ceasefire for the routes concerned is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. CET.

• US Vice President

  Kamala Harris

  will hold talks with President

  Andrzej Duda

  and Prime Minister

  Mateusz Morawiecki

  during a visit to the Polish capital Warsaw .

  The deputy of US President Joe Biden wants to assure the eastern NATO partner of US support in view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

  The possible indirect delivery of Polish MiG-29 combat aircraft to Ukraine is also likely to be an important topic of the talks.

jok/cop/dpa/Reuters/AFP