War in Ukraine: Russian planes bomb Sumy area – The situation on Thursday

Created: 03/10/2022 05:33

By: Stefan Krieger

The war in Ukraine continues.

The cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv are particularly hard-fought.

Ukraine is putting up fierce resistance to the Russian attackers.

All news at a glance.

Kyiv – Two weeks ago, the invasion of Ukraine* by the Russian army began.

But Vladimir Putin*'s campaign is apparently not going as the Russian President had hoped.

In particular, the country's largest cities - Kyiv and Kharkiv - are still contested.

The Ukrainian armed forces put up fierce resistance.

An overview of what happened on Thursday night (03/10/2022).

Ukrainian soldiers can still hold the city of Kharkiv.

© Sergey Bobok/afp

Before the eagerly awaited meeting of foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia, both sides also fought in the war zone on Thursday night.

Ukraine reported shelling on several major cities, and there was an air raid alarm in the capital Kyiv.

A new attempt was planned for the morning to save people from embattled cities during a regional ceasefire.

Above all, hope rested on the first high-level talks between the two sides since the beginning of the war.

War in Ukraine: New Diplomatic Efforts

To this end, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in Antalya, Turkey, where he intends to explore options for ending the war with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov on Thursday morning.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu wants to mediate.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, wants to address the safety of Ukraine's nuclear facilities in Antalya.

As a condition for a cessation of fighting, Russia is demanding that Ukraine declare itself neutral in its constitution.

In addition, Kyiv must recognize the annexed Black Sea peninsula of Crimea as Russian and the separatist areas as independent.

So far, Ukraine has largely rejected this.

However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has indicated a certain willingness to compromise.

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Ukraine negotiations: Russia with a sudden change of course - Zelenskyj "ready to take certain steps"

On Thursday evening, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the other EU heads of state and government will meet at a summit in Versailles near Paris to discuss the situation.

War in Ukraine: The history of the war

According to Ukrainian information, a new attempt is planned for Thursday to rescue people from cities in the Sumy region in the north-east via three escape corridors to the city of Poltava further west.

A ceasefire is planned for these escape routes from 8:00 a.m. German time, the Sumy regional administration announced.

Almost 50,000 people came out of the surrounded city of Sumy itself on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Above all, the evacuation of the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol has been a struggle for days.

An attack on a maternity clinic there on Wednesday sparked horror - including among UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who called for an end to the "senseless violence".

The events of the war on Thursday night remained confusing, especially since the information provided by the warring parties cannot be independently verified.

Ukrainian authorities reported that Russian planes bombed the area around Sumy, including residential areas and a gas pipeline.

The Ukrainian army spoke of attempted Russian attacks on the capital Kyiv and the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv, as well as attacks on the region around the city of Kharkiv in the east.

But the Russian offensive was slowed down.

War in Ukraine: Refugee teachers for refugee children

A huge task is facing Germany - as well as other EU countries - including the care of refugees from Ukraine.

According to the UN, more than two million people have fled Ukraine since the war began on February 24, and more than 80,000 war refugees have been registered in Germany.

Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) wants to use refugee teachers from Ukraine to look after the children in schools and daycare centers, as she told the Funke media group.

The head of the Federal Employment Agency, Detlef Scheele, promised refugees unbureaucratic support when looking for work in an interview with the editorial network Germany.

Russia admits to using conscripts in Ukraine

Russia has admitted to using conscripts in Ukraine for the first time.

"Unfortunately, several cases were (confirmed) when there were conscripts in the units of the Russian Armed Forces participating in the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday (03/10/2022). ).

Some of the conscripts were captured by Ukrainian forces.

He added: "Extensive measures are being taken to prevent conscripts from being sent to combat zones and to ensure the release of captured soldiers."

The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had issued orders to "categorically rule out" the use of conscripts.

He added that the officers responsible for sending conscripts to Ukraine would be "punished".

IAEA also loses ties with Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine

After Chernobyl, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also lost contact with the largest European nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Zaporizhia.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi announced on Wednesday that the data connection to the monitoring devices in Zaporizhia had failed.

Russian troops had attacked and taken Zaporizhia last week.

A fire broke out on the power plant site.

The reason for the disconnection is still unclear, the authority said.

The IAEA had previously warned that it had lost contact with the surveillance systems in the Chernobyl nuclear ruins, which were also captured by Russian troops.

The authorities later announced that they had received information from Ukraine that there had been a power outage.

She sees "no critical impact on security in this case".

However, the loss of connectivity to the two nuclear sites is worrying.

"Long-distance transmission of data from the IAEA surveillance systems at nuclear sites around the world is an important part of our surveillance efforts," said Grossi.

The data lines "enable us to monitor nuclear material and activities at these sites when our inspectors are not present."

Ukraine hopes for further German arms deliveries

In the fight against the Russian attackers, Ukraine relies on further arms deliveries from Germany.

The Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin, Andriy Melnyk, told the German Press Agency that the German defense industry had made suggestions as to how the Ukrainian armed forces could be supported.

“I know the Department of Defense has 60 pages of offers from defense contractors.

We expect a positive decision,” said Melnyk.

The companies' proposals would refer to a wish list from the Ukrainian embassy in early February.

These include air defense systems with a range of up to 70 kilometers, anti-drone guns, mine clearance equipment, radio equipment, radar stations, night vision equipment and ambulances.

(skr with agencies)