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Hopes for a solution at the negotiating table: Volodymyr Zelenskyj
Photo: - / dpa
Day 17 of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine: The pressure on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv is apparently growing.
Suburbs in north-west Kiev have been shaken by heavy air raids for days, and Russian tanks are advancing.
The Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak speaks of a "state of siege" in the capital.
Meanwhile, the West is pushing for an immediate ceasefire.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin for more than an hour and called for a diplomatic solution to be found, as government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.
However, as it was said after the phone call from the Elysée in Paris, Putin had shown no will to end the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also pushing for a diplomatic solution to the war.
Zelenskyi suggested Jerusalem as a possible place for negotiations to end the war with Putin.
Both Selenskyj and Putin had recently repeatedly telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who was also with the Kremlin chief in Moscow a week ago.
According to Zelenskyj, Russia is now pursuing a "fundamentally different approach" in the talks.
At first, Moscow's representatives only "issued ultimatums," Zelensky said at a press conference.
In the meantime, they have “started to talk”.
He was "glad" to have "received a signal from Russia."
humanitarian situation
In view of the situation in the Kiev suburbs, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk spoke of planned refugee corridors for several places north-west of Kyiv, such as Hostomel, Makariv and Borodyanka.
Efforts to evacuate residents continued in north-eastern Ukraine and also in the coastal metropolis of Mariupol, where the humanitarian situation is particularly dramatic.
The population there has been under a siege by the Russian military for days, and there is neither water nor electricity.
All attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol have so far failed, despite Russian announcements that it will create evacuation corridors and allow food and medicine to be delivered to the city.
Ukrainian authorities have now started a new attempt to supply Mariupol with aid supplies.
A convoy of at least a dozen buses, accompanied by Orthodox priests, left Zaporizhia, more than 200 kilometers away, on Saturday, Mariupol's deputy mayor Serhiy Orlov told the AFP news agency.
According to Orlov, the buses are loaded with 90 tons of food and medicine.
On the way back, they are said to bring civilians from Mariupol to Zaporizhia.
According to the UN, more than 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine in the meantime, most of the refugees are spread across neighboring countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Moldova, where Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited a reception center for refugees and the border with Ukraine on Saturday visited.
Baerbock called on the international community to provide more support to neighboring Ukrainian countries in dealing with the war refugees.
This applies in particular to Moldova.
To this end, Germany is working with international partners on a kind of airlift.
Baerbock said the federal government would bring 2,500 Ukrainian refugees from Moldova directly to Germany as a first step.
She agreed this with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD).
military situation
Heavy fighting was reported on Saturday, especially from the south of the country, but also from the east and around Kyiv.
According to Russian sources, the attackers took numerous towns in eastern Ukraine.
In addition, the situation in Mariupol could deteriorate further.
According to Ukrainian sources, pro-Russian separatists are continuing their advance in the city with the support of Russian troops.
The enemy has captured eastern outskirts, the Ukrainian military said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense had previously reported that several parts of the city had been taken.
However, Selenskyj spoke of significant losses on the Russian side.
"This is the biggest blow to the Russian army in decades," Zelenskyy said in a video message.
"Nowhere has she lost more in so few days," Zelenskjy said.
“Our armed forces are doing everything to discourage the enemy from continuing the war against Ukraine.
The losses of the Russian troops are colossal.«
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia has lost more than 12,000 soldiers so far.
The information cannot be independently verified.
There is also talk of considerable Russian losses in Western intelligence circles.
When it comes to information about casualties in their own ranks, both the Russian and the Ukrainian army keep a low profile.
Rather, they report on territory gains and destroyed military technology on the other side.
The West does
In order to further increase the pressure on Russia, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to make Germany independent of Russian coal by the autumn and largely independent of Russian oil by the end of the year.
"Every day, indeed every hour, we say goodbye to Russian imports," Habeck told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung".
“If we succeed, we will be independent of Russian coal by the fall and almost independent of oil from Russia by the end of the year.”
When it comes to gas, however, things are more complicated, said Habeck, because Germany does not have its own import capacities for liquid gas.
These would now be created with high pressure.
Meanwhile, another yacht belonging to a Russian billionaire has been arrested in Italy.
Estimated to be worth around 530 million euros, the ship named »Sailing Yacht A« is located in the port of Trieste on the northern Adriatic.
Officials from the Italian financial police fixed it on Friday, the government in Rome confirmed.
The almost 143 meter long three-master is the largest sailing yacht in the world and is attributed to the Russian coal billionaire Andrei Melnitschenko.
That's what Russia says
In the phone call with Scholz and Macron, Putin accused the Ukrainian army of “blatant violations” of international humanitarian law.
As the Kremlin announced, Putin informed the two heads of government from Germany and France about the "true situation" in Ukraine.
Putin accused the Ukrainian army of "extrajudicial executions of dissidents," "taking hostages, and using civilians as shields."
Putin accused Ukrainian forces of stockpiling heavy weapons near hospitals, schools and kindergartens.
"At the same time, nationalist battalions are interfering with rescue operations and intimidating civilians during evacuation attempts," the Kremlin said.
Like much information from the Ukraine war, the statements cannot be independently verified, but Ukraine and large parts of the international community see Russia as the aggressor.
All important developments on the Russian war against Ukraine can be found here.
Because of the unprecedented sanctions against Russia, the Moscow Stock Exchange remains closed for the third week in a row.
From March 14 to 18 there will be no stock trading, according to the Tass Agency, the most important Russian trading platform.
After the last day the Moscow stock exchange was open on February 25, the shares of Russian companies initially lost a lot of value before they were suspended from trading.
You should have read this
International courts are already investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine.
Research by SPIEGEL documents examples of breaches of international law by Russian troops.
In addition, lawyer Viktor Winkler says in the SPIEGEL interview that the economic measures against Russia go too far for many companies, but also for people with Russian roots.
And: The historian Ian Kershaw explains the Putin cartel in SPIEGEL.
hba/dpa/Reuters/AFP