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People fleeing Mariupol
Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS
Even four weeks after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is
no end in sight to the war
.
More than ten million people are fleeing the former Soviet republic.
Although fighting continues in many places, Russian forces have still not been able to take control of any of the larger cities.
"Putin needs to hear the truth about the war in Ukraine," said Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the general debate in the Bundestag.
“And that truth is: War is destroying Ukraine.
But with the war, Putin is also destroying Russia's future.« Both NATO and the EU are more united than ever.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced further military support to
secure the eastern flank
of the alliance.
More combat troops are to be stationed in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
The decision on this would be made by the heads of state and government at the summit on Thursday.
The developments at a glance.
The military situation
The fierce fighting continued on Wednesday.
According to Western estimates, the Russian troops made
hardly any progress due to
exhaustion and supply problems.
The situation report of the British Ministry of Defense stated that the situation around the capital Kyiv was "static".
Apparently, the Russian forces were trying to regroup.
In the east, the Russian troops are apparently in the process of merging their formations around Kharkiv and Mariupol.
In the southwest, Russian forces continued to advance toward Odessa on the Black Sea, home to Ukraine's largest port.
Rocket attacks were reported in Mykolayiv, in the Chernihiv region north of Kyiv and in the capital itself.
The humanitarian situation
In the port city of Mariupol,
100,000 people are living in inhumane conditions
, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported.
They are constantly under fire.
They lacked food, water and medicine.
There have been no reports from independent journalists from the city for more than a week.
He accused the Russian armed forces of thwarting the evacuation of civilians from Mariupol.
The UN now speaks of over 3.6 million refugees from Ukraine who have sought safety abroad.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, around 239,000 refugees have been counted in Germany so far, mostly women, children and the elderly.
However, the actual number is likely to be significantly higher – Ukrainians are allowed to enter the country without a visa and there are no regular border controls at the internal EU borders.
It is also unclear how the refugees will be distributed within the EU.
The EU Commission rejected calls for mandatory quotas.
Germany is one of the countries that are pushing for distribution throughout the EU.
Most refugees from Ukraine are staying in neighboring Poland.
That says Kyiv
In a video address to the French parliament, Zelenskyy called for
more pressure on Russia
.
He appealed to French companies to leave Russia and stop financing a war.
Ukraine also expects that a decision on its application for membership will be made during the French EU presidency.
Despite the ongoing fighting, Zelenskyy sees little progress in negotiations with the government in Moscow on a ceasefire.
»Step by step we are making progress.«
Moscow says so
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was evasive when asked whether Vladimir Putin ruled out the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict.
He referred to the Russian security doctrine, according to which
nuclear weapons would be used if there was an "existential threat" to Russia
.
The "special military operation," as Moscow calls the war, is going according to plan, Peskov told US broadcaster CNN.
But Putin has “not yet” achieved his goals.
These included the decimation of the Ukrainian military and a pledge by Kiev that the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, belongs to Russia.
In addition, Ukraine must recognize that the separatist regions in the east are now “independent states”.
What is still happening today
US President Joe
Biden is on his way to Brussels
.
He will attend three summits there on Thursday to discuss Russian war of aggression.
The program includes a special NATO summit as well as summits of the European Union and the seven leading democratic economic powers (G7).
The United Nations General Assembly is currently in session again.
"Every day of the Russian war against Ukraine worsens the humanitarian situation," said Ukraine's UN Ambassador Serhiy Kyslytsia in New York, asking for approval of a humanitarian resolution drafted by his country.
The draft resolution, which is also supported by Germany and other Western countries, is to be put to the vote on Wednesday evening (local time) or on Thursday before the largest UN body with its 193 members.
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as /dpa/AFP/Reuters