War against Ukraine: That's the situation
Created: 03/23/2022, 05:15
A car destroyed by shell fire stands on a street.
© Andrew Marienko/AP/dpa
Russia's war against neighboring Ukraine lasted almost a month, and fighting continued.
US President Biden comes to Europe to coordinate response to war.
The developments at a glance.
Kyiv - The Kiev leadership currently considers Belarus' intervention on the side of Russia in the war against Ukraine to be unlikely.
The probability that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will decide to take part in the war is "15 to 20 percent," said Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich, according to the Unian agency.
Lukashenko is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian army uses Belarus as a staging area against Ukraine, but Belarus has so far not taken an active part in the war, despite repeated pressures from Moscow.
The Ukrainian General Staff assumes that many Belarusian soldiers and officers will resist a deployment.
On Wednesday night, Ukrainian sources reported further Russian attacks on the city of Kharkiv in the east of the country and on Rivne in the north-west.
In an effort to find a coordinated Western response to the war, US President Joe Biden embarks on a trip to Europe on Wednesday.
A NATO summit meeting will take place in Brussels on Thursday, at which the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is also to join from Kyiv.
Ukrainians repel attack on Kharkiv
According to their own account, Ukrainian units fended off an attack by Russian troops in new battles for Kharkiv in the east of the country.
Ka-52 combat helicopters were also deployed by the Russian side on Tuesday evening, regional commander Oleg Sinegubow was quoted as saying by Ukrajinska Pravda.
"Our troops are holding their positions."
The situation in the city of Isjum, about 100 kilometers away, is difficult.
There is no longer any connection to the besieged city.
All efforts to create an escape corridor for civilians have so far been rejected by the Russian side.
The information could not be independently verified.
The Russian military also fired rockets at unspecified military installations in the vicinity of the city of Rivne in north-western Ukraine.
This satellite photo from Maxar Technologies shows burning and destroyed apartment buildings in Mariupol.
© Uncredited/Maxar Technologies/dpa
Zelenskyy threatened all Russian fighter jet pilots that they would be held personally responsible for their attacks in Ukraine.
Apparently, the pilots did not understand what orders they were carrying out: "The killing of civilians is a crime." According to Kiev, around 100 Russian fighter jets have been shot down since the war began almost four weeks ago.
Selenskyj sees difficult negotiations with Moscow
Zelenskyy said of the negotiations with Russia on a way out of the war: "They are very difficult, sometimes scandalous, but we are moving forward step by step." Negotiators from Ukraine are on duty every day, he said on Wednesday night widespread video speech.
“We will work, we will fight as much as possible.
Until the end.
Bold and open.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video address.
© Uncredited/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP/dpa
He thanked all international forces helping his country.
Selenskyj is hoping for further support from the three summit meetings planned for this week by the G7, NATO and the EU.
During a phone call, he also invited Pope Francis to visit Ukraine.
So far, there is no information on a response from the Vatican.
Kremlin: Operation in Ukraine is going according to plan
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the Russian military operation in Ukraine is proceeding "strictly according to plan".
The course corresponds to the previously defined goals, said Peskow in English to the US broadcaster CNN.
The government in Moscow describes the attack on Ukraine as a "special military operation", not a war.
When asked what President Putin has achieved in Ukraine so far, Peskov said that the goals have "not yet" been achieved.
Among other things, he named the decimation of the Ukrainian military as a goal.
Kyiv must come to terms with the fact that the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, is now an "unchangeable part of Russia".
In addition, Ukraine must recognize that the separatist regions in the east are now "independent states".
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had previously said that the war has so far failed to achieve any of Putin's fundamental goals.
The US government and Ukraine have been saying for days that the Russian armed forces are having logistical problems and are making little progress, especially in the north and east of the country.
That's going to be important today
US President Biden embarks on a trip to Europe on Wednesday that is all about the war in Ukraine.
First stop is Brussels.
There, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will provide information about the Western Defense Alliance's summit meeting scheduled for Thursday.
The UN General Assembly is due to meet in New York on Wednesday on another resolution against Russia's war in Ukraine.
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War in Ukraine: This is the current situation
Ukraine is also likely to be an important topic in the Bundestag's general debate on the 2022 budget.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) will explain his policy.
He again rejected an immediate ban on imports of Russian energy as a means of exerting pressure on Moscow.
On the one hand, sanctions must have a strong effect on Russia, but on the other hand they must also be manageable for the country's own economy, he said.
dpa