War in Ukraine: That's the situation

Created: 03/31/2022 05:23

Russia wants to reduce its hostilities, while Ukraine is reporting further attacks.

© Rodrigo Abd/AP/dpa

Ukraine reports an attack on a fuel depot in Dnipro.

Russia announces that it will scale back hostilities in the north-west.

But can that be trusted?

The current developments:

KIEV - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not yet see any concrete results of the talks with Russia about a possible end to the war.

The beautiful words from Moscow should not be trusted, said Selenskyj on Thursday night.

Ukraine is also reporting further attacks, such as on a fuel depot in the city of Dnipro.

Once again, both sides are struggling for a ceasefire in the embattled city of Mariupol.

For its part, the federal government is hoping for more clarity as to whether and how Russia will continue to supply gas.

Confusion about future payments to Russia for gas

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to talk about this this Thursday with representatives of the energy giant Gazprom and the Russian central bank.

Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had put the first of three crisis levels of the so-called gas emergency plan into force out of concern about possible restrictions.

The background to this is Russia's announcement that it will only deliver gas against payment in rubles.

Germany and other Western countries insist on continuing to pay in euros and dollars.

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After a phone call between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Putin, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Wednesday evening that Western payments could continue to go to Gazprom Bank in euros after April 1, as usual.

The bank then converts the money into rubles.

Scholz did not agree to this, but asked for written information.

Zelenskyj: Russia is not withdrawing voluntarily

In negotiations with Ukraine to end the war, Russia announced on Tuesday that it would significantly scale back its combat operations on the northern front.

According to Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamiya, talks with the Russian delegation will continue online on April 1.

Ukraine's goal is direct talks between the presidents of both countries.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy expressed distrust.

“Yes, there is a negotiation process that is ongoing.

But so far it's just words.

Nothing concrete," he said in a video message.

Russia is not withdrawing voluntarily from the area around the capital Kyiv and the embattled city of Chernihiv, but is being pushed out there by the Ukrainian army.

At the same time, Kyiv is recognizing a deployment of Russian troops for new attacks in the Donbass, Zelenskyj said.

"And we are preparing for that." He reiterated the call for help from Western partners, such as tanks, aircraft and artillery systems.

"Liberty must be armed no worse than tyranny," he said.

US government observes partial Russian withdrawal around Kyiv

The US government said in Washington that Russia had withdrawn a small part of its troops from the Kyiv area within 24 hours - "probably about 20 percent of the troops," said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

Some of these soldiers have been transferred to Belarus.

According to the US government, President Putin does not get an honest description of the situation in the Ukraine war.

Putin's senior advisers are "too scared to tell him the truth," said White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield.

Russia announces ceasefire in Mariupol

For the city of Mariupol, which has been fought over for weeks, Russia offered a ceasefire for Thursday to give civilians the opportunity to flee.

"Russia's armed forces declare a cease-fire on March 31 from 10:00 a.m. (9:00 a.m. CEST) - exclusively for humanitarian purposes," Major General Mikhail Mizintsev said, according to the Interfax agency.

At the same time, he gave Ukraine until 5 a.m. German time to declare a ceasefire.

Ukraine: Rocket attack on oil depot in Dnipro

According to Ukrainian sources, a rocket filled with fuel in the city of Dnipro destroyed an oil depot.

Debris also damaged two tankers, said the head of the regional council, Mykola Lukaschuk.

There weren't any victims.

According to Ukrainian sources, a rocket hit a factory in Novomoskovsk, northeast of Dnipro.

There were no deaths here either.

Pavlo Kyrylenko from the Donetsk Region Coordination Center accused Russia of using phosphorus shells.

According to the Air Force in Kyiv, Russia is even firing missiles at targets in Ukraine from the Caspian Sea.

The information provided by the warring parties cannot be independently verified.

Preparations for a “referendum” in Kherson?

The Ukrainian General Staff reported during the night that Russia was preparing a “referendum” in the conquered city of Cherson on the establishment of a Moscow-friendly “People's Republic”.

The invading army is trying to control the areas in southern Ukraine with "civilian-military administrations".

The pattern would be similar to the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, now recognized by Russia as independent.

Cherson has almost 300,000 inhabitants and plays an important role in protecting the port city of Odessa in the south-west of the country.

That will be important on Thursday

At Putin's meeting with Gazprom and the Russian central bank, concrete steps will be taken to settle gas supplies to the West.

Clarity is also expected about a possible ceasefire for Mariupol.

Zelenskyj addresses the Australian Parliament.

And Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents the NATO annual report.

dpa