No “Afghanization” but withdrawal: According to Zelenskyi adviser, Russians will “dig in” in two areas

Created: 04/03/2022 04:53

By: Cindy Boden, Michelle Brey

Kyiv observes a "rapid retreat" of Russian troops.

The region around Kyiv is said to be back under the control of Ukrainian troops.

News ticker.

• Ukraine conflict

  *: According to the Ukrainian President, more than 3000 people were "rescued" from the besieged Mariupol

  (see first report).

• An adviser to President Zelenskyy expects the troops to withdraw to two areas

  (see update from April 2, 2 p.m.).

• According to the Defense Ministry, Ukrainian troops have regained control of the region around Kiev

  (see update from April 2, 9:00 p.m.).

• This

  news ticker on the military events in the Ukraine war

  is continuously updated.

  More about the background of the Ukraine crisis* here.

Update from April 2, 9:00 p.m.:

According to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, the Ukrainian troops have brought the entire area around the Ukrainian capital Kiev back under their control.

The politician confirmed this in a post on Facebook.

"The entire Kyiv region has been cleared of attackers," Malyar said.

However, information like this is currently difficult to verify.

According to the government in Kyiv, it was also possible to evacuate thousands of people from the embattled cities in eastern Ukraine.

So 765 civilians could have left the city of Mariupol with their own vehicles.

Almost 500 civilians fled the city of Berdyansk, where ten buses are said to have started.

The evacuations are expected to continue on Sunday.

"We continue to work," wrote Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk on the Telegram news channel.

Ukraine war: Ukrainians return to western Ukraine from abroad

Update from April 2, 7:55 p.m.:

According to local military chief Maxim Kosyzkyj, around 19,000 people have returned to western Ukraine from abroad within the past 24 hours.

In the same period, around 14,000 people are said to have left Ukraine.

This means that more Ukrainians entered the country than left the country.

Since the start of the Russian attack on Ukraine on February 24, 556,000 people have re-entered the country, Kosyzkyj reported.

More than 1.3 million Ukrainians left the country via the Lviv region in western Ukraine.

Ukraine War: Russia focuses attacks on eastern areas

Update from April 2, 5:13 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, the Russian military is concentrating its attacks on the eastern areas of Ukraine.

There are air strikes on the cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv and Chernihiv, Presidential Advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said on Ukrainian television on Saturday.

In addition to the armaments industry, residential areas are also affected.

This could not be verified independently.

Russia denies attacking civilian targets.

Arestovych said the "enemy" was trying to turn Chernihiv into a second Mariupol.

The port city of Mariupol has been badly damaged in recent weeks.

Chernihiv can still be reached by land.

"Residents can leave the city." President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's adviser expects heavy fighting to continue in eastern Ukraine.

On the other hand, Russian soldiers were pushed towards the state border in the north and north-east, said Arestovych.

Ukrainian troops recaptured more than 30 villages around Kyiv.

Ukraine war: "Russians deliberately strike during evacuations"

Update from April 2, 4:30 p.m .:

Several buses are to be used on Sunday (April 3) to rescue civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine.

As a citizens' initiative announced on Saturday in the Telegram news channel, ten larger buses are to bring around 500 people to the northwestern city of Zaporizhia.

According to estimates, around 100,000 people are still in the embattled and already badly damaged city.

Meanwhile, 2,700 civilians are said to have been evacuated from the Luhansk region on Saturday.

Russian soldiers fired on the evaluation convoys.

This is reported by CNN, citing the head of the region's military administration.

“The Russians deliberately strike during the evacuations.

Shells fell near the meeting points.

Fortunately, they are all alive," Serhiy Haidai told CNN.

This, like a lot of information in the Ukraine war, cannot be independently confirmed.

Russia and Ukraine repeatedly accuse each other of sabotaging the evacuation of towns and cities.

A

He was apparently shot by Russian soldiers.

Update from April 2, 2:52 p.m .:

The Red Cross in Ukraine has started another attempt to get residents out of the embattled city of Mariupol.

After the project failed on Friday, a team of nine helpers left the city of Zaporizhia on Saturday.

This was announced by a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.

The aim is to create safe escape corridors.

The Red Cross then wants to accompany the convoy with three vehicles.

All sides should be reminded of the humanitarian character of the action, it said.

According to the government in Kiev, a total of seven escape corridors were set up for several contested Ukrainian cities on Saturday

Ukraine war: Selenskyj adviser does not expect "Afghanization" but withdrawal of Russian troops

Update from April 2, 2 p.m.:

Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, apparently does not assume that the Ukraine war will drag on for a long time.

He wrote on Twitter that there would be "no 'Afghanization'".

The Taliban finally took over Afghanistan in August 2021 after decades of fighting.

"The Russian armed forces will leave all areas except the south and east and try to dig in there, build up anti-aircraft defenses, drastically reduce casualties and dictate the conditions," said the Ukrainian adviser, who is also involved in the negotiations participates with Russia.

"Without heavy weapons, we will not be able to drive out the Russian troops," he wrote in conclusion, thus also making a demand for equipment from the West.

Ukraine War: Kyiv observes 'quick withdrawal' of Russian troops

Update from April 2, 12:47 p.m .:

According to the Ukrainian government, the Russian armed forces in the north of the country are “rapidly withdrawing”.

The attackers would fall back in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions, Mikhailo Podoliak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Saturday.

Moscow's goal is obvious: it wants to withdraw its troops to the east and south and retain control of large occupied areas there.

You can read more about reactions from Germany to the Ukraine war in our current news ticker.

Kyiv: A man on April 1 removed rubble from buildings destroyed in fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops.

© Vadim Ghirda/dpa

War in Ukraine: Escape corridors set up for people in embattled cities

Update from April 2, 12:42 p.m .:

President Selenskyj has revoked the ranks of two Ukrainian generals*.

A major general was arrested.

Update from April 2, 11:20 a.m .:

According to the government in Kiev, seven escape corridors were set up on Saturday for the harassed civilian population in embattled cities in Ukraine.

From the city of Mariupol in the south, which was particularly hard hit by the fighting, a route for private vehicles is to lead in the direction of the city of Zaporizhia, as Deputy Prime Minister Irina Wereshchuk announced in Kyiv.

From the city of Berdyansk, civilians should be picked up by buses, but they should also be able to flee by car in the direction of Zaporizhia.

Five corridors led to the city of Bakhmut from embattled areas in the east of the country, Vereshchuk wrote on her Telegram news channel.

War in Ukraine: Ukrainian army seems to be advancing on Russian troops

Update from April 2, 10:45 a.m .:

According to British intelligence information, the Ukrainian army is continuing to advance on retreating Russian troops near the capital Kiev.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Defense in London on Saturday, Ukrainians are also continuing to try to advance from Irpin towards Bucha and Hostomel on the north-western edge of the capital.

The Russians have meanwhile withdrawn from the important cargo airport Hostomel, which has been fought over since the beginning of the war on February 24, it was said.

Several villages along the eastern axis have also been recaptured by Ukrainian units, as has an important road in the city of Kharkiv in the east of the country.

An independent verification of this information was not possible.

Ukraine war: Russia says it destroys military facilities in Ukraine

Update from April 2, 10:30 a.m .:

According to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, Russia has destroyed several dozen other military objects in new rocket attacks in Ukraine.

Accordingly, near the commercial and industrial city of Kremenchuk, around 300 kilometers south-east of the capital Kyiv, a petrol and diesel warehouse was destroyed on Saturday morning.

The Ukrainian troops in the center and east of the country were supplied with fuel from the camp, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow.

In addition, two military airfields were put out of action - near the city of Poltava and near Dnipro (formerly Dnipropetrovsk).

A total of 67 military objects were destroyed within one day, including ammunition depots, said the major general.

In addition, two Mi-24 combat helicopters and 24 drones were shot down.

This information could not be checked independently. According to Konashenkov, the missiles were fired from warships and aircraft.

Update from April 2, 10:25 a.m .:

The EU should prepare for more EU refugees, says migration expert Gerald Knaus.

In the

interview, he explains how the distribution* can succeed.

Meanwhile, the US is increasing its support for Ukraine.

Ukraine war: Zelenskyj addresses soldiers' parents in Russian - "Death for many young guys"

First report:

Kiev - The situation in Ukraine is still extremely tense.

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj* expects violent Russian attacks in the east of his country.

“Russian soldiers are being brought to the Donbass.

Likewise in the direction of Kharkiv, ”said the head of state in a video speech on Saturday night.

"The situation in the east of our country remains very difficult."

The Ukrainian General Staff announced that Russian troops would be withdrawn from the exclusion zone around the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant and from adjacent areas in Belarus.

Apparently they were to be transferred to the Russian Belgorod region, from where the advance to Kharkiv would take place.

War in Ukraine: Explosions in a tank farm could slow down supplies to Russian troops near Kharkiv

However, the British military assumed that the explosions in a fuel depot and an ammunition depot in Belgorod would slow down supplies to the Russian troops off Kharkiv.

This was announced by the Ministry of Defense in a tweet.

A fuel depot in Belgorod went up in flames* on Friday morning.

Local authorities attributed this to the attack by two Ukrainian attack helicopters.

Sources in Kyiv were evasive.

Days earlier there had been explosions in a munitions depot in Belgorod.

A Ukrainian flag could be seen amidst the devastated city of Mariupol on April 1.

© Sergei Bobylev/ITAR-TASS/Imago

War in Ukraine: Russia probably fires rockets at several large cities in the south

According to Ukrainian sources, Russian troops fired rockets at several large cities in the south of the country on Saturday night.

Two or three heavy explosions were heard in the city of Dnipro, the

portal reported , citing the regional administration.

The area around the city of Kryvyi Rih was fired at with rocket launchers.

A gas station caught fire, said the head of the local military administration, Olexander Wilkul.

According to him, the Russian forces used Grad (Hagel) multiple rocket launchers.

Like all reports from the combat zones, the information was not independently verifiable.

Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have recently continued.

Ukraine War: Selenskyj reports more than 3000 rescued people from Mariupol

Meanwhile, according to Selenskyj, more than 3,000 people have been brought to safety from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

"Today there were humanitarian corridors in three regions: Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia," he said in his nightly video address.

"We managed to save 6,266 people, including 3,071 people from Mariupol."

The Ukrainian President did not specify whether the people of Mariupol were taken directly out of the city surrounded by the Russian army or whether they first fled Mariupol on their own and were then taken to safety.

Mariupol has been under massive fire from Russian forces for weeks.

A picture from a video provided by the Ukrainian President's Press Office showing Volodymyr Zelenskyy before meeting the President of the European Parliament on April 1.

© -/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/dpa

In Russian, Selenskyj also addressed the parents of the young men in Russia who were drafted into military service there on April 1st.

"Protect your children!" he said.

Parents should do everything to protect their sons from the army.

The risk is high that they will be sent to the war in Ukraine.

"That's guaranteed death for a lot of very young guys." You can read more about Germany's reactions to the Ukraine war in our news ticker.