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Destruction in Mykolayiv
Photo: Anastasia Vlasova / Getty Images
What has happened in the past few hours
According to information from Kiev, Russian troops occupied
42
towns in the Donetsk region in the east of the country
within 24 hours
.
This was announced by an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Olena Simonenko, on Ukrainian television, as reported by the Unian agency.
According to Ukrainian sources, several people were injured or killed by shelling in the east and south of the country.
Two people were killed after a shell hit a car in the
Kharkiv region
, Governor Oleh Synyehubov said.
Two other people were injured in two other separate incidents.
A total of around 50 Russian
artillery and multiple rocket launcher attacks were registered
in the Kharkiv region on Thursday .
There is active fighting near the small town of Isjum.
From the southern Ukrainian
Zaporizhia
it was said that eight people were injured when the city was shelled twice on Thursday afternoon.
This was announced by the governor of the region Olexander Staruch on Telegram.
A rocket landed near a bridge on the island of Khortytsia.
At that time, an
evacuation train headed for Lviv
across the bridge's tracks.
As a result of the blast of the explosion, the windows of four wagons were shattered, as well as the windows of cars that were currently on the bridge.
In a second impact, the buildings of a sanatorium were damaged.
From the
Dnipropetrovsk region
it was said that on Thursday evening railway infrastructure was attacked in the Novomoskovsk district northeast of the regional capital Dnipro.
As a result of three
rocket attacks
, five people were injured and railroad tracks were completely destroyed, regional head of administration Valentyn Resnichenko wrote on Telegram.
An explosion
was reported
from the southern city of
Mykolaiv
on Thursday evening .
Mayor Olexander Senkewytsch called on the city's citizens to observe the curfew at night.
The information could not be independently verified.
That says Kyiv
Russia has
rejected the proposal for a ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter holidays,
said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video message on Friday night.
This shows what the Christian faith and one of the happiest and most important holidays mean to the leaders of Russia.
'But we'll still have hope.
The hope of peace, the hope that life will triumph over death".
Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on April 24 this year.
They are the largest religious group in Ukraine.
The
resistance in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol
continues, according to
Zelenskyj.
The city continues to resist Russia.
“Despite everything the occupiers say about them.” Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the city occupied on Thursday morning.
However, according to Russian sources, more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries are holed up in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.
So far they have not responded to Putin's demands to lay down arms.
Zelenskyi also said
Russia is continuing to move troops
.
"They are gathering forces and driving new tactical battalions into our country." In the east and south of the Ukraine, Russian units would do anything to be able to speak of "some" victories at least.
During a video link during a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, Zelenskyy pointed out the
financial consequences
for his country.
Because of the Russian attack, Ukraine needs seven billion dollars a month just to compensate for economic losses.
"And we will need
hundreds of billions of dollars
for reconstruction," Zelenskyy said.
International Reactions
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
plans to meet with colleagues from several countries on the war in Ukraine
next week at the
US Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate .
The meeting should take place next Tuesday, announced Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
Kirby did not provide details on the list of participants.
But not only NATO countries would be invited.
One goal of the meeting is the lasting security and sovereignty of Ukraine.
According to a report in the “Augsburger Allgemeine”,
Germany will provide around another
37 million euros for the reconstruction of Ukraine
.
According to Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze, the funds are to be used to repair war damage.
Meanwhile, the
debate over the delivery of heavy weapons
from Germany continues.
The
Union
is pushing for a
vote
.
"If there is no rethinking by the federal government in the coming days, parliament is called upon more than ever," says parliamentary secretary Patrick Schnieder (CDU) of the newspaper "Rheinische Post".
The argument at the traffic light and "in particular the procrastination of the Chancellor" was more than embarrassing.
For the first time since the start of the Russian invasion, a small number of
Ukrainian troops are
being trained in Britain.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said troops had started
training on armored patrol vehicles
donated by Britain this month.
Because of the war in Ukraine, there was
no joint declaration at the semi-annual ministerial meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
.
"Russia's war against Ukraine has made it impossible to find a consensus," said the chair of the IMF steering committee, Spain's Finance Minister Nadia Calviño.
But you have the support of the "overwhelming majority" of the 189 members.
The finance ministers and central bankers called for an end to the war in Ukraine and expressed concern about the economic impact that “have a global reach”.
The
Kyrgyzstan
authorities have warned their citizens against openly showing their support for the Russian war in Ukraine.
The use of the pro-Russian
"Z" symbol
at events marking the upcoming commemoration of the victory over Nazi Germany could "foment hatred between ethnic groups," the National Security Committee of Kyrgyzstan said on Thursday.
This is a
criminal offence
.
Kyrgyzstan is a close ally of Russia and has not yet criticized Moscow for its attack on Ukraine.
humanitarian situation
According to Ukrainian information,
no escape corridor
has been established for the largely destroyed port city of
Mariupol
in south-eastern Ukraine, which has been besieged by Russian troops .
"Everything is difficult, chaotic, slow and, of course, dishonest on the part of the Russians," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk wrote on Telegram.
The only hope is that four buses from Mariupol were able to go to Berdyansk the day before.
Three of the buses had arrived in the government area.
The whereabouts of a bus is unknown.
According to media reports, almost 80 people arrived in Zaporizhia.
According to the pro-Russian Donetsk separatists, around 130 people had used a ceasefire called by the Russian military leadership
to flee
the day before .
According to Ukrainian information,
more than 100,000 people
are said to be holding out in Mariupol.
The separatists speak of more than twice as many residents.
Experts fear
serious mental illnesses
-
depression, anxiety disorders or post-traumatic stress disorders
-
in around a third of the Ukrainian
refugees
.
The managing director of the nationwide working group of psychosocial centers for refugees and victims of torture, Lukas Welz, told the "Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland": "If these sufferings are not addressed through counseling, support and therapy, they can become chronic and lead to decades of or even lifelong health problems ." But even before the war there were too few therapy places and long waiting lists for traumatized people.
What is happening today
Germany 's
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock
visits
Lithuania
.
According to a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, the talks will focus on the reaction of the EU, NATO and the international community to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
In the morning, Baerbock will meet
President Gitanas Nausėda
, followed by talks with Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
Before the return flight, a visit to the
NATO battle group in Rukla
, led by the German Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Andrä, is planned.
A
meeting of the prime ministers of the Baltic states
is taking place in the Latvian capital Riga.
The talks between the heads of government Krišjānis Kariņš (Latvia), Kaja Kallas (Estonia) and Ingrida Šimonytė (Lithuania) will focus on the Russian war in Ukraine and regional security issues.
bbr/dpa/Reuters/AFP
