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Destroyed block of flats in Kharkiv (photo from May 10)
Photo: RICARDO MORAES / REUTERS
What has happened in the past few hours
At least one person was killed and eight others injured in new
Russian attacks
near the south-eastern Ukrainian city of
Zaporizhia
on Tuesday evening.
According to the regional administration,
residential buildings
in Orekhovo in particular were
hit
, reported Ukrajinska Pravda.
Because of the intensity of the shelling, the delivery of humanitarian aid to the town was temporarily interrupted.
The information could not be independently verified.
Dutch Foreign Minister
Wopke
Hoekstra
was forced to spend
some time in a bomb cellar during his visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev because of an air
raid alarm .
The 46-year-old fled to safety ahead of a scheduled meeting with
Mayor Vitali Klitschko
on Tuesday night as sirens warned of Russian airstrikes.
Hoekstra had traveled to Kiev by train with Federal Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock
(Greens) and had held a few appointments with her.
Baerbock himself was reportedly not affected by the protective measure.
The minister had previously stated that even after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kyiv region, the war in Ukraine would not be over.
"A missile could land anywhere in this country," she said.
Media in the Ukrainian capital reported around 7 p.m. local time (6 p.m. CEST) about an
air alert
for Kiev and the surrounding area.
However, no explosions were heard, and there is no information about flights.
The situation is stable, it said.
Mayor Klitschko announced on television that the safety of the citizens could not be guaranteed.
He pointed out that there are still many roadblocks in Kyiv and movement is restricted.
That says Kyiv
According to the will of the Russian besiegers , the
Ukrainian soldiers entrenched
in the
Mariupol
steelworks
are not allowed to
leave
the premises
.
The Russian military has rejected any proposal for the unhindered withdrawal of the fighters from the Azov steelworks, President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
said, according to Ukrajinska Pravda on Tuesday.
"The defenders of Mariupol remain there, they continue the resistance on the Azov steel compound." Kyiv continues to use all available diplomatic options to enable the rescue of the soldiers.
Russia insists on surrender of Azov Steel defenders.
Zelenskyi previously stated that Ukraine currently does not have the heavy weapons needed for a successful push to liberate Mariupol.
More than two months after the beginning of the war and after heavy fighting around Mariupol, the last Ukrainian soldiers have entrenched themselves in the steel works and are offering fierce resistance to the Russian soldiers and pro-Russian separatists.
Zelenskyj also praised the
courage and sacrifice
of his country's troops in the fight against the Russian army.
"I am grateful to all our protectors who are defending themselves and showing truly superhuman strength to drive off the invading army," he said in his nightly video address.
And that in the fight against the “once the second strongest army in the world”.
Despite further successes on various fronts, Zelenskyj did not want to allow euphoria and "excessive emotions" to arise.
"There is no need to create an atmosphere of specific moral pressure when certain victories are expected weekly and even daily," he warned.
The Ukrainian President referred to reports of success from his general staff, which reported on Tuesday about territory gains in the vicinity of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
The occupiers would be "gradually" driven out of the region.
According to the Ukrainian military, several towns were recaptured.
The information has not yet been independently verified.
humanitarian situation
UN Secretary-General
António Guterres
visited
a reception center for
refugees
from Ukraine
in
Moldova
.
"It's impossible to meet refugees and not be deeply moved by their stories," said the 73-year-old in the capital, Chisinau.
This tragedy shows that "war is a meaningless thing and that this war must end," he said, referring to Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.
Earlier in a meeting with President Maia Sandu, Guterres expressed his appreciation for the generosity and solidarity of the Moldovan government and people towards the Ukraine refugees.
Guterres said that although Moldova itself was ailing, it had taken in the most refugees from the neighboring country in relation to its population size.
The Republic of Moldova, with its 2.5 million inhabitants, has taken in over 450,000 refugees since the start of the Ukraine war.
International reactions
The House of
Representatives
in Washington has approved an
aid package
for Ukraine requested by
US President Joe Biden
by billions of dollars and passed it by a large majority.
In the House of Representatives, 368 MPs from both Biden's Democrats and opposition Republicans voted in favor of the bill on Tuesday evening (local time).
The 57 votes against came from the ranks of Republicans.
The package is
worth almost $40 billion
(€38 billion).
It will be "decisive in helping Ukraine not only defend its nation, but also defend democracy for the world," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a letter to colleagues.
The Senate still has to approve it.
Biden had asked Congress for $33 billion.
In the package that has now been increased, around half of the total sum goes to
defense
.
Of this, $6 billion is earmarked for direct military aid to Ukraine.
Billions more are planned, among other things, to replenish US stockpiles of military equipment that was sent to Ukraine.
Other funds earmarked for humanitarian aid to refugees from Ukraine or to people around the world suffering from hunger as a result of the Russian war of aggression.
According to the Secretary General of the human rights organization Amnesty International
,
the Russian leadership around President Vladimir Putin is characterized by
"hatred" for all Ukrainians.
"There are statements, comments and appearances by Putin and other Russian leaders that show how they ignore and hate the Ukrainian people, in which they talk as if Ukraine does not exist," Agnes Callamard said on Ukrainian television on Tuesday.
“And it is precisely these statements that we will use as part of the evidence when we discuss the issue of genocide.”
The violence used in this war was due to the systems thinking created by the leadership.
"Violence becomes the main mode of action, it is tolerated and sometimes even glorified... There is no control and this creates the conditions for violent behavior, there is a regime of impunity..." Callamard was quoted as saying by the Unian agency.
There is no evidence that the military leadership demands torture or murder from the soldiers.
“But we have evidence that the leadership is not stopping these crimes.
So they repeat themselves over and over again,” said Amnesty's Secretary-General.
After
Russia
left the
UN Human Rights
Council , the
Czech Republic
moved up to the international body based in Geneva.
The UN General Assembly decided on Tuesday with a clear majority in a secret ballot in New York.
In this case, the normally three-year term of office will exceptionally only run until the end of 2023.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky was very pleased with the decision.
Lipavsky told journalists in Prague that his country wanted to build on the legacy of civil rights activist and former Czechoslovak and Czech President Vaclav Havel.
As early as Thursday, a special session will deal with human rights violations in the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
economic consequences
Saxony's Prime Minister
Michael Kretschmer
is critical of
an
import ban
on
Russian oil .
Referring to a planned sixth package of sanctions by the EU against Russia, he said: "I think now is the time to take a closer look: Who is really harmed?" There is global demand for hard coal, oil and gas.
If European countries buy energy elsewhere than in Russia, there will be a shortage and the gap will most likely be filled by Russian sources, according to the CDU politician.
What is happening today
In a special session
, the
Bundesrat
is dealing
with the federal government's draft for the
supplementary budget for 2022
.
It is used to finance measures intended to mitigate the consequences of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine for people and the economy in Germany.
This means that new borrowing this year will increase by a further almost 40 billion euros to a total of 138.9 billion euros.
Included are items such as five billion euros for economic aid, 1.45 billion euros for humanitarian aid and one billion euros for the creation of a gas reserve to prevent an energy crisis should Russia suddenly turn off the gas tap.
As of today
, Ukraine
will
stop transiting
Russian gas
in the
Luhansk
region in the east of the country
due to
the war
.
As a result, up to 32.6 million cubic meters of gas per day were lost - that is almost a third of the maximum amount that can be transported via Ukraine to Europe every day, according to the Ukrainian gas network operator.
Due to the Russian occupation, it had become impossible to control the Sochranivka point and the Novopskov compressor station, it said.
Sokhranivka is part of the Soyuz pipeline, which runs from the Russian region of Orenburg to Uzhhorod in Ukraine.
The partial transit stop is to apply from 7 a.m. local time (6 CEST).
jok/Reuters/dpa