Arrests in the Russian military?
Putin is said to have "dishonorably discharged" two top generals
Created: 05/13/2022, 04:52
By: Magdalena Fürthauer, Bedrettin Bölükbasi
While Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is demanding clear security guarantees, Putin is said to have fired two top generals.
The news ticker.
Ukraine conflict: Ukraine is also looking for support on the diplomatic front.
Turmoil in the military leadership:
According to a Ukrainian adviser, Putin has "dishonorably discharged" two top generals.
Podolyak
calls for an
oil embargo
: The Ukrainian presidential adviser calls for an oil embargo against Russia and draws a comparison to 1938.
This
news ticker on Russia-Ukraine negotiations and international efforts
is continuously updated.
Update from May 12, 8:55 p.m .:
According to its own statements, Ukraine is conducting negotiations with Russia about the evacuation of seriously injured soldiers from the besieged steel plant of the Azov-Stahl group in Mariupol.
The talks are "very difficult," said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Thursday.
It is initially only about 38 soldiers who could be exchanged for captured Russians.
Various media have previously spoken of a possible 500 to 600 Ukrainians who could be taken out of the steel mill as part of these negotiations.
Vereshchuk rejects this magnitude.
"We work step by step."
Ukraine: Arrests in the Russian military?
Putin is said to have "dishonorably discharged" two top generals
Update from May 12, 7:30 p.m .:
While the fighting in Ukraine continues, the Russian army chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, has apparently fallen out of favor with Putin.
In a YouTube interview with a Russian dissident and lawyer, Ukrainian military adviser Oleksiy Arestovych reported that he was “dishonorably discharged”.
This is what
Focus Online reports.
This has not yet been confirmed by the Russian side.
“According to preliminary information, Gerasimov has been de facto suspended.
They
[the Russian military leadership, ed.
Red.]
decide whether they will give him time to put things right or not," said the military adviser in the video distributed on Wednesday evening.
Arestov claims that Putin has also fired a top general.
"The commander of the 1st Tank Army of the Western Military District, Lieutenant General Sergei Kisel, was also arrested and released after the 1st Tank Army was defeated near Kharkiv," he says in an interview.
Further information on this is not known.
In a YouTube interview, Ukrainian military adviser Arestovych states that Putin has fired two of his top generals.
© Screenshot Youtube/ФейгинLIVE
Update from May 12, 5:05 p.m .:
Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin has certified western countries that the sanctions imposed on Moscow are harming their own economies.
Western countries are "driven by Russophobia" and are dealing "a much harder blow to their own national interests, their own economies and the prosperity of their own citizens" than Russia, Putin said.
This is made particularly clear by the high inflation rates in Europe, "which is almost 20 percent in some countries".
Ukraine diplomacy: Podolyak demands oil embargo - with comparison to 1938
Update from May 12, 3:50 p.m .:
The advisor to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Ukrainian chief negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, has again called for an oil embargo against Russia, referring to the Second World War.
"Had the leaders acted decisively in 1938, Europe could have avoided World War II," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
But instead politicians "acted cowardly and flirted with the aggressor".
Podolyak continued: "History will not forgive us if we make the same mistake again." The EU must therefore impose an oil embargo on Russia "immediately", according to the Ukrainian politician.
Ukraine diplomacy: Kuleba calls for Western weapons - fighter jets and missile defense systems
Update from May 12, 3:25 p.m .:
During his visit to Germany, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba demanded the delivery of Western fighter jets and missile defense systems to defend his country against Russia.
"Let's forget the Soviet systems, that's over," he said in an interview with the Welt-Zeitung.
"If this war continues, the last stocks of Soviet weapons will soon be exhausted in the countries willing to give them to us.
Some already are," he said.
Ukraine diplomacy: Johnson sees no reconciliation with Putin - "not with the best will in the world"
Update from May 12, 1:35 p.m .:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson currently sees no possibility of normalizing relations with Vladimir Putin.
"Nothing is impossible, I would say, but with the best will in the world I don't see how we can now normalize relations with Putin again," he was quoted as saying by the British newspaper
The Guardian
on the British radio station LBC Radio.
Russia's rulers have "severely violated" human rights and international law.
He is also responsible for a "barbaric attack" in a "completely innocent country," Johnson said.
The British Prime Minister called a normalization of relations at this point a repeat of the mistake of 2014 after the annexation of Crimea.
"No normalization and the UK is absolutely clear about this," Johnson noted.
Ukraine diplomacy: Finland is planning to join NATO - the application will be made in the coming days
Update from May 12, 10:35 a.m .:
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has changed the security situation in Europe significantly.
In view of the Ukraine war, Finland's President and Prime Minister have now spoken out in favor of joining NATO "immediately".
A formal membership application is expected in the coming days.
Ukraine War: Putin's invasion falters - heavy casualties in Russian army
First report:
Munich - The Ukraine war is not going as desired by Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin.
Strong resistance from the Ukrainian military stalled its invasion after initial successes, particularly in the south and east, where fighting is now intense.
This map shows where the Ukraine war is raging.
Ukraine is defending itself with heavy weapons, which are now being supplied at an accelerated rate from the West, including Germany.
Although Kyiv primarily demands weapons, security guarantees have also been part of the demands for some time.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy now sees progress on this issue.
Ukraine diplomacy: progress on security guarantees - Zelenskyj looks to "coming decades"
"We are negotiating with the world's leading nations to give Ukraine confidence in security for decades to come," Zelenskyi said
in his daily video address on Wednesday evening
(May 11) .
Among other things, this topic was discussed at the G7 meeting on May 8, in which Ukraine took part for the first time.
"This is the first time in the history of our state that such guarantees can be recorded," underlined Zelenskyy.
And not in any memoranda or unclear formulations, "but concrete guarantees".
These are also "not only legally valid, but also formulated in such a way that it is clear: What exactly, who specifically and how specifically (Ukraine) is guaranteed".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sees significant progress in efforts to secure international security guarantees for his country.
© IMAGO/Ukraine Presidency
Ukraine negotiations: Kyiv proposes Mariupol swap - currently no agreement with Russia
The situation of the soldiers in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol is also being discussed.
"As a first step, we offered the Russians the following exchange: We transport our seriously wounded boys in a humanitarian corridor from Azovstal," said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Wednesday evening, according to
Ukrajinska Pravda
.
At the same time, the Ukrainian military is releasing Russian prisoners of war "according to standard rules for their exchange".
Negotiations are still ongoing and no agreement has yet been reached.
In the past few days, there have been several reports of the suffering of the wounded Ukrainian soldiers in the steelworks.
According to a paramedic, there is now an absolute shortage of medication.
Horrifying reports keep coming from the Mariupol steelworks, which is the last bastion of the Ukrainian troops in the now heavily damaged port city.
The Russian military is demanding that the defenders surrender, while the Ukrainian troops categorically refuse.
Ukraine negotiations: EU with China warning - Brussels sees "worrying pact" with Russia
At a summit meeting in Japan, the leaders of the EU demonstrated solidarity with the country and warned of the negative effects of cooperation between Russia and China on the world community.
Russia "today, with its barbaric war against Ukraine and its disturbing pact with China, is the most direct threat to the world order," said EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday
(May 12)
after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Kishida emphasized: "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is not just a European matter, but shakes the core of the international order, including Asia." This should "not be tolerated".
Cooperation on the Ukraine crisis is "of crucial importance for Europe, but also for the Indo-Pacific region," said EU Council President Charles Michel.
He announced that the EU and Japan also intend to "deepen their consultations on a more confident China."
Michel said the two sides discussed "ways to strengthen our security and defense cooperation."
Kishida pointed to tensions in the South and East China Seas, where Tokyo fears Beijing is increasingly trying to lay claim to disputed areas.
China's position on the invasion of Ukraine is being scrutinized by Western countries, for among other things China itself is looking towards Taiwan with an aspiration for "reunification".
The democratically self-governing island nation is in danger of becoming a target for the Chinese military.
In addition, in the Indo-Pacific there is a serious rivalry over maritime jurisdiction between China and other countries in the region, which are supported by Europe and the USA.
(bb with dpa/AFP)
