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So-called Snake Island in the Black Sea: Alleged hit against Russian warship nearby
Photo: - / AFP
What has happened in the past few hours
The
industrial city of Kremenchuk in central Ukraine was hit by a
series of Russian rockets
on Thursday, according to Ukrainian sources
.
In the biggest attack on the city since the beginning of the war two and a half months ago, a refinery was also damaged, said regional military chief Dmitry Lunin, according to the Unian agency.
"There's a fire there, rescue services are on duty." No one was injured.
The Russian military fired a total of 12 rockets of unknown type.
According to Ukrainian sources, at least
five civilians were killed
in
heavy fighting
between Russian and Ukrainian troops in
the Donetsk region
.
The regional administration reported four deaths in the villages of Novoselivka, Avdiivka and Lyman in the Telegram news service.
According to media reports, another civilian was killed in the fighting in Jasynuwata, which is under the control of the pro-Russian separatists.
The information could not be independently verified.
That says Kyiv
Ukrainian forces say
they
damaged
a
Russian logistics warship
in the Black Sea
.
The "Vsevolod Bobrov" was hit near Snake Island and set on fire, a spokesman for the armed forces for the Odessa military district said on the Internet.
Details are not available.
The information cannot be independently confirmed.
Barely two and a half months after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, the
strategic defeat of Russia
is "obvious" according to Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
.
Moscow's defeat was "obvious to everyone in the world and also to those who still communicate with them (the Russians)," said Zelenskyy in his daily video message on Thursday evening.
Only Russia does not have the courage to admit defeat.
In addition, 570 health facilities
have already been
destroyed
by Russian attacks
in Ukraine since the beginning of the
war
, including
101 hospitals
.
"That's nonsense, that's barbarism," says Zelenskyj.
For him, this is a sign of Russia's self-destruction, which the world once viewed as a cultural nation.
Ukrainian
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba clarified
his country
's
war goals.
"Whatever it takes and no matter how long it takes, Ukraine will fight militarily and also diplomatically for our
country to be fully
restored
in its entire territorial integrity, including of course Donbass and Crimea," Kuleba says on ZDF today's Journal.
Kiev's ambassador
in Berlin,
Andriy Melnyk
, expects the federal government to
do more to help Ukraine join the EU
.
"In addition to arms deliveries and tightening sanctions, our main goal is to get support for joining the EU," says Melnyk of the editorial network Germany (RND) according to a preliminary report.
Since the decision on candidate status will be made by the EU by the end of June, it is important if the Germans help convince other skeptics.
After all, this is in the interest of Germany and the EU, according to Melnyk.
humanitarian situation
The
relatives
of the Ukrainian fighters in the
Azov steelworks in Mariupol
continue to ask the government in
Kiev
to
rescue
the
soldiers
.
"We have started a new round of negotiations on a
timetable
for an
evacuation
operation and we will start with the seriously injured," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told the 1+1 television channel.
We work closely with the Red Cross and the United Nations.
"We want a document to be signed that will specify how an evacuation of the plant will take place," she says, adding that Turkey has offered to act as a mediator in the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
economic consequences
In
Ukraine
, effective immediately, all
branches
of
Russia's Sberbank
and
VEB.RF
, the former Vnjeschekonombank, will be
nationalized
.
This was decided by the parliament in Kyiv on Thursday evening, as Presidential spokesman Andryj Yermak announced, according to the online newspaper "Dumskaya".
According to the law that has now been passed, all shareholder rights of the affected banks and their financial deposits placed with other Ukrainian financial institutions will be transferred to state ownership.
A crowdfunding
project
launched by the Ukrainian leadership
to
support the country has already raised millions within a week.
As Digital Minister Mychajlo Fyodorov announced on Friday night,
donations totaling $25.8 million
(€24.4 million) were received from all over the world via the United24 website.
"The support came from 72 countries around the world." The money from the donation platform will now be divided among the ministries in order to finance the currently most necessary projects.
Ukraine created this state donation platform because of the Russian war of aggression.
The website can now be used to donate separately to the army, humanitarian causes or post-war reconstruction.
According to the site, bank transfers, payments by credit card, but also with crypto money are possible.
What is happening today
Chancellor
Olaf Scholz (SPD)
will answer questions from the
Bundestag
Defense Committee
about his Ukraine policy in the morning
(8 a.m.).
The occasion is an invitation from the committee chairwoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) in April.
She had vehemently advocated the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine and accused Scholz of hesitation on the issue.
jok/Reuters/dpa
