Ukraine: Turkey intervenes in negotiations for Azovstal fighters - "extremely difficult" according to Ukraine

Created: 05/15/2022, 04:46

By: Magdalena Fürthauer, Bedrettin Bölükbasi, Andreas Schmid

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy calls for more international pressure on Russia.

Turkey intervened in the negotiations for soldiers in Mariupol.

News ticker.

• More aid

  for

  Ukraine

  : The European Union wants to support Ukraine with another 500 million.

• Phone call

  with Russian Secretary of Defense: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin calls for

  an immediate ceasefire from Russia.

• Kiev

  proposes

  Mariupol swap

  : In the Ukraine conflict, Ukraine proposes a prisoner swap to Russia to free Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol.

• News ticker on Russia-Ukraine negotiations and international efforts.

Update from May 14, 9:50 a.m .:

The Ukraine-Russia negotiations continue – but the advisor to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj predicts failure.

Current information can be found in our new news ticker.

Update from May 14, 7:13 a.m

.: "Extremely difficult" are the negotiations about the soldiers trapped in the Azovstal plant (Mariupol), said the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereschuk, who is responsible for the talks.

In the Ukraine war, she has been negotiating for days with the support of the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

She shares people's concerns, she said, but there are no miracles in war.

Therefore, only a “sober and pragmatic approach” can help in this case.

A Ukrainian military commander, located at the Azov Steel Plant, calls Elon Musk for help © IMAGO / Cover-Images

Turkey has also got involved in the negotiations.

So far, the Russian military has refused any concessions and is demanding the surrender of the entrenched Ukrainians.

According to inaccurate estimates, around 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers are still in the sprawling plant, many of them wounded.

The majority of them belong to the "Azov" regiment, which Russians classify as nationalist and right-wing extremist.

A member of the regiment, David Chimik, reported heavy fighting around the steelworks.

Nevertheless, he was optimistic.

"We do not think about becoming martyrs, we are fighting for our lives and waiting for support," Chimik was quoted as saying by Ukrajinska Pravda.

Ukraine war: Zelenskyj calls for more political pressure on Russia

Update from May 14, 6:24 a.m

.: Almost two months after the start of the Ukraine war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has called for more pressure from the international community on Moscow.

In his daily video address on Friday evening, Zelenskyy said: "With every day of war, global threats increase, there is a new opportunity for Russia to provoke instability in other parts of the world, not just here in Europe." Ukraine Men and women "doing their best so that all people can live freely," said Zelenskyy.

"So much more pressure on Russia is needed."

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyj last spoke to Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the phone on Wednesday and praised the communication between the two countries.

© Ukraine Presidency/AFP

Without naming a country, Zelenskyy criticized countries "where sanctions against Moscow are being withheld or aid to Ukraine is being blocked".

He referred in particular to the threat of famine or food crises in several parts of the world.

"In fact, today nobody can predict how long this war will last," said Zelenskyy.

“But we are doing everything to liberate our country quickly.

To do this, Ukraine needs help from its partners, “from European countries, from countries all over the free world”.

Ukraine talks: US and Russian defense ministers speak again

Update from May 13, 6:25 p.m .:

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for the first time since Russia attacked Ukraine, calling for an “immediate ceasefire”.

According to the Pentagon on Friday, Austin also emphasized the need to keep communication channels open during the call.

Austin and Shoigu last spoke on February 18 - just under a week before the start of the Russian invasion of the neighboring country.

Joe Biden (r.), President of the USA, and Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense of the USA, attend a meeting at the White House (archive image).

© Evan Vucci/dpa

European Union wants to increase military aid for Ukraine by half a billion euros

Update from May 13, 4 p.m

.: The foreign ministers of the European Union are expected to increase military aid for Ukraine by half a billion euros on Monday.

EU diplomats said on Friday that political approval was in the offing ahead of the Brussels meeting.

On the other hand, there was no breakthrough in the planned oil embargo against Russia.

Ukraine had previously called for more speed in arms deliveries (see previous update).

Ukraine-News: Kuleba calls for faster arms deliveries

Update from May 13, 2:20 p.m

.: Ukraine is demanding more speed from the G7 countries for arms deliveries.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba complained that it was not helpful if weapons were still "on the way".

After consultations with the counterparts of the G7 countries, Kuleba specifically mentioned the delivery of multiple rocket launchers and the reinforcement of the Ukrainian air force.

As for the multiple rocket launchers, they've been told Ukraine will get them - but as long as they don't have them, that's a loophole, he explained.

There is still no solution for the lack of equipment in the air force.

"We'll address that further."

Kuleba also asked Germany and other G7 countries to pass legislation to confiscate Russian state assets and make them available to Ukraine for the country's reconstruction.

"We're talking hundreds of billions of dollars in Europe," he said.

Russia had to pay for the war politically, economically, but also financially.

G7 member states

The NATO countries USA, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy and Germany as well as Japan.

Update from May 13, 1:50 p.m .:

The British government has imposed targeted sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s former wife and other relatives and close allies.

"We are uncovering the shady network that enables Putin's luxurious lifestyle and tightening the screws around his inner circle," British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in a video conference.

© Mikhail Metzel/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP/dpa/archive image

According to the British Foreign Office, Putin is supported by a "cabal of friends, family and elites" while his official fortune is modest.

An updated version of the British sanctions list now includes the Russian President's alleged lover, former rhythmic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, alongside ex-wife Lyudmila Ocheretnaya.

Both were subject to entry bans and asset freezes.

There are good reasons to believe that Ocheretnaja is connected to persons linked to a destabilization of Ukraine or a threat to its territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence, it said.

Kabaeva, for example, is the chairwoman of the supervisory board of the state-owned National Media Group.

Also new to the list are cousins ​​Roman and Igor Putin, and Mikhail Shelomov, a cousin of Putin who, according to British sources, holds shares in Rossiya Bank, which in turn is a major shareholder in the National Media Group.

Ukraine diplomacy: Russia criticizes Ukraine's EU plan - serious accusation against EU

Update from May 13, 12 noon:

The Russian leadership has criticized Ukraine's EU accession plans.

"It is extremely doubtful that Kiev's wish is harmless," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, according to the Interfax news agency, on the sidelines of a meeting in the Central Asian ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

Accession is basically a matter between Kyiv and Brussels, said Lavrov.

At the same time, however, he made serious allegations against the EU: It had “transformed from the constructive economic platform it was founded on into an aggressive, militant actor who is already expressing ambitions far beyond the continent,” said the Russian chief diplomat.

Ukraine diplomacy: More help for Ukraine - new 500 million EU package

Update from May 13, 9:55 a.m .:

The EU wants to provide another 500 million euros for the delivery of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces.

This was announced by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on the fringes of the G7 foreign ministers' meeting near Weißenhäuser Strand on the Baltic Sea.

This would increase the EU funds available for military aid to Ukraine to two billion euros.

Ukraine diplomacy: US speaks of mass kidnappings from Ukraine

Update from May 13, 6:45 a.m .:

The United States assumes that Russia has forcibly kidnapped tens of thousands of Ukrainians since the beginning of its war of aggression.

From the besieged port city of Mariupol alone, thousands were taken to Russia or Russian-controlled areas, said US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Michael Carpenter, on Thursday

in Vienna.

The Ukrainian government estimates the number of kidnapped Ukrainians at almost 1.2 million.

According to the ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova, at least 200,000 children are among them.

According to Kiev, Moscow also operates so-called filtration camps in which arrested Ukrainians are interrogated.

Eyewitnesses reported "brutal interrogations" in those camps, Carpenter said.

This and the forced deportations would amount to war crimes.

"We must not allow this evil to happen," he said.

The UN Human Rights Council voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to launch an investigation into alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine. 

Ukraine war: Zelenskyj sees "obvious" failure of Russia - "they are cowards"

Update from May 13, 6:30 a.m.:

Almost two and a half months after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia’s strategic defeat is “obvious”.

Moscow's defeat was "obvious to everyone in the world and also to those who still communicate with them (the Russians)," Zelenskyy said

in his daily video message on Thursday evening

Only Russia does not have the courage to admit defeat.

"They are cowards and try to hide this truth behind new rocket, air and artillery attacks," said Zelenskyy.

The Ukrainian leader has criticized the recent Russian attacks, which hit a school in Chernihiv in the north of the country.

"Of course, the Russian state is in a state where any education only hinders it," emphasized Zelenskyy.

Russian commanders who issued such orders to shell educational institutions were "simply sick - incurable".

In addition, 570 health facilities in Ukraine have been destroyed by Russian attacks since the beginning of the war, including 101 hospitals.

"What's the point?" Zelenskyy asked, adding: "That's nonsense, that's barbarism." For him, this is a sign of Russia's self-destruction, which the world once viewed as a cultural nation. 

Ukraine diplomacy: Negotiations with Russia on Azovstal for evacuation of the wounded

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 Wereschuk 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 to rage, the chief of staff of the Russian army, 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

This has not yet been confirmed by the Russian side.

“According to preliminary information, Gerasimov has been de facto suspended.

They

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 the 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

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

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 therefore “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

.

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.

The suffering of the wounded Ukrainian soldiers in the steelworks had been reported several times in the past few days.

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

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.