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Destruction in Mariupol (on May 22)
Photo: PAVEL KLIMOV / REUTERS
What has happened in the past few hours
The Moscow-appointed
mayor
of the southern Ukrainian city of
Enerhodar
was wounded
in an
explosion .
He has confirmation that pro-Russian mayor Andrei "Shevchik and his bodyguards were injured in the explosion," said Dmytro Orlov, the elected mayor of Enerhodar in Ukraine.
They are in the hospital "with injuries of varying severity."
Otherwise no one was injured.
Enerhodar is located near Zaporizhia and is the site of the
largest
nuclear power plant in Europe
.
Russian troops took control there at the end of February.
Located on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River, Zaporizhia is still held by Ukraine.
That says Kyiv
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr
Zelenskyy
said at a press conference with
Polish President Andrzej Duda that
50 to 100 Ukrainians die
every day on the front in the east of the country
.
Apparently he was referring to
soldiers
and not civilians.
Moscow says so
According to its chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky,
Russia
is ready to
resume
negotiations
with
Ukraine
.
"For our part, we are ready to continue the dialogue," Medinsky said in an interview with Belarusian state television.
The ball is in Ukraine's court, at whose instigation the talks were suspended.
"Russia has never refused negotiations," Medinsky said.
Talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators initially took place regularly after the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine on February 24 - in person or via video conference.
The foreign ministers of both countries met in Turkey in March for talks that remained fruitless.
A meeting of delegations in Istanbul followed, which also brought no progress.
humanitarian situation
Federal Justice Minister
Marco Buschmann
and CDU foreign affairs expert and MEP
Michael Gahler
are
concerned
about the
prisoners
of war in
Mariupol
.
"Russia's massive violations of international law are completely unacceptable - but they also fill us with great concern with regard to the population of Ukraine and the soldiers who have now been taken prisoner," Buschmann told the "Rheinische Post".
From Gahler's point of view, there are fears of
show trials
, although Russia has no right to treat the prisoners of Mariupol differently from all other Ukrainian prisoners of war.
International reactions
Polish President Duda
has
pledged
full
support to
Ukraine
in its bid for
EU membership
.
At a press conference with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday, Duda said those who "shed their blood" to belong to Europe must be respected "even if the situation is complicated, even if there are doubts".
At the same time, Duda ruled out a return
to business as
usual
when dealing with Moscow
.
"After Bucha, Borodyanka, Mariupol, there can no longer be 'business as usual' with Russia," Duda said on Sunday, referring to the mass killings of civilians and war crimes accused of Russian troops.
Hundreds of civilian bodies were discovered in the Kiev suburbs of Bucha and Borodyanka after the Russian army withdrew.
The southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol has been reduced to ruins after a three-month siege and incessant bombardment.
At least 20,000 civilians were killed there, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Duda became the first foreign leader to address Ukraine's parliament since Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine began on February 24.
She was interrupted several times by standing ovations.
economic consequences
The
Baltic States stopped
importing electricity
from
Russia
because of the war in Ukraine
.
"This is an important step on our way to energy independence," Lithuanian Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys told the AFP news agency on Sunday.
"By refusing to import Russian energy resources, we are refusing to finance the aggressor," the minister said.
On Friday, the Nord Pool energy exchange sent a message to the Russian energy supplier InterRao that it was barred from trading in the Baltic States due to international sanctions.
Latvia imported its last Russian electricity in early May, while Lithuania and Estonia stopped purchasing electricity on Sunday.
Russian electricity accounted for 17 percent of Lithuania's electricity imports last year.
Since the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine,
hundreds
of
professionals
from
Russia
have chosen to
relocate to Germany
.
"In April, around 350 work visas were issued to Russian nationals in Moscow," according to the Foreign Office.
In Saint Petersburg, the German consulate general issued 190 work visas in the same period.
According to information from the dpa news agency, the majority of the skilled workers leaving the country had already worked for a German company in Russia.
In
Austria ,
254 million euros
have so far been
frozen
by Russian oligarchs
in connection with
EU sanctions
.
The funds were parked in 97 accounts, as reported by the Chancellery in Vienna on Sunday.
The Directorate for State Security and Intelligence also found five entries in the land register which, according to the Chancellery, were apparently used to conceal assets.
The investigation of suspected cases is made considerably more difficult by international company constructs, trust companies and straw men, it said.
What is happening today
Russian President
Vladimir Putin
meets with
Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko
in Sochi .
It should be about questions of further cooperation, as the Interfax agency announced on Monday night.
The central topic is the integration cooperation between the two countries in a union state.
Industrial cooperation and cooperation in the field of rocket science could also be part of the talks, as well as handling Belarusian goods in Russian ports and building a Belarusian port near St. Petersburg.
The
verdict
in the first
trial
against a
Russian soldier
for
war crimes
is awaited in Kiev.
21-year-old Vadim Shishimarin faces
life imprisonment
for killing an unarmed civilian .
In court he confessed and asked for forgiveness.
His lawyer asked for an acquittal.
jok/Reuters/dpa