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Russian forces search the steelworks in Mariupol for mines: Ukrainian soldiers face an "international tribunal"
Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS
On the 89th day of the Ukraine war, a Russian soldier was convicted of war crimes in Ukraine for the first time since the invasion began.
Russia threatens retaliation with a tribunal against the fighters from the Azovstal steel plant.
And: A Russian UN diplomat has had enough of the war.
The developments at a glance.
The legal situation
The Ukraine war is also taking place in court.
For the first time since Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine began, a Kremlin soldier has been sentenced for his actions.
The 21-year-old tank soldier Wadim S. has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Kyiv.
S. had killed a 62-year-old defenseless civilian in the village of Chupakhivka in the Sumy region.
He had already confessed to the crime last week at the start of the lightning trial.
According to the Attorney General, around 13,000 cases of alleged Russian war crimes are being investigated in Ukraine.
"To date, we have more than 13,000 cases involving only war crimes," Attorney General Iryna Venediktova said in an interview with the Washington Post.
Before the verdict against the soldier S., Russia had expressed concern about his fate.
Reprisals are possible: According to the Russian news agency Interfax, the head of the Donetsk separatists, Denis Puschilin, announced that he intends to bring the Ukrainian soldiers who fought at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to justice.
An “international tribunal” is also planned.
The military situation
Ukrainian sources reported on Sunday evening that a small town was bombed, leaving one dead and several injured.
The Russian military reported its success on Monday evening: a military transport near Kyiv was bombed and military equipment was destroyed, said the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov.
There have also been numerous Russian rocket and air strikes in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass region.
Meanwhile, the scale of Russian casualties is said to have reached historic levels.
According to British intelligence experts, the Russian army has already suffered losses similar to those suffered by the Red Army during the nine years of the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
Ukraine warns of Russia's ally Belarus, which has so far not taken an active part in the war.
According to the information, Belarus is assembling forces at the border.
"The Belarusian armed forces are conducting increased reconnaissance and have set up additional units in the border area," the Ukrainian general staff said in its situation report.
Accordingly, the danger of rocket and air attacks on Ukraine from Belarusian territory remains.
The humanitarian situation
So far, eight million people have been displaced within the country as a result of the Ukraine war, and more than six million people have fled Ukraine.
Globally, the number of people displaced by war and other deadly conflicts has exceeded 100 million for the first time on record.
This is announced by the UN refugee agency in Geneva.
»One hundred million is a crass number – sobering and alarming at the same time.
It's a record that should never have been," said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.
That's what the Kremlin says
According to a media report, Russia has signaled its willingness to negotiate with Ukraine.
The Russian news agency Ria quotes Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko as saying that the prerequisite is that Kyiv takes a “constructive position”.
He therefore did not want to rule out that the exchange of prisoners from the Azowstal steelworks would also be discussed.
Ukraine recently suspended negotiations to end the war.
That says Kyiv
In view of the impending hunger crises in the world, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is calling for negotiations on access to blocked Ukrainian seaports.
In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Selenskyj said that urgently needed food should be exported by ship from there.
Zelenskyi also invited foreign companies to take part in the reconstruction of devastated Ukrainian cities after the end of the war.
He suggested that frozen Russian property should also be used for financing.
This is how the international community is reacting
The business elite gather in Davos, Switzerland;
Of course, the Ukraine war is a big topic there.
For example, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck is calling for an oil embargo against Russia to be jointly supported by the European Union.
In the afternoon, however, news from Geneva caused a stir: the Russian UN diplomat Boris Bondarev has submitted his resignation - and in a letter he railed against Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
"In the twenty years of my diplomatic career I have seen various turns in our foreign policy, but never have I been as ashamed of my country as on February 24 this year," writes Bondarev, alluding to the date when the Russian invasion began.
"It is unbearable what my government is doing now," Bondarev told the AP news agency.
Here's what you should read or see:
Mikhail Afanasyev described how Russian special police refused to continue fighting in Ukraine.
Now he faces years in prison.
His case shows how the Putin regime is making examples with the new censorship law.
The separatist republic of South Ossetia, located in northern Georgia, wants to unite with Moscow and is planning a referendum.
But there is little to suggest that Putin is now interested in an annexation.
In the fight against Russia's soldiers, clever software is apparently being used that can forward fire commands in no time at all.
All Ukrainian commanders need for this is a smartphone.
In Kiev's suburbs there is no electricity for reconstruction.
The Russian army begins clearing mines in the Mariupol steelworks.
And the Polish President addresses the Ukrainian Parliament.
The situation in the video.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said his country could veto Finland and Sweden from joining NATO if his demands are not met.
Can he get away with it?
Listen to the podcast Eight Billion - Russia's War here
ptz/AFP/AP/dpa/Reuters
