Ukraine war: Selenskyj speaks of genocide in the east - is there a risk of a second Mariupol?
Created: 05/28/2022, 04:59 am
By: Tobias Utz, Lucas Maier, Andreas Apetz
The military situation in the Ukraine war is getting worse and worse: the news ticker.
Attack on military base of Ukraine:
dead and injured
More rocket attacks:
Kremlin gives details of military use
Heavy losses
:
Nearly 30,000 soldiers from Russia's army dead
Ghost town Sievjerodonetsk:
heavy fighting in the Donbass
Bundeswehr frigate:
Warship relocated to NATO's northern flank
This news ticker on the Ukraine war is continuously updated by our editors
+++ 9:20 p.m .:
After Russia announced its control of the city of Lyman, Volodymyir Selenskyj speaks of a “genocide” in eastern Ukraine.
Control of Lyman would give Russia easier access to the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
So far, the information has not been independently confirmed.
In a televised address on Friday night (May 27), the Ukrainian President said that Russia was pursuing “an obvious policy of genocide” in the Donbass.
Meanwhile, in the besieged city of Severodonetsk, a situation similar to that in the port city of Mariupol is looming, as the afp news agency reports.
In doing so, she relies on statements by the head of the civil and military administration of Severodonetsk, Alexander Striuk.
According to Striuk, there are currently between 12,000 and 13,000 people in the city.
+++ 6.45 p.m .:
The United Nations announced on Friday (May 27) the number of civilian casualties in the Ukraine war.
The victims were counted here since the beginning of the attack by Russia on Ukraine.
The time has been set by the UN for Thursday (February 24) at 4 a.m.
The survey covers the period up to midnight on Thursday (26 May).
The decisive factor here is the local time in Ukraine.
In total, the UN counted 8,766 civilian casualties during this period.
A precise breakdown:
Civilian casualty figures (as of May 27)
Dead:
A total of 4,031 civilians have died in the Ukraine war so far.
Including 1,529 men, 995 women, 100 boys, 92 girls.
The sex of 69 children and 1,246 adults is still unknown.
Injured:
A total of 4,735 people have been injured so far.
Including 957 men, 629 women, 132 boys, 110 girls.
The sex of 164 children and 2,743 adults is still unknown.
(Source: ohchr.org)
In its publication, the UN points out that the number of unreported civilian casualties is probably significantly higher.
According to the information, most of the recorded civilian casualties were caused by the use of long-range explosive weapons.
Rocket and air attacks are also included here, as well as attacks with artillery and multiple rocket systems.
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Ukraine war: is another Mariupol looming in the east?
(Archive image) © Alexander Reka/IMAGO
Ukraine war: warning of nuclear attacks
+++ 3.30 p.m .:
Parts of the EU Commission have warned of attacks with nuclear or chemical material in the Ukraine war.
Hungary and Poland in particular were concerned at a meeting, according to confidential minutes obtained by the news magazine Spiegel.
Germany, on the other hand, explained at the meeting that there was currently “no evidence of an increased threat situation”.
Ukraine-News: Russia attacks Ukrainian military base
+++ 2.30 p.m .:
“Around ten people” were killed in a Russian rocket attack on a Ukrainian military base in Dnipro.
This was reported by the regional head of the National Guard Gennady Korban, the television channel Dnipro TV.
There are also many injured: Korban spoke of 30 to 35 people.
The information cannot be independently verified.
The Kremlin had previously boasted about launching "Iskander" rockets.
Ukraine-News: Twelve million displaced in Ukraine
+++ 2:00 p.m .:
According to Volodymyr Selenskyj, President of Ukraine, Russian troops have already displaced twelve million people.
Around 5.5 people even left the country and fled to other countries.
Zelenskyj explained this in a speech for a research institute in Indonesia.
The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope
View photo gallery
Ukraine-News: Kremlin confirms further rocket attacks
+++ 1:00 p.m .:
The Kremlin has confirmed rocket attacks on the city of Bakhmut in the Donbass.
The target of the attacks was a Ukrainian brigade, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday morning.
In addition, "military objects" were fired upon and partially destroyed.
Ukrainian authorities on Thursday reported several deaths from Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region.
+++ 12.30 p.m .:
According to the Governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the city of Lyman is under Russian control.
According to Kyrylenko, the Ukrainian army has retreated to a defensive line around Lyman.
The information cannot be independently verified.
However, there have been increasing reports in recent days that the Russian military is probably controlling Lyman.
Ukraine News: Russia has probably lost almost 30,000 soldiers
+++ 12.00 p.m .:
The Ukrainian general staff reports that Russia has now lost almost 30,000 soldiers in the Ukraine war.
Specifically, it is about 29,750 dead armed forces.
This is reported by the news portal Kyiv Independent with reference to the information from the General Staff that more than 1,300 tanks are said to be broken.
The information cannot be independently verified.
+++ 11.30 a.m .:
Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov has warned the West of new arms deliveries to Ukraine.
This may be a new “step towards escalation”.
Ukraine News: Heavy fighting around the ghost town of Sievjerodonetsk
+++ 9.30 a.m .:
According to the latest assessment by the British Ministry of Defense, the Russian army is apparently using 50-year-old tanks in the Ukraine war.
This primarily affects the troops in southern Ukraine, for example around Mariupol.
The obsolete tanks are said to be "T62" models in particular, the ministry reports, citing British intelligence information.
The use of the 50-year-old tanks shows "Russia's lack of modern and combat-ready equipment".
The information cannot be independently verified.
+++ 8.30 a.m .:
An “anti-Putin summit” is apparently planned in Lithuania on Friday.
An anonymous source gives the first details.
+++ 8:00 a.m .:
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of a lack of leadership and disregard for Ukrainian interests after his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Melnyk told Springer-Verlag: "Militarily, Ukraine is being left in the lurch by Berlin, plain and simple." In Kyiv, they had hoped to "hear from Scholz's speech in Davos "what very specific steps the traffic light will take to give us massive support , so that Ukraine wins this war.” But that did not happen.
"Unfortunately, that was a non-negotiable report, especially with regard to the immediate delivery of heavy weapons from Germany to smother the Russian offensive in the Donbass," said Melnyk.
He attacked Scholz directly: "There is probably a lack of leadership and courage." When it came to Ukraine's candidacy for EU membership, there were "unfortunately no encouraging signals to the Ukrainians".
Ukraine war: Donbass could become "uninhabitable" - request for more long-range weapons
+++ Update from Friday, May 27, 2022, 6.45 a.m .:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has accused Moscow of “genocide” in eastern Ukraine, while the Russian army intensified its attacks around the city of Severodonetsk.
In the Donbass, Russia is pursuing "an obvious policy of genocide," Zelensky said in his daily television address on Friday night (May 27).
The city of Kharkiv in northern Ukraine was again the target of attacks on Thursday, nine people died.
The Russian offensive could make the Donbass region "uninhabitable," Zelenskyy said.
He accused Moscow of wanting to reduce Ukrainian cities to rubble.
"All of this, including the kidnapping of our people and the mass killing of civilians, is a blatant genocidal policy being pursued by Russia."
Ukraine news: Russia has lost "about 1000 tanks" so far
+++ 7.25 p.m .:
The Russian troops have lost “about 1000 tanks” and “well over 350 artillery pieces” in the Ukraine war, a senior US defense official told journalists.
In addition, Russia lost "nearly three dozen fighter-bombers and more than 50 helicopters."
Despite these losses, Russian units "still have most of their equipment available," the official added.
"They invested a large part of their equipment and personnel in this fight and the Ukrainians suffered casualties, the Russians suffered casualties."
The government official's outlook on the Ukraine war is bleak: "The Russians have a superiority here in terms of the number of resources they can deploy to this fight in terms of people, equipment and weapons, and we just have to take that into account. "
Ukraine-News: Situation in the east is "very difficult"
+++ 5.45 p.m .:
In eastern Ukraine, the Russian armed forces are apparently using a wide range of weapons on several fronts, the Ukrainian defense is said to be outnumbered and outgunned, according to Ukrainian officials, reports CNN.
Several officials described the situation in eastern Ukraine as "very difficult" and admitted that Ukrainian units had to withdraw in some places.
The Russians have used short-range ballistic missiles, heavy artillery and tanks in eastern Ukraine in the bombardment of cities in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, it is said.
According to the Ukrainian National Police, civilians have been killed in attacks on 13 settlements in Donetsk.
The main goal of the Russian troops should be the capture of Sloviansk.
The town's mayor, Vadym Liakh, told CNN that half of the town was without water and "there would be no gas supply until the heating season".
Ukraine News: Vitali Klitschko reports 120 deaths in Kyiv
+++ 2.15 p.m .:
According to Vitali Klitschko, Mayor of the Ukrainian capital, 120 citizens of Kiev have been killed since the Russian invasion began at the end of February.
Klitschko said more than 300 people were injured.
The mayor said this on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Ukraine-News: Russian soldier complains about poor preparation
+++ 1.30 p.m.:
A Russian soldier spoke to the Guardian about the Russian army's poor preparation.
The 21-year-old was initially stationed in Crimea before his unit was sent to war.
"They only told us about it at the very last moment, the night before the invasion," reports the young Russian soldier.
It is said that he was sent to the Ukraine war "completely unprepared".
When his unit got into a firefight with the Ukrainian troops, surrender was the only option: “It was our first confrontation with the enemy;
we hadn't even fired a shot.
They ambushed us and we couldn't fight back.
We had to surrender.” After 45 days in Ukrainian captivity, the 21-year-old was exchanged.
Ukraine News: Scholz warns of “biggest famine in decades”
+++ 12.45 p.m .:
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke about the “brutal war” in Ukraine and expressed his personal concerns for the future.
The Chancellor warned of the food crisis resulting from the Ukraine conflict: "If we don't take quick and decisive countermeasures here, we are threatened with the world's worst famine in decades".
Ukraine is one of the world's largest grain exporters.
The country recently supplied 14 percent of the quantities of wheat, barley and corn traded on the world market.
Ukraine is also a supplier of rapeseed and sunflower oil.
Ukraine News: Scholz talks about Putin's goals
+++ 11.45 a.m .:
According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vladimir Putin has already missed all strategically important goals in the Ukraine war.
"A capture of all of Ukraine by Russia seems further away today than it was at the beginning of the war," said Scholz in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
+++ 11.30 a.m .:
The Kremlin has released video footage of the launch of an “Iskander-K” rocket.
The ballistic missile was aimed at a "military target" in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
This is reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Ukraine News: Bundeswehr warship on NATO's northern flank
+++ 10.30 a.m .:
The Bundeswehr frigate “Mecklenburg-Vorpommern” is intended to strengthen NATO’s northern flank in the future.
The warship will be integrated into the rapid reaction forces over the next few months, the naval command said on Thursday (May 26).
There are 22 soldiers on board, including crew members from Slovakia.
Ukraine News: "Putin needs the victory"
+++ 9.30 a.m .:
After Putin’s defeats in Kiev and Kharkiv, the “Battle for Sievjerodonetsk” is said to be decisive for the outcome of the Ukraine war.
According to Matthew Schmidt, associate professor of national security and politics at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, "Putin needs a win."
The pressure on the Russian President has grown extremely.
A new sense of achievement is now essential.
"They are throwing all the power they have into this battle," Schmidt told the Washington Post.
Whether it's enough for a win remains to be seen.
Due to the many setbacks and injuries, the Russian army is struggling with personnel problems.
In Sievjerodonetsk, Putin was forced to resort to thrown together "Frankenstein squads," according to Schmidt.
The makeshift regiments consisted of soldiers from different units and his not attuned to each other.
Ukraine-News: Kadyrov threatens Poland with military attack
+++ 7:00 a.m .:
Ramzan Kadyrov, ruler in Chechnya and Putin supporter, has threatened Poland with an attack.
The Nexta medium published a video on Wednesday (May 25) in which Kadyrov can be seen.
In it he says: “I am interested in Poland.
After Ukraine, if there is an order, we will show what we can do in six seconds.
Better take your weapons from the mercenaries,” Kadyrov said.
Chechen troops have been involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine since late February.
According to media reports, they are extremely brutal in doing so.
Ukraine-News: Apparently 40 cities attacked by Russia
+++ 6:00 a.m .:
The Ukrainian military reports a major attack by Russia on the Donbass.
"The occupiers shelled more than 40 towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, destroying or damaging 47 civilian facilities, including 38 houses and a school.
As a result of this shelling, five civilians died and 12 were wounded,” the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Facebook on Thursday morning.
The Ukrainian army repelled 10 enemy attacks, destroyed four tanks and four drones and killed 62 "enemy soldiers".
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russian troops are "far outnumbered" in some parts of the Donbass.
Selenskyj had therefore called for new arms deliveries on Wednesday evening.
The information provided by the Ukrainian military cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine-News: Russia is probably preparing a rapid ground offensive
First report on Thursday, May 26, 5:00 a.m.:
Kiev/Moscow – The Russian army is apparently preparing for a battle for the city of Sievjerodonetsk, in the west of the Luhansk region.
The oblast is located in eastern Ukraine's Donbass, where Russia has been assembling troops for another offensive for days.
The US think tank "Institute for the Study of War" analyzed in the situation report on Thursday morning (May 26) that conspicuous troop movements around Sievjerodonetsk can currently be observed.
It is possible that Russia could attack the city before cutting off Ukrainian lines of communication on the ground - which appears to be standard military action.
This is reported by the Kyiv Independent news portal with reference to the institute.
The rapid attack on Sievjerodonetsk was probably carried out in order to "maintain the pace after sending a significant part of its personnel, artillery, aircraft and logistics to the front," analyzes the ISW.
So far, Russia has had to accept heavy losses in the Ukraine war.
The Ukrainian general staff now assumes that almost 30,000 soldiers have died.
Logically, the Kremlin quotes significantly lower numbers.
(tu/aa)
