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Prison in the Donetsk region (photo taken at the end of July 2022)
Photo: Maxar Technologies/EPA
What has happened in the past few hours
Even in the cold, sleet and rain, heavy fighting continues in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian armed forces fended off dozens of attack attempts by Russian soldiers every day, said Serhiy Cherevatyy, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Ukrainian army.
The areas around Bakhmut and Avdiivka north of Donetsk were at the center of the heaviest fighting.
In addition to barrel artillery, the Russian armed forces also used rocket launchers, mortars and tanks, with the support of their combat aircraft.
On average, the Russian army conducts around 200 artillery strikes there every day.
"But despite these efforts, the enemy has not been able to break through our defenses for months," Cherevatyi said.
That says Kyiv
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine is endeavoring to hold Russia internationally responsible for the war of aggression and the resulting consequences.
In his talks with foreign politicians and in various contacts between the Ukrainian authorities and Western institutions, Zelenskyy said in his daily video address.
"The main theme of all these events is Russia's responsibility for war and terror."
After briefly listing the latest Russian attacks and recent damage, including the water supply failure in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, Zelenskyy accused the invaders of destructiveness.
"This is the real essence of these random comrades who took over Russia," said Zelenskyy.
"After 20 years of rule, a large part of their state is as ruined as if there had been a war there."
"They are capable of nothing but destruction," the Ukrainian head of state accused the Russians.
“And what they're doing against Ukraine now is their attempt at revenge.
To take revenge for the fact that the Ukrainians kept fighting them.«
His country will defend itself against Russia by any means necessary.
"Ukraine will never take orders from these comrades in Moscow," he said.
In the face of power outages caused by Russian rocket attacks on power plants and power lines, the Ukrainian Minister of Justice, Denys Maljuska, warns of an emergency situation in Ukrainian prisons.
“One of our biggest concerns is the situation in prisons.
We need the supply of electricity and water in the prisons," Maljuska told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
A stress test has shown that the security and supply in the prisons can be maintained for a week at most without electricity.
»After a week, the supply, heating and also security are at serious risk, as the prison also requires electricity for surveillance cameras and other security equipment.«
With a view to the meeting of the G7 justice ministers in Berlin, the Ukrainian head of department Denys Maljuska has reiterated his country's demand that Russia pay for the war damage.
He relies on the support of the group of seven economically strong democracies.
"Russia must pay the Ukrainian people for the damage they caused in this war," Malyuska said.
“Russia has to pay reparations, as we have seen in other regions in past wars.” Damage of 150 billion dollars is assumed, “which does not include the economic damage and the costs for the injured and war victims and their families does not include,” said the Ukrainian Minister of Justice.
He called for a "compensation mechanism" in which Russian funds that are in European accounts and were frozen as part of the sanctions are to be transferred to Ukraine.
“This would put pressure on the Russian elite in this war.
And this would help Ukraine to rebuild the country after the Russian invasion,” Malyuska argued.
humanitarian situation
The Ukrainian President's wife Olena Zelenska has called for a "global response" to the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
"Everyone knows about the large number of rapes" committed by Russian soldiers in the Ukraine war, she told a British government-sponsored conference on sexual violence in conflict in London on Monday.
The Russian soldiers "are very open about it."
Sexual violence and sex crimes were now part of the Russian troops' "arsenal" to "humiliate the Ukrainians," Zelenska added.
The Ukrainian public prosecutor's office is investigating more than a hundred such alleged crimes, but the actual number is significantly higher.
However, those affected often shy away from making the crimes public, said the President's wife.
They are afraid of being stigmatized or that the perpetrators will return.
"It is therefore extremely important that this be recognized as a war crime and that all perpetrators are held accountable," she said.
“There has to be a global answer to this.
Unfortunately, as long as soldiers believe they can go unpunished, war crimes like this will continue to happen."
International reactions
According to an insider, the US wants to support Ukraine in restoring the power supply in the face of Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will present aid at a meeting of a new energy coordination group including the G7 and other nations on Tuesday, a US official said.
The Washington government has been working with US utilities and hardware suppliers, as well as European countries, to get equipment needed to repair the damaged high-voltage substations "to Ukraine as quickly as possible over the next few weeks."
The US Department of Defense has also announced plans to sell missiles worth $323 million (around €319 million) to NATO candidate Finland.
The sale will improve Finland's "air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities and have a positive impact on US relations with countries in the Nordic region," the Pentagon said on Monday.
A sales license for tactical missiles of the types AIM 9X and AGM-154 has been granted to Finland.
The sale will "support U.S. foreign policy and national security by enhancing the security of a trusted partner who is an important force for political stability and economic progress in Europe," it said.
The arms sale announcement comes more than nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Russian war of aggression had prompted both Finland and Sweden to break with their decades-long tradition of military alliance neutrality and to apply for NATO membership.
what is happening today
At a meeting in the Romanian capital Bucharest, the foreign ministers of the 30 NATO countries are discussing further support options for Ukraine.
According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, this will include the delivery of so-called non-lethal goods.
This means, for example, winter equipment for the armed forces, medical material or jammers for countering drones.
At their meeting, the justice ministers of the G7 countries will deal with investigations into war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) has also invited a delegation from Ukraine to the consultations.
The government in Kyiv advocates a special tribunal to prosecute Russian crimes in Ukraine.
In addition to Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the USA and Great Britain belong to the G7 association.
jok/dpa/Reuters
