Russia launches more attacks on Wednesday.
US senators demand delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Kiev.
News ticker on the Ukraine war.
New
recruitment wave
in
Russia
?
From April 1, Moscow wants to recruit another 400,000 soldiers for its own armed forces.
"Game changer
on the
battlefield
": A group of US senators has written a letter calling for the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine.
Sipri report
on
arms imports 2022
: Kiev with President Volodymyr Zelensky in third place
Wagner mercenaries
in
Bakhmut:
Yevgeny Prigozhin sees the "very difficult" situation in the
Ukraine war
Update from March 15, 4:55 p.m .:
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö announced that Turkey had made a decision to allow his country to join NATO.
Niinistö said on Wednesday (March 15) in Helsinki that he had accepted an invitation to Turkey for Friday to be present at the announcement of the decision.
"The Turks hoped that I would be present when they announced the decision," Niinistö explained.
"Of course I accepted the invitation and I will be there to find out their intentions." Finland could be allowed to join the military alliance independently of Sweden.
War in Ukraine: "Putin's cook" announced capture of another village near Bakhmut
Update from March 15, 3:10 p.m .:
According to their own statements, Wagner mercenaries have taken another town near Bachmut.
Mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Wednesday (March 15) that his troops have taken control of the town of Zaliznyanskoye.
"Assault units are making progress in encircling Bakhmut," Putin's Koch, as some call Prigozhin, continued via the Telegram channel of his press service.
For months the Russian army and the Wagner mercenaries have been trying to encircle the town of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian defenders are still holding out in the western part of the city.
+
Yevgeny Prigozhin (archive photo from 2017)
© SERGEI ILNITSKY/afp
New recruitment wave in Russia?
Moscow is looking for 400,000 new soldiers
Update from March 15, 1:37 p.m .:
The Russian Ministry of Defense will apparently start a new recruitment process for contract soldiers on April 1st.
The aim of the Russian military leadership is said to be recruiting 400,000 new soldiers.
This was reported by the Russian radio service "Radio Free Europe" on Wednesday.
According to the report, the Russian Defense Ministry has already sent documents to various regions with the number of contracts to be signed there.
Almost 300,000 new soldiers were drafted during the Russian partial mobilization last fall.
So the new targets of the Russian Ministry of Defense would be significantly higher than the last recruitment wave.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in January that the number of Russian armed forces should increase to 1.5 million within three years.
+
Soldiers of the 154th Preobrazhensky Regiment take their oath in Moscow (symbol image).
© Maksim Blinov/imago-images
Update from March 15, 12:10 p.m .:
Turkey could soon drop its reservations about Finland’s admission to NATO.
The Reuters news agency reported, citing insiders, that the process could be completed before mid-April.
Finland's President Sauli Niinistö has announced an official visit to Turkey for Thursday.
"Game changer on the battlefield": US senators pressurize fighter jet deliveries
Update from March 15, 10:15 a.m .:
A group of US senators wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to plead for the delivery of US fighter jets to Ukraine.
The Ukraine war is "now at a critical point," says the letter, which is available to the US portal
Politico
.
The delivery of F-16 fighter jets could give Ukraine a decisive advantage at this stage, the senators wrote.
“We believe that the US needs to look closely at the delivery of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine.
These would have significant potential that could prove to be game-changers on the battlefield.” The letter was signed by five Democratic and three Republican Senators.
For months, the Ukrainian government has been calling for the establishment of a fighter jet alliance to provide the aircraft for the fight against Russia.
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US fighter jets take off from a military base in South Korea.
© dpa
War in Ukraine: renewed attacks on Wednesday – Russian troops target Kharkiv
Update from March 15, 9:55 a.m .:
There were already several Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities on Wednesday.
The governor of the Kharkiv Oblast reported in the morning of attacks on the district capital of the same name in the north-east of the country.
In large parts of Ukraine, the air raid sirens sounded again in the early hours of the morning.
Meanwhile, the Russian military is reporting attacks on the Belgorod border region.
Air defense intercepted three missiles over the area, the region's governor said.
The debris then fell on an inhabited area and slightly injured a girl.
However, the Russian official did not provide any information on the origin of the rockets.
Update from March 15, 8:05 a.m .:
Volodymyr Zelenskyj, Ukrainian President, relies on the strength of the Ukrainians in the defense against Russian invaders.
With perseverance slogans, he wants to encourage his fellow citizens in the fight against Russia, reports the German Press Agency.
Meanwhile, Moscow faces a serious confrontation with the United States.
War in Ukraine: Russia positions itself on the Black Sea
Update from March 15, 6:18 a.m .:
According to reports from the Ukrainian reconnaissance, the Russian Navy positioned several ships on the Black Sea, from which cruise missiles are usually launched.
The Ukrainian military leadership spoke of a "cat-and-mouse game" because Ukraine always raises its alertness for possible new rocket attacks when these ships leave the port.
Ukraine news: New meeting
Update from March 14, 8:22 p.m .:
A new meeting in the so-called Ramstein format is to be held on Wednesday to discuss further arms deliveries to Ukraine.
This was announced by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov on Tuesday evening via Facebook.
The minister had previously met with his Dutch counterpart, Kajsa Ollongren.
At the meeting in the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa, Ollongren Kiev announced the delivery of two Alkmaar-class ships by 2025.
The Netherlands would also take over the training of the sailors.
In connection with a similar announcement by Belgium and ships already delivered by Britain, Reznikov wrote of a "ship coalition".
Earlier, during the Ramstein meeting, western states in a so-called “tank coalition” had promised Ukraine the supply of main battle tanks.
Ukraine news: Putin rants in speech – Moscow is fighting for the “survival of the Russian state”
Update from March 14, 6:04 p.m .:
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in a speech on Tuesday about his country’s motives in the Ukraine war and continued to repeat the Kremlin propaganda.
"For us, this is not a geopolitical task, but a task for the survival of the Russian state," said the Kremlin chief during a visit to the aircraft manufacturer Buryatia.
"After 2014, those who advocated the development of normal relations with Russia simply began to be physically exterminated," he said, referring to Kiev.
Putin once again claimed in front of the questioning and nodding workers that he had been striving for a peaceful solution to the Donbass conflict for eight years.
But Russia was "led by the nose".
During the performance filmed by state television, he called on the population to unite in order to achieve victory.
More than a year after the start of the Russian invasion, there is no sign that the Moscow military will achieve its war goals.
However, Putin said the war would end in "victory and success" for Russia.
+
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, addressed workers at a helicopter factory on Tuesday.
© Vladimir Gerdo/dpa
Ukraine update: Russia expands controversial law to defame soldiers
Update from March 14, 2:32 p.m .:
More than a year after the start of the Ukraine war, Russia is expanding its already controversial law to punish “defamation” or “discrediting” of its own fighters.
High penalties are now threatened not only for criticizing the army, but also for "volunteers" fighting in the neighboring country.
Fr.de
reports on details of the new law initiated by Wagner boss Prigozchin
.
Ukraine news: Strack-Zimmermann expresses criticism
Update from March 14, 8:07 a.m
.: Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann criticized “gold edge solutions” in German arms spending in ARD’s “Morgenmagazin”.
"Germany has always had special requests that are not marketable," said the FDP defense politician.
However, the procurement must be "much, much faster," demanded the FDP politician.
For decades, Germany allowed itself to demand “a little extra”, so-called “gold edge solutions”, for orders for the Bundeswehr.
"The fact is, we need things that are on the market quickly." At the same time, Strack-Zimmermann called for "more money" for the Bundeswehr.
"We are in a security situation where we have to equip the Bundeswehr more than ever."
Regarding the upcoming change of personnel at the top of the Bundeswehr, Strack-Zimmermann said that a new minister would do well to “also exchange certain personalities”.
The previous Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, General Eberhard Zorn, had "achieved a lot", but Germany now needs someone to tackle the new "mammoth task".
Zorn's designated successor, Major General Carsten Breuer, as head of the Corona crisis team, has shown "that he is good at organizing", so she trusts him with the task.
Ukraine news: military experts suddenly have doubts about Bachmut's strategy
Update from March 14, 6:35 a.m
.: The “Fortress Bakhmut” proclaimed by Kiev provokes skepticism among experts.
According to Reuters, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said: "We could lose here everything that we wanted to use for these counter-offensives."
And according to the report, Ukrainian military historian Roman Ponomarenko believes there is a "very real" danger that the city will be surrounded by the Russians and therefore recommended on Radio NV that it should be abandoned: "If we simply abandon Bakhmut and withdraw our troops and equipment, nothing bad can happen...if they close the ring, we will lose men and equipment."
Ukraine news: The battle for Bachmut is also taking place on social media
Update from March 13, 8:50 p.m .
: The onslaught of Russian troops on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been going on for weeks, is accompanied by a fight for the sovereignty of interpretation of the battle.
According to information from Kiev, this has long since been carried out on social media: the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communication announced on Monday that Russia was using anonymous channels to spread ads on Facebook about alleged successes by Russian troops.
Among other things, it is claimed that the battle for Bakhmut is "lost from the Ukrainian point of view" and "the West does not believe in Ukraine".
It is also spread that the USA is reducing its arms deliveries because "Ukrainian authorities were caught stealing".
"The occupiers want to undermine the trust of Ukrainian society in the government by claiming that the battle for Bakhmut is lost and that our allies have left us to our own devices," the communications authority wrote.
After all, exactly the opposite is the case.
However, during the war, the accounts of both the Russian and the Ukrainian side often cannot be independently verified.
Russia wants to extend grain deal – but “only for 60 days”
Update from March 13, 6:43 p.m.:
Russia only wants to extend the grain agreement with Ukraine by 60 days.
Russia has no objection to a further extension, but "only for 60 days," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said on Monday after talks with UN officials in Geneva.
Moscow wants to see progress on a parallel deal on Russian exports before considering extending the grain deal again, he added.
Update from March 13, 5:42 p.m .:
Representatives of Russia and the United Nations have started talks in Geneva about extending the grain agreement with Ukraine.
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffith and the head of the World Trade and Development Conference (UNCTAD), Rebeca Grynspan, arrived at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Monday, but initially did not comment.
The Russian representation in Geneva confirmed the start of talks.
The deal was signed in July, brokered by the UN and Turkey, to allow Ukrainian grain to be safely exported through a Black Sea protection corridor.
According to UN figures, more than 24.1 million tons of grain have been exported so far.
At the same time, the agreement allows Russia to export fertilizer and food despite sanctions.
Moscow has repeatedly complained that this agreement is not being respected.
Ukraine news: Government in Moldova sees no danger of a Russian invasion
Update from March 13, 4:55 p.m .:
While the Ukraine war continues with all violence, there are always fears of a new Russian invasion of Moldova, which borders Ukraine.
But according to the government, there is currently no threat of armed attack from abroad.
"There is currently no immediate military danger for Moldova," Moldovan Defense Minister Anatolie Nosatii told the AFP news agency.
But there are "other types of threats affecting the security of the country - hybrid warfare," Nosatii warned.
Russia is creating "disinformation, tensions within our society" and trying "to change the political order, to destabilize and overthrow state power," explained the defense minister.
"The biggest challenge is a series of provocations that the Russian Federation is trying to use to destabilize the situation," he added.
For weeks, the party of pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor, who fled the country, has been holding protests against Moldova's pro-Western government.
On Sunday (March 12), thousands of people gathered again in Chisinau at a demonstration organized by Shor, among others, in front of the parliament and tried to get to the seat of government.
The Moldovan government has repeatedly accused Moscow of wanting to use saboteurs disguised as anti-government demonstrators to bring about a violent overthrow of the government.
Russia denies the allegations.
Ukraine news: FDP politician Strack-Zimmermann skeptical about the Ukraine committee
Update from March 13, 3 p.m.:
The FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has expressed skepticism about the appointment of a Bundestag committee of inquiry into German Russia policy before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"I think setting up a committee of inquiry is helpful when it comes to facts," said the chair of the defense committee at the presentation of the book "The Moscow Connection" by journalists Reinhard Bingener and Markus Wehner.
However, the assessment of Russia policy is primarily about political assessments.
A politician like the former SPD Foreign Minister and current Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier would probably only say in such a committee that he did the right thing at the time, but in retrospect he would judge it differently, says Strack-Zimmermann.
"That's why I understand this political approach.
However, I believe that a committee of inquiry will not solve the problem.”
Ukraine news: UN and Russia are negotiating the extension of the grain deal
Update from March 13, 1:52 p.m
.: Russian representatives and UN representatives are negotiating an extension of the grain agreement this Monday (March 13) in Geneva.
The grain deal expires on March 18th.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the matter as "complicated" last week.
The deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, was signed in July to allow Ukrainian grain to be safely exported through a Black Sea protection corridor.
The agreement allows Russia to export fertilizer and food despite sanctions.
However, Moscow has repeatedly complained that this is not being respected.
Ukraine update: Putin holds "working meeting" with Kadyrov
Update from March 13, 12:39 p.m .
: Kremlin chief Putin meets Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov this Monday (March 13).
The "working meetings" will be about the "military special operation", as the Ukraine war is officially called in Russia.
"Putin will listen to Kadyrov's report," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the TASS news agency.
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Vladimir Putin (left) and Ramzan Kadyrov (archive photo from 2017)
© Alexei Druzhinin/dpa
Ukraine update: Sipri report gives figures on arms imports from Kiev
Update from March 13, 11:51 a.m
.: Arms imports in Europe almost doubled in 2022 as a result of the Ukraine war.
As can be seen from the now published annual report by the Stockholm peace research institute Sipri, they rose by 93 percent compared to the previous year.
According to this, Ukraine rose to become the third largest arms importer in the world in 2022.
Only Qatar and India imported more arms than Ukraine over the period.
For example, 31 percent of all European arms imports last year and eight percent of the arms trade worldwide went to Ukraine.
According to the Sipri report, imports, including donations from the West, were more than 60 times higher than in the previous year.
The deliveries of mostly used weapons to Kiev included 230 pieces of artillery from the USA, 280 armored vehicles from Poland and 7000 anti-tank missiles from Great Britain.
In contrast, the largest arms exporters in 2022 were the USA with 40 percent of all arms exports, ahead of Russia with 16 percent, France with eleven percent, China with five percent and Germany with four percent.
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Picture from March 9: Ukrainian fighters on a T-64 main battle tank in the Bakhmut region
© Sergey Shestak/AFP
Ukraine update: According to the report, Xi wants to meet Putin as early as next week
Update from March 13, 11:39 a.m .
: China's President Xi Jinping wants to travel to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The meeting could take place as early as next week, reports the Reuters news agency, citing insiders.
Since the beginning of the war, Russia has been trying to strengthen its relations with China.
Both countries have a very tense relationship with the United States.
The government in Beijing has so far neither welcomed nor condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine.
On February 24, Beijing presented a "twelve-point plan" which, among other things, calls for peace negotiations between Kiev and Moscow.
Ukraine news: Russia calls for investigations into Nord Stream blasts
Update from March 13, 11:29 a.m
.: Putin’s Security Council chief Patrushev also called for international investigations into the Nord Stream blasts.
Russia should be involved.
"Otherwise there are only one-sided versions of this terrorist act that explain absolutely nothing," he said in an interview, according to Tass.
Ukraine news: Tichanovskaya calls Lukashenko Putin's "accomplice"
Update from March 13, 10:41 a.m .
: The Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya is certain: Alexander Lukashenko is an “accomplice” in the Russian attack on Ukraine and “carries out all of Putin’s orders”.
That's what Tichanovskaya said on Deutschlandfunk.
The ruler is selling Belarus' independence bit by bit.
Lukashenko has ruled the former Soviet republic for more than a quarter of a century.
Critics call him "Europe's last dictator".
He makes Belarus available as a deployment area for the Russian war of aggression.
Tichanovskaya ran against Lukashenko in 2020.
She now lives in exile in Lithuania.
In her homeland she was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Speculations about Nord Stream blasts: Moscow sees Berlin as "not independent"
Update from March 13, 10:21 a.m
.: New allegations from Moscow to Berlin: The German government is not independent in the Ukraine conflict, said Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, according to the Ria Novosti news agency.
Patrushev's statements came against the background of speculation about the Nord Stream blasts.
The German government is aware "that close economic cooperation between Germany and Russia has never suited Washington and London."
He pointed out that the UN is forcing the German authorities to "follow the version favorable to Washington."
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Russian President Vladimir Putin.(Archive photo)
© Mikhail Klimentyev/POOL SPUTNIK KREMLIN/AP/dpa
Ukraine news: "Defense of Bakhmut Fortress continues!"
Update vom 13. März, 9.42 Uhr: Die Wagner-Gruppe versuche weiter, in Bachmuts Zentrum vorzudringen, teilte der ukrainische Generaloberst Oleksandr Syrskyj mit. „Im Verlauf erbitterter Kämpfe fügen unsere Verteidiger dem Feind erhebliche Verluste zu“, erklärte er laut dem offiziellen Militärportal armyinform.com auf Telegram, sowie: „Die Verteidigung der Festung geht weiter!“
Ukraine aktuell: Beschuss in russischer Stadt Belgorod
Update vom 13. März, 9.07 Uhr: Die russische Seite meldet Beschuss in der russischen Grenzregion Belgorod. Laut Gouverneur Wjatscheslaw Gladkow habe das Luftabwehrsystem am Montagmorgen (13. März) vier Raketen vom Himmel geholt. Das berichtet das Portal Meduza.
Belgorod liegt nahe der ukrainischen Grenze. Seit Kriegsbeginn kommt es immer wieder auch zu Angriffen auf russischem Staatsgebiet. In der Regel beschränken diese sich auf das Grenzgebiet.
Erstmeldung vom 13. März: Bachmut – In der Schlacht um Bachmut stemmen sich ukrainische Einheiten weiter gegen russische Angreifer. Feindliche Infanterie habe unterstützt von Artillerie einen Stützpunkt der ebenfalls in Bachmut kämpfenden Grenzschutztruppen gestürmt, teilte die ukrainische Armee mit.
Ukraine aktuell: Ukrainische Truppen setzen in Schlacht um Bachmut Granatwerfer ein
Die Angreifer in Bachmut seien auch mithilfe von Granatwerfern zurückgedrängt worden. Die Regierung in Kiew mit Präsident Wolodymyr Selenskyj unterstrich noch einmal die Bedeutung der Kämpfe. Wichtige russische Kräfte und Reserven würden so gebunden und erlitten erhebliche Verluste, hieß es.
Ukraine aktuell: Wagner-Chef Prigoschin sieht „sehr schwierige“ Lage in Bachmut
Der Chef der russischen Söldnertruppe Wagner, Jewgeni Prigoschin, sprach von einer „sehr schwierigen“ Lage. Der frühere Leiter der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz, Wolfgang Ischinger, sprach sich unterdessen dafür aus, Rahmenbedingungen für Friedensverhandlungen Russlands und der Ukraine vorzubereiten.
„Außer Waffenlieferungen und finanzieller Unterstützungsleistungen müssen wir dem anwachsenden kritischen Fragenchor in den USA genauso wie bei uns in Deutschland Perspektiven anbieten“, schrieb er in einem Gastbeitrag für den Tagesspiegel vom Montag (13. März).
Ukraine aktuell: Klitschko lobt Berlin für Waffenlieferungen im Ukraine-Krieg
Der Kiewer Bürgermeister Vitali Klitschko lobte unterdessen die militärische Unterstützung Deutschlands für die Ukraine im Krieg gegen Russland – und forderte zugleich mehr Tempo bei weiteren Waffenlieferungen. „Ich möchte mich nicht beschweren und mich noch einmal bedanken bei den Deutschen“, sagte der Ex-Boxweltmeister dem Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).
“Germany is one of the biggest supporters of Ukraine in terms of financial aid and arms supplies.
But it's true, the German government is far too slow in making decisions, and we're paying the highest price for it: the lives of our soldiers and the lives of our citizens."
(AFP/dpa/frs)
List of rubrics: © Maksim Blinov/imago-images