The supreme commander of the Ukrainian ground forces indicates a counterattack.
President Zelenskyj demands the delivery of modern fighter jets.
The news ticker on the Ukraine war.
Threat
from
Moscow
: Medvedev claims Russian troops could advance to Kiev.
Negotiations
on
borders
: US does not believe in recapturing all territories occupied by Russia.
Zelenskyj
appeals to the
West
: Ukraine demands modern fighter jets.
This news ticker on the
Ukraine war
is constantly updated.
Update from March 25, 9:05 a.m .:
According to a report, Russian military ships were probably at the crime scenes shortly before the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines 1 and 2.
Accordingly, the ship association had the necessary equipment to attach a corresponding number of explosive devices.
The news portal
t-online.de
reports , citing information from security circles and publicly available data.
Ukraine news: Wagner mercenaries and the Ukrainian army continue to fight bloody battles
Update from March 25, 6:00 a.m .:
In eastern Ukraine, the bloodiest fighting continues to focus on the strategically important city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
There is still no end in sight to the costly battles between the troops of the Russian private army Wagner and the Ukrainian armed forces.
However, the Ukrainian defenders seem to be getting better and better at repelling the Russian attacks.
Valeriy Zalushny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, told his British counterpart Tony Radakin in a phone call that the soldiers would gradually stabilize the situation in the city.
+
A Ukrainian soldier fires a rocket-propelled grenade on the front line near Bakhmut.
© LIBKOS/AP/dpa
Update from March 24, 10:40 p.m .:
According to Ukrainian intelligence reports, evacuation measures are said to have started on the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula.
According to this, the first representatives of the Russian government and their helpers previously deployed in Crimea are preparing to leave the peninsula.
The news site Kyiv Independent
quotes
the Ukrainian secret service spokesman Andriy Yusov.
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
Pictures of the Ukraine war: great horror and small moments of happiness
According to Yusov's statements to a Ukrainian television station, the first radio warnings to the residents of Crimea were issued as early as Wednesday (March 22).
Government officials deployed by Russia on the peninsula occupied in 2014 are currently selling their properties in Crimea and moving family members who previously lived on the peninsula to other places.
Yusov stressed that Ukraine's recapture of Crimea will be necessary to restore peace and order in Ukraine.
The goal of retaking the peninsula soon has not changed for Ukraine.
"They are preparing for an attack": Russia confirms counter-offensive in Ukraine war
Update from March 24, 8:35 p.m .:
Russia has accused Slovakia of breaching the contract for handing over the Soviet-era MiG-29 combat aircraft to Ukraine.
According to a contract concluded in 1997, it is not permissible to hand over the machines to another state without Russia's consent, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow said.
The contract was also available on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Moscow spoke of an "unfriendly act" and a violation of Slovakia's international obligations.
Slovakian politics has not yet publicly responded to the Russian allegations, which Moscow's embassy in Bratislava had previously voiced.
Ukraine news: Scholz calls on Beijing to hold talks with Ukraine
Update from March 24, 5:30 p.m .:
After the Chinese-Russian summit in Moscow, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also expects talks with Ukraine from the leadership in Beijing.
"What we naturally find, however, is that one should not only talk to the Russian president (but) also to the Ukrainian one," said the SPD politician after the EU summit in Brussels.
He also reiterated that he believes the basis of a fair peace in Ukraine is Russia's troop withdrawal.
"That is clear to me at least and must then also be said in the public debate."
China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Tuesday to talk about the war and the expansion of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
Even before Xi's trip, Scholz had spoken out in favor of the Chinese President also contacting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The chancellor again warned China on Friday against arms deliveries to the Russian armed forces.
That would be "a terrible mistake," he said.
So far, however, such deliveries have not been observed.
Ukraine update: Australian ex-soldier considers Ukrainian military "best army in the world"
Update from March 24, 3:10 p.m .:
Russia continues to struggle with losses in the war against Ukraine.
According to one expert, Kiev has assembled a powerful force.
"I think the Ukrainians are probably the best army in the world right now," retired Australian Army Major General Mick Ryan Ryan told the
Kyiv Post
.
"And it's not just likely, they are.
You are the best army in the world.
They have the most experience in modern warfare, they've proven that over the past 13 months."
Ukraine news: Putin friend Medvedev confirms Ukrainian plan
Update from March 24, 2:55 p.m .:
Now the Russian side also confirms that Ukraine is preparing for a counter-offensive in the Ukraine war.
"They are preparing for an attack, everyone knows that," Russia's ex-president and deputy head of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Russian media.
The Russian General Staff is aware of this and is preparing its own "solutions".
He also warned that Moscow was ready to use "absolutely any weapon" if the Ukrainian army tried to retake the annexed Crimea peninsula.
Ukraine news: Russian attacks take the lives of civilians
Update from March 24, 11:14 a.m .
: In Ukraine, at least nine civilians were killed in Russian attacks within one day.
Another 26 were injured, the press service of the Ukrainian military said on Friday in the Telegram news channel.
Eight areas of the country were affected by the attacks, in particular the eastern Donetsk region.
Officials say five people were killed in an attack on a homeless shelter in the city of Kostyantynivka alone.
Intelligence report: Russia lacks military instructors
Update from March 24, 10:20 a.m
.: According to British intelligence experts, the Russian army is having increasing difficulties in training its recruits.
This emerges from the daily update of the London Ministry of Defence.
Accordingly, 1,000 soldiers were recently transferred back to Ukraine after exercises in a camp in Belarus.
"Although no new troop transfers there have been identified, Russia has most likely left the tent camp in place, indicating that they are continuing the exercise program," the British experts said.
The fact that Russia is relying on the far less experienced Belarusian army to train its personnel is an indication that the war in Ukraine has upset the Russian training program.
Russian trainers are largely deployed in combat in Ukraine.
However, the indirect support from Belarus is probably also seen as an important political signal in Moscow.
Ukraine update: Medvedev claims that Russian troops could advance to Kiev
First report from March 24
: Moscow/Kiev – The course of the Ukraine war is giving the government in Kiev more and more courage.
The supreme commander of the Ukrainian ground forces has now declared that his forces would soon launch a counter-offensive.
The Wagner mercenaries, who were on the front line in the Russian attack on eastern and southern Ukraine, "are losing considerably in strength and are at the end of their strength", according to Oleksandr Syrskyi.
"Very soon we will seize this opportunity, as we have done in the past near Kiev, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk," he said, referring to previous Ukrainian counter-offensives.
Dmitry Medvedev sees things differently. Since the start of the Ukraine war, he has repeatedly made sharp and sometimes bizarre statements.
Now the former Russian president claims that Russian troops could advance as far as Kiev or Lviv.
"Nothing can be ruled out here," he was quoted as saying by the
Ria Novosti
news agency .
"If you have to go to Kiev, then you have to go to Kiev, if to Lviv, you have to go to Lviv to destroy this infection." However, Russian troops have made little progress on the front for months.
Ukraine news: US does not rule out negotiations on Ukraine's borders
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken does not rule out long-term negotiations on Ukraine's future borders.
However, according to Blinken, the decision is up to the people of Ukraine.
Any peace agreement must be "just and lasting".
According to Blinken, Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity must be preserved.
"But we're waiting for the Ukrainians to tell us how this is actually defined in the territory." According to political observers, the statements show that the United States expects to recapture all occupied territories.
This should mean Crimea in particular.
Ukraine news: Selenskyj calls for modern fighter jets
The Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the EU for its previous support - and at the same time called for fighter jets from the West.
"We need modern aircraft," said Zelenskyj at an EU summit, to which he was connected via video.
“Time is important.
Not only months and weeks, but also days are important.
The faster we act together, the more lives we can save." (
cs/dpa
)
List of rubrics: © LIBKOS/AP/dpa