Status: 05/19/2022 08:07 a.m
Little is currently changing on the front lines in Ukraine. President Zelenskyy has prepared the population for the war to continue and wants to extend martial law. Reports of mistreatment come from Russian-occupied Mariupol.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has prepared the country’s population for a continuing war and has spoken out in favor of extending martial law by 90 days until August. “Our army and everyone defending the state must have all legal means to act calmly,” said the head of state in a video speech late Wednesday evening.
Ukrainian President Selenskyj pledges his people to a long war
Jens Eberl, WDR, daily news at 9:00 a.m., May 19, 2022
Few changes to the front courses
The situation on the various fronts in the country remained largely unchanged. In eastern Ukraine, Russian troops are still trying to fully seize the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The severity of the attacks was also reflected in the deaths of 15 civilians in the region on Wednesday, the Ukrainian army said. At least one child was also killed.
For their part, the Ukrainian forces claimed to have recaptured another village to the north of the city of Kharkiv. In the past few weeks, the Ukrainian army has said it has pushed the Russian troops in the north and north-east of Kharkov further and further towards the border. Like most military reports on both sides, this information was not immediately verifiable
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
According to information from Kiev, Russian troops also shelled the north-east Ukrainian regions of Sumy and Chernihiv from their own territory. Russia, in turn, blamed Ukraine for shelling the Russian border village of Tyotkino and other locations in the Kursk Oblast. The governor of Kursk, Roman Starovoit, announced via the messenger service Telegram that at least one civilian was killed in the attacks.
The city of Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine is still in Ukrainian hands, but the area around the city is partially occupied by Russia. Deputy Prime Minister Marat Chusnullin, who has been the highest-ranking politician from Moscow to date, has now visited the conquered territory. The perspective of the region lies in “working in our peaceful Russian family,” he said in the small town of Melitopol.
Chusnullin’s demand that Ukraine should pay for electricity from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was occupied by Russian troops, caused particular outrage in Kyiv. In Cherson, too, the occupying power is looking for a way to join the area to Russia.
Reports of abuse in Mariupol
According to Russian information, further Ukrainian fighters have surrendered in the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol, as reported by the Archyde.com news agency. According to the pro-Russian separatists who control the city, Ukrainian soldiers are still in the Azovstal plant, which has been the subject of a fight for weeks.
The US made serious allegations against the Russian armed forces for their behavior as an occupying power in Mariupol. A US official said the Russian soldiers “beat up” and “electrocuted” Ukrainian officials in the city, the AFP news agency reported. They would also “loot houses”. Russian officials are “concerned that these acts may further incite Mariupol residents to resist Russian occupation,” he said.
The Mariupol city government said on Telegram that the Russians were trying to “put the trading port back in order to export grain, metal goods and other products worth millions of dollars.” It’s “theft”.
Melnyk hopes for mediation – and NATO
In view of the ongoing fighting, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, has called on the German government to work alongside France to initiate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. “We assume that both Germany and France are able to continue to play this mediating role here,” Melnyk told the editorial network Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron should explore in Kyiv how the experiences of the past few years could be used to end the war, said Melnyk. “I believe that it is also in Germany’s hands to decide today whether to wait and see how the situation develops, or whether to take this initiative now and not only hopefully support us with more weapons, but also support these peace talks at the same time brings on the way.”
In June 2014, the year of the Russian annexation of Crimea, Germany and France mediated between Russia and Ukraine for the first time as part of the so-called Normandy format. The talks aimed to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Before the start of the Russian war of aggression on February 24 of this year renewed efforts in the Normandy format remained unsuccessful.
Melnyk also brought up Ukraine’s rapid accession to NATO. “One thing is clear: we want to join NATO quickly. That can happen just as quickly as in the case of Sweden or Finland. It would only take a purely political decision to quickly integrate Ukraine into the alliance,” Melnyk told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “If Ukraine were in the alliance, the risk of a nuclear war would decrease. Then Putin would know: If Ukraine were attacked with nuclear weapons, he would have to reckon with a nuclear retaliation. That would prevent him from doing so.”
Melnyk also believes that Ukraine’s EU membership within the next ten years is possible, he told the Funke newspapers. “The main thing for us now is to get candidate status. Then the negotiation process can begin. That’s an important political decision.” He called on the federal government to “take a leading role in this historic process”.
Topic overview
war in Ukraine
Ukraine War: Fighting in the east, evacuation from Azov steel plant apparently continues
Palina Milling, WDR, 19.5.2022 5:57 a.m