Ukraine war in the live ticker: Amnesty: Russia uses banned ammunition against civilians

06:45: ➤ Russia uses banned type of ammunition against civilians
06:05 am: Ambassador to Ukraine calls for Scholz tanks

Update live ticker on the war in Ukraine here

➤ Amnesty collects evidence of Russian cluster bomb attacks in Kharkiv

The human rights organization Amnesty International has accused the Russian armed forces of numerous war crimes in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. According to Amnesty on Monday, it has evidence that Russian troops used cluster bombs and cluster mines in at least seven attacks on the country’s second largest city. These weapons are banned by international treaties.

Amnesty investigated a total of 41 attacks that killed at least 62 people and injured at least 196. Organization members spoke to 160 people in Kharkiv in April and May, including survivors of attacks, victims’ families and witnesses. Cluster munitions release dozens of smaller explosive devices into the air that spread over an area of hundreds of square meters, indiscriminately killing and injuring people.

“People have been killed in their homes and on the streets, in playgrounds and cemeteries while waiting in line to receive humanitarian aid or to buy food and medicine,” Amnesty researcher Donatella Rovera said. “The repeated use of widely banned cluster munitions is shocking and shows a total disregard for the lives of civilians.”

Russia has signed neither the treaty on cluster munitions nor the treaty on anti-personnel mines. However, Amnesty emphasized that international humanitarian law prohibits the use of weapons, which by their very nature kill people indiscriminately. Anyone who uses them anyway is committing war crimes. Also the Ukraine did not sign the contracts. (afp)

The situation at a glance:

Since February 24, Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine from the air and on the ground. Shortly before that, President Wladimir Putin the Ukraine’s right to exist as an independent state in doubt and the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine.

Since then, the Ukrainian army has been fighting the invaders as best they can. Thousands of dead are reported on both sides, but exact numbers of soldiers and civilians have not been independently verified. The fact is: the humanitarian situation in Ukraine is getting worse every day. According to the Almost 7 million people have now fled Ukraine (As of June 9), especially women and children, since men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country.

The EU and the USA reacted with sanctions. Besides, they supply arms to Ukraine, too Deutschland supports the country with arms deliveries. Also tanks of the class Cheetah is to receive Ukraine from Germany. That the Nato actively intervenes in the war has so far been ruled out.

On the first weekend in April, pictures of the The bodies of many civilians in the small town of Bucha near Kyiv caused international horror. Ukraine speaks of serious war crimes and genocide and blames Russian troops for it. Despite numerous indications, Moscow denies having been involved in the deaths of the civilians. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Selenskyj stressed that negotiations with Russia should continue. A long-prepared one has been running since April 18th Major Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s Attack in Ukraine: Current Combat Operations and Troop Movements. (Warning: This infographic will be updated regularly)

The other reports from June 12:

Ukrainian army pushed out of the center of Sieverodonetsk

The Ukrainian army has acknowledged the loss of the center of the heavily contested city of Sievarodonetsk in the east of the country. Russian troops shelled the city in the Luhansk region with artillery and drove out the Ukrainian soldiers, the Ukrainian general staff said on Monday morning. The fighting continued, however, it said.

A few hours earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had declared that in the strategically important Sievjerodonetsk, “literally every meter was being fought for”. According to their own statements, Ukrainian troops still controlled around a third of the city on Saturday.

For days, Sievjerodonetsk has been the center of heavy fighting in the Luhansk region, more than 90 percent of which Russian and pro-Russian fighters have already captured. The Azot chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk was also fired upon. According to Ukrainian sources, civilians who used the plant premises as an air raid shelter are still staying there.

Updated on 06/13/2022 at 08:17

According to the Ukrainian military intelligence service, the Russian military is preparing for a longer war. The planning of the Russian armed forces has been extended for another 120 days until October 2022, the military experts of the US Institute for the Study of the War reported on Saturday with reference on information from secret service deputy director Wadym Skibizkij.

Hackers bring criticism of Ukraine war to Russian TV websites

Unknown hackers placed a message against the war in Ukraine on Russian state television websites. On the streaming portal “Smotrim.ru”, for example, on Sunday evening next to photos of the destruction in Ukraine “Putin destroys Russians and Ukrainians! Stop the war!”, as numerous Internet users reported on the net.

Russian state television later admitted to a hacker attack on “Smotrim” and the website of the news program “Vesti”. As a result, “unauthorized content with extremist calls” was displayed for less than an hour.

In Russia, the war of aggression in Ukraine is officially called a military special operation. Deviating from the official line is punishable as spreading alleged false information about Russian armed forces.

On Monday night, the “Smotrim” website again showed links to propaganda material, for example about the “liberation” of the embattled eastern Ukrainian industrial region of Donbass and the award of the “Hero of Labor” award by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. (dpa)

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Union: Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia need prospects for EU membership

The Union faction in the Bundestag wants an immediate EU accession perspective for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. the federal government should work to ensure that these three countries already at the European Council on 23./24. According to an application submitted to the German Press Agency (dpa) in Berlin, the status of EU accession candidate will be granted on June 1.

“It is in our interests to give Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia a way into the European Union to open,” said Gunther Krichbaum, the European policy spokesman for the parliamentary group, the dpa.

The Union also wants to call on the Federal Government to work within the framework of the accession process to ensure that new opportunities for participation in joint programs such as those in the common foreign, security and defense policy are opened up below full membership. This also applies to the areas of research, energy, transport and climate protection.

“Since the process leading to membership is often long, we call for the creation of a new model that enables candidates to be closely linked to the European Union even before full membership,” explained Krichbaum.

The deputy leader of the parliamentary group responsible for Europe, Patricia Lips, accused the federal government of hesitating on this issue and of isolating Germany more and more from its international partners. (dpa)

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Ambassador to Ukraine: Scholz should promise tanks when visiting Kyiv

The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk awaits the Chancellor Olaf Scholzthat he promises to deliver German tanks to Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv. “Unfortunately, without German heavy weapons, we will not be able to break Russia’s massive military superiority and save the lives of soldiers and civilians,” Melnyk told the German Press Agency.

“Ukrainians expect Chancellor Olaf Scholz to speak during his visit to Kyiv will announce a new aid package for German armaments, which should definitely include Leopard 1 main battle tanks and Marder armored personnel carriers that can be delivered immediately.”

According to media reports, Scholz plans to travel to Kyiv this month with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Officially, the visit was neither confirmed nor denied.

With material from dpa and AFP

The tickers of the past few days to read:

Updated on 06/10/2022 at 10:16 am

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