overview
War against Ukraine: This happened at night
Fleeing from the Russian troops: This bus brings Ukrainian refugees from Lviv to the Polish border. Photo: Bernat Armangue/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The government’s appeals in Kyiv sound desperate. How to end this war? An overview of what happened during the night and a view of the day.
After two weeks of war in Ukraine, at least one of the five agreed evacuation corridors seems to be working. Around 6,700 people were rescued from the city of Sumy, the Ukrainian government said at night.
According to Russian information, a new attempt for escape corridors should start in the morning from 8 a.m. for other cities. At the same time, Russia is continuing its attacks on Ukrainian cities. The West is trying to get Moscow to give in with economic pressure. It is unclear whether fighter jets from Poland will go to Ukraine.
The war events
On Wednesday night, Ukrainian authorities also reported dead people – including children – and many injured in Russian air raids in the Zhytomyr and Kharkiv regions, among others. The information is not independently verifiable.
The opponents of the war have been struggling for days to allow civilians to flee the cities besieged by Russia. So far, however, no escape corridor has been found for the embattled southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. According to the Red Cross, 200,000 people are waiting there in catastrophic conditions to get out of the city. Aid deliveries to the port city have also failed, said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk to the Unian agency.
According to Vereshchuk, around 5,000 Ukrainians and around 1,700 foreign students fled Sumy to a safer place on Tuesday. However, the city, which is about 30 kilometers from the Russian border, has around 270,000 inhabitants.
According to Ukrainian information, the escape routes lead to Poltava, to Lviv (Lemberg) or to neighboring EU countries. According to the UN, more than two million people have fled Ukraine. Around 64,600 war refugees were registered in Germany by Tuesday, but the authorities believe that many more Ukrainians have come here. The German Association of Cities is calling for a refugee summit to be coordinated by the federal, state and local governments, as General Manager Helmut Dedy told the Funke media group.
Can Ukraine negotiate with Russia?
The Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyj is constantly making new appeals to the West to help his country. “The war must end,” said Zelenskyj in a video message published on Tuesday evening. “We have to sit down at the negotiating table.” According to its foreign policy adviser Ihor Zhovkva, Ukraine has not ruled out discussing the country’s possible neutrality in negotiations with Russia. The advisor called for a direct conversation between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the ARD “Tagesthemen”.
Showkwa called on Germany “as the economic engine of the EU” to impose further sanctions. His country is asking for an embargo on Russian gas and oil. In addition, goods belonging to Russians should be confiscated. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also urged on Facebook on Wednesday night: “Every sanction, every company that leaves Russia is an approach to victory.”
In an open letter, Selenskyj’s wife Olena Selenska renewed her appeal to the West to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine. Not only has the federal government ruled this out, because otherwise NATO could be drawn into the war. But there is now serious discussion about delivering MiG fighter jets from Poland to Ukraine. The only thing that is unclear is how, because there are fears of involvement in the fighting.
Dispute over Polish fighter planes
Poland had suggested leaving the planes to the United States – probably in order to somehow bring them to Ukraine with a stopover at the Ramstein base in Germany. The US government, in turn, considers this to be unfeasible. The Polish proposal entails “difficult logistical challenges” and there are “serious concerns” about the geopolitical dimension, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
The decision to let Ukraine have Polish fighter jets is ultimately a matter for the Polish government. The idea that fighter jets that had been handed over to the US military would fly from a US or NATO base in Germany into contested Ukrainian airspace during the war with Russia “raises serious concerns for the entire NATO alliance,” he said Kirby onward. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had expressed reservations about the considerations on Tuesday because of similar concerns.
Russian economy falters
Since military aid is tricky, the West relies primarily on economic pressure. So far, the federal government sees no way of doing without Russian energy imports. On Tuesday, however, the USA issued an import ban for Russian oil and announced one to Great Britain. With Coca-Cola, Pepsico and Starbucks, other global corporations have announced restrictions on their business in Russia.
The Russian economy now seems to be badly hit because of the numerous sanctions. The Central Bank of Russia imposed drastic restrictions on foreign exchange trading. According to the central bank, Russian banks will no longer be able to sell foreign cash to citizens. The rating agency Fitch downgraded Russia’s credit rating again – to junk level. The rating means that a payment default is imminent, Fitch said.
That’s going to be important today
According to Russian information, there will be a cease-fire from 8:00 a.m. to open up further escape routes. Chancellor Olaf Scholz talks to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And the Interior Committee of the Bundestag is dealing with the consequences of the war.