live blog
The controversial law on military service reform has been approved by the Ukrainian parliament. Ukrainian President Zelensky is visiting Lithuania today. All developments in the live blog.
The Ukrainian parliament has approved a controversial law on military service reform. It took months until the law was finally approved by MPs. Thousands of applications were received during this time, which significantly changed the original draft. The law is intended to regulate how the country will recruit new recruits in the future, which it so urgently needs in the war against Russia.
Among other things, the authority for Ukrainian authorities to issue conscription orders via an electronic system will be expanded. The former commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valeriy Zalushnyj, had called for up to 500,000 new recruits before his dismissal in February. However, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and the new army chief Olexander Syrsky have now emphasized that so many are not necessary because soldiers can be rotated away from the front.
According to a report by the Interfax news agency, the Trypillia thermal power plant in Kiev Oblast was destroyed by the Russian attacks during the night. The agency relies on information provided by the operator.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to travel to Lithuania today to take part in the summit of the so-called Three Seas Initiative. This was announced by the presidential office in Vilnius.
The Three Seas Initiative was launched by Poland and Croatia in 2015. It includes twelve EU members between the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic and the Black Sea: the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as the Visegrad states of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, as well as the Black Sea countries of Bulgaria and Romania and the Adriatic region of Slovenia and Croatia as well as Austria. Germany is the partner country of the initiative.
The Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize winner Oleksandra Matwijtchuk has asked Germany to further increase arms deliveries to Ukraine. “Help us! Help us with weapons! Give us Taurus missiles so we can win this war,” Matwijtchuk told Focus magazine. There is no other option for Ukraine than to continue fighting. “The Russian war of aggression has a genocidal character. And that means: If we lay down our arms, we are threatened with annihilation,” Matwijtchuk continued. Only if Ukraine wins the war would there be a chance for peace.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian armed forces attacked with more than 40 missiles and more than 40 drones during the night. Only part of it was shot down, Zelenskyj wrote on platform
Zelensky emphasized that his country needed more air defense equipment. “All our European neighbors and other partners see Ukraine’s urgent need for anti-aircraft systems,” he wrote. “Now that we can defeat Russian terror, the world can show that all terror is treated as a crime. But if Russia is allowed to continue like this, if Russian missiles and ‘Shahed’ drones continue to attack not only Ukraine, but also the… “If we meet the determination of our allies, this amounts to a global license to terrorize.”
In Kharkiv, power lines to more than 200,000 consumers were damaged, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy head of the presidential office. In the Odessa region, a fire broke out at an energy facility due to falling drone debris, the Ukrainian armed forces said.
According to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, power generation and distribution facilities were attacked in several parts of Ukraine. In addition to Kharkiv, systems in the regions of Zaporizhia in the southeast, Lviv in the west and Kiev are also affected.
The eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv was attacked again overnight. The region’s governor, Oleh Synyehubov, said on Telegram that there had been at least 10 rocket attacks on critical infrastructure in the city of Kharkiv and the region. Power outages are already being resolved. No victims have been reported so far.
Anti-aircraft defenses are also in use in western Ukraine. This was announced by the governor of Lviv Oblast, Maxim Kosytskyj, on Telegram. Details are not yet known.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron has accused Russia of subjecting Russian-British Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Mursa, who is imprisoned in Russia, to “degrading and inhumane prison conditions” since his arrest two years ago. The “degrading and inhumane prison conditions” were clearly aimed at “further damaging his physical and mental well-being,” Cameron said.
Kara-Mursa was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Russia in April 2023 for “high treason” after he accused Russia of “war crimes” in Ukraine during a speech in the United States. It is the longest known prison sentence ever imposed on a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to its mayor, Russia attacked the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv with rockets this morning. Explosions can be heard, writes Ihor Terekhov on Telegram.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump declines an invitation to travel to Ukraine. “There has been no contact from Zelensky and President Trump has publicly stated that it would not be appropriate for him to travel to Ukraine now that he is not commander in chief,” his campaign office said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had previously asked him in a newspaper interview to come to Ukraine and explain his ideas for peace.
The commander in chief of US troops in Europe is sounding the alarm about a lack of supplies to Ukraine. The Russian invasion troops already have five times as many artillery shells as Ukraine, said Christopher Cavoli in a congressional hearing. “So the Russians are firing five times as many artillery shells at the Ukrainians as the Ukrainians can fire back. In a few weeks the ratio will change to ten to one,” he said. “We don’t talk about months. We don’t talk about assumptions.”
Cavoli said Russia had ramped up its missile production and could launch large-scale attacks every few days. On the other hand, the Ukrainian defenders would have to ration their ammunition while a US aid package worth 60 billion dollars (around 55 billion euros) is stuck in Congress.
Russia says it will not take part in the peace conference planned by Switzerland. Ukraine says seven people were killed in Russian missile strikes in Odessa and the Kharkiv region. Wednesday’s developments to read.