Ukraine War: Selenskyj: Strategic defeat of Russia obvious

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war in Ukraine
Zelenskyy: Russia’s strategic defeat “obvious” – adviser accuses Russian leadership of “idiocy”

Read in star– Ticker all important developments on the war in Ukraine on Friday, May 13:

5.55 a.m .: Ukraine war: Welthungerhilfe warns of a “dramatic increase” in the number of starving people

Before the meeting of the G7 agricultural ministers, Welthungerhilfe warned of an “even more drastic increase” in the number of starving people as a result of the Ukraine war. In order to prevent this, the agriculture ministers would have to “get appropriate emergency aid off the ground as quickly as possible,” said Rafael Schneider, Welthungerhilfe’s deputy head of politics, in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ). Otherwise, the rise in food prices caused by the Ukraine war will continue to drive up the number of starving people. According to Schneider, 800 million people worldwide are currently suffering from hunger. The reason is not only the war, but also “system errors”.

5.04 a.m .: The USA assumes that tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been abducted into Russian territory

The United States assumes that Russia has forcibly abducted tens of thousands of Ukrainians since the start of its war of aggression. From the besieged port city of Mariupol alone, thousands were taken to Russia or Russian-controlled areas, said US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Michael Carpenter, on Thursday in Vienna.

The Ukrainian government estimates the number of kidnapped Ukrainians at almost 1.2 million. According to the ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova, at least 200,000 children are among them. According to Kiev, Moscow also operates so-called filtration camps in which arrested Ukrainians are interrogated.

4.35 a.m .: Heil warns of a new economic crisis due to a possible gas embargo

In the debate about a gas embargo against Russia, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) warned of a new economic crisis in Germany. “A unilateral gas embargo by Germany towards Russia, for example, would plunge us into a double crisis, then we would be in stagflation, i.e. in an economic crisis and prices rising even more,” Heil told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post”.

Stagflation is “the horror of all economists and politicians,” he added. “That has to be prevented. And thank God our economy is still growing.” If the situation “escalates economically”, the federal government will act and, for example, further extend short-time work, the SPD minister said.

2.16 a.m .: Ukrainian crowdfunding project brings in millions

A crowdfunding project launched by the Ukrainian leadership to support the country has already raised millions in a week. As Digital Minister Mykhailo Fyodorov announced during the night, donations totaling 25.8 million dollars (24.4 million euros) were received from all over the world via the United24 website. “The support came from 72 countries around the world.” The money from the donation platform will now be divided among the ministries in order to finance the currently most necessary projects.

Ukraine created this state donation platform because of the Russian war of aggression. Donations can now be made separately for the army, humanitarian purposes or post-war reconstruction via the United24 website. According to the site, bank transfers, payments by credit card, but also with crypto money are possible.

1:17 a.m .: Kyiv: Negotiations for soldiers in Azovstal continue

With international support, the Ukrainian leadership is continuing its efforts to rescue the soldiers at the besieged Azovstal Steelworks in the port city of Mariupol. “We have opened a new round of negotiations,” said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Thursday evening, according to Ukrajinska Pravda. Kyiv has given the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross the mandate to hold talks with the Russian side, and Turkey is now involved as a mediator.

“We want to sign an agreement on evacuation from Azovstal, we are ready to sign it,” Vereshchuk said. The aim is an evacuation in several stages – the first priority is the rescue of 38 seriously wounded defenders from Azovstal. If this works, “then we move on”. Among other things, Ukraine is ready to exchange Russian prisoners of war for the wounded from Azovstal.

0.35 a.m .: Selenskyj: Russia’s strategic defeat obvious

Barely two and a half months after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, the strategic defeat of Russia is “obvious,” according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Moscow’s defeat was “obvious to everyone in the world and also to those who still communicate with them (the Russians),” said Zelenskyy in his daily video message on Thursday evening. Only Russia does not have the courage to admit defeat. “They are cowards trying to hide this truth behind new missile, air and artillery strikes.”

The Ukrainian leader has criticized the recent Russian attacks, which hit a school in Chernihiv in the north of the country. “Of course, the Russian state is in a state where any education only hampers it,” Zelensky said. Russian commanders who issued such orders to shell educational institutions were “simply sick – incurable”.

12:05 a.m .: Selenskyj adviser reports “idiocy” to Russian leadership

Ukraine’s presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych attributes his occasionally erroneous analyzes of the events of the war to the “terrible idiocy” of Russia’s political and military leadership. “I actually think of them as people with an average mind,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s adviser on Thursday evening, according to a report by the Unian agency. “But then they do something I never would have thought of because it’s so stupid.”

Russia recently “scraped together” another 15 combat units to throw them into battle. “In the past five and a half thousand years of military history, no greater idiocy can be found,” said Arestovych. Recently he had not ruled out a new offensive by the Russian army against the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and spoke of “senseless suicide”.

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DPA
AFP