Ukraine war: Selenskyj wants to negotiate directly with Putin

LAir raid sirens wail early Monday morning in many cities and regions of Ukraine, including Kyiv, Lviv (Lviv) and Odesa, offices of the Reuters news agency report. At the same time, according to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian troops are preparing several offensives in Ukraine.

To do this, the units tried to establish themselves at points they had previously occupied, to secure supplies and to regroup, according to a report published on Monday night on Facebook.

As soon as this has happened, new attacks are expected, for example on the cities Kharkiv in the East, Sumy in the north-east or the Kiev suburbs browari. At the same time, further talks between the two sides were announced for Monday.

On Sunday, Russia attacked a Ukrainian military base near the border with Poland. Close to the attack on the military base Lviv (Lviv), according to Ukrainian authorities, at least 35 people were killed and more than 130 others injured.

In view of this, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his call for NATO to establish a no-fly zone. “If you don’t seal off our skies, it’s only a matter of time before Russian missiles fall on your territory, on NATO territory and on the homes of NATO citizens,” Zelenskyy said in a video speech on Monday night .

“Thirty rockets on the Lviv region alone,” said Zelenskyy. “Nothing happened that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation. And that only 20 kilometers from the borders of NATO.”

>>> Read all developments on the war in Ukraine in the live ticker >>>

The Ukrainian government has been demanding that NATO set up a no-fly zone since the start of the Russian war of aggression around three weeks ago. This is to prevent Russian airstrikes on Ukraine. However, this would mean direct intervention by NATO soldiers in the war, which many Western heads of state and government reject for fear of a confrontation with nuclear power Russia.

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The Russian armed forces, meanwhile, are mainly increasing the pressure on Kyiv. An imminent encirclement of the city was feared, on Sunday only the streets in the south of Kiev were open. An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was preparing for a “fierce defense”. Local authorities in Kyiv say they are gathering food supplies to get them through the next two weeks.

A fire broke out in an attack on a high-rise building in the north of the Ukrainian capital on Monday morning. At least two people were killed, Ukrainian television reported. The state civil defense initially announced that 63 people had been evacuated. The search for victims continues. Photos and videos showed how firefighters rescued residents using turntable ladders. Smoke rose from several floors. The fire has now been extinguished. The skyscraper is said to have been hit by an artillery shell. That couldn’t be checked. Further information was initially not available.

A foreign journalist was killed for the first time on Sunday in the suburb of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv. The 50-year-old US journalist was killed by gunfire in a car, and a US colleague and the Ukrainian driver were injured.

In the area of Luhansk in the east of the country, Russia is primarily concentrating on advancing in the direction of Severodonetsk, according to the Ukrainian side. Moscow announced on Sunday that pro-Russian separatist fighters had blocked the eastern and southern parts of the city, which has a population of 100,000. In the places Topolske and Schpakivka in the region Kharkiv the enemy suffered casualties and retreated.

The Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia, and the Donbass in eastern Ukraine are now said to be connected by a land corridor. This is what the Vice Prime Minister of the Crimean government, Georgy Muradov, told the Russian state agency Ria Novosti on Monday. “The road from Crimea to Mariupol was taken under control,” Ria Novosti Muradov quoted as saying. There is no confirmation from Ukraine for this.

Observers assume that one of the goals of Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine is a land corridor from the separatist areas bordering Russia in eastern Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula.

The situation in the port city, which has been under siege by the Russian army for almost two weeks, continues to be particularly dramatic Mariupol, where according to the mayor’s office more than 2100 residents have died so far. The aid organization Doctors Without Borders warned of an “unimaginable tragedy” in the city on the Azov Sea, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) made a similar statement.

On Sunday, an aid convoy carrying 90 tons of food and medicine, escorted by Orthodox priests, turned back after Russian troops shelled it, an adviser to the mayor told AFP.

A new attempt should be made on Monday to bring the aid to Mariupol. Attempts to get the hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians to safety via escape corridors have failed several times.

As an AFP reporter reported, the Russian army fired on the Black Sea port city on Saturday Mykolayiv several hospitals. On Sunday, authorities reported at least 11 dead from Russian attacks in Mykolaiv, including one on a school.

In the eastern Ukrainian locality Popasna According to a local police representative, the Russian army used phosphorus bombs. Several UN organizations called for an end to the attacks on health facilities.

Kadyrov visits Chechen troops

Meanwhile, the ruler of the autonomous republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, according to his own statements visited his troops in Ukraine. A video published on Monday night on the Telegram Internet service showed Kadyrov studying plans with soldiers at a table in a room.

Kadyrov wrote that he was at Gostomel airfield near Kyiv, which had been captured by Russian troops. However, the information could not be independently confirmed.

“Recently we were about 20 kilometers away from you, the Nazis in Kyiv, and now we are even closer,” Kadyrov wrote on Telegram. He called on Ukrainian forces to surrender “or you will be finished”. He added: “Russian practice teaches war better than foreign theory and the recommendations of military advisers.”

Kadyrov is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to their own statements, Chechen soldiers are taking part in the offensive in the neighboring country. Kadyrov’s troops are accused of numerous assaults in Chechnya.

Negotiations will continue on Monday

According to both sides, the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv are to be continued on Monday via video link. It is about “a summary of the preliminary results” of the previous talks, according to the Ukrainian side. Most recently, representatives of the delegations from Ukraine and Russia expressed cautiously optimistic views on the negotiations.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is pushing for direct talks between himself and the Russian President. “Our delegation has a clear task – to do everything to enable a meeting of the presidents,” said Zelenskyj in a video speech published on Monday night. It was a meeting that he was sure everyone was waiting for. This is a difficult path, but necessary to obtain effective guarantees.

Ukraine has repeatedly pointed out that President Vladimir Putin makes all final decisions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not rule out a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy on Russian state television on Sunday. But you have to understand what the result of the meeting should be and what will be discussed there.

According to the UN, at least 596 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. The actual number of victims is probably much higher. According to the UN, almost 2.7 million people have fled the country since the Russian attack began.