live blog
Status: 05.03.2023 01:23
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy wants to expand cooperation with the European Union. Kiev estimates Russian losses in the embattled Bakhmut at 500 men a day. All developments in the live blog.
- Kyiv estimates Russian losses in Bakhmut
- Selenskyj wants to work more with the EU
1:21 am
Zelenskyj wants to expand cooperation with the EU
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to significantly expand cooperation with the European institutions in the current year. “The task is to actively prepare everything for our country’s membership in the European Union, increase arms sales to Ukraine and strengthen sanctions against Russia,” the 45-year-old said in his daily video message on Saturday. He also had a meeting with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. Selenskyj had recently repeatedly set the pace for accession negotiations with the EU.
According to him, Metsola was one of the high-ranking participants in the legal conference “United for Justice” in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. There it was not only about solving Russian crimes, but also about rehabilitation for the victims of violence, said Zelenskyj. They should be given the chance to return to their normal lives.
1:18 am
Kiev: Russians lose 500 men a day in Bakhmut
According to information from Kiev, the Russian military suffered enormous losses in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. “Russian losses amount to up to 500 dead and wounded every day,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov told Bild am Sonntag. The Russian soldiers are merely “cannon fodder” in the “meat grinder tactics” used by Moscow. The information on the loss figures cannot be checked independently. The city has been heavily contested for months.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj had spoken, among other things, of the “Bakhmut Fortress”, which would not be abandoned. Today the tones are more moderate. The city’s case is now being considered as a possibility. However, Ukraine wants to hold on to the positions for as long as possible, also because the Russian troops lose a lot of time and energy trying to attack them.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.