live blog
Status: 04/22/2022 01:14 am
US Secretary of Defense Austin invites to a Ukraine meeting in Ramstein. According to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, Russia has rejected a proposal for an Easter ceasefire. All developments in the live blog.
1:14 a.m
UNHCR: Ukraine war has exacerbated refugee situation everywhere
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the war in Ukraine has significantly worsened the situation of refugees worldwide. “The conflict has further worsened the situation of many of the approximately 84 million displaced people on earth, after food has already become scarcer and significantly more expensive worldwide,” Acting UNHCR Office Director in Germany Roland Bank told the newspapers of the Funke media group .
Millions of people would have lost their income and hardly the bare necessities of life because of the pandemic and the economic crises that often aggravated it. Now food prices have risen everywhere, sometimes drastically. Rising fuel prices would also pose new challenges for humanitarian supplies and the work of UNHCR, Bank said.
1:09 a.m
Zelenskyy: Mariupol continues to resist Russia
According to information from Kyiv, the resistance in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol continues. The city continues to resist Russia, President Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message. “Despite what the squatters say about them.” Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the city conquered on Thursday morning. However, according to Russian sources, more than 2,000 Ukrainian fighters and foreign mercenaries are holed up in the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. So far they have not responded to Putin’s demands to lay down arms. Zelenskyi said Russia was moving troops to Ukraine for the war. “They are gathering forces and driving new tactical battalions into our country.” In the east and south of the country, Russian units would do “everything” to at least be able to speak of “some” victories.
1:07 a.m
Hofreiter warns of a long war and spread to other countries
The chairman of the Europe Committee, Anton Hofreiter, fears that the war will escalate beyond Ukraine if Russia is not stopped. “Due to Putin’s criminal warfare, we have to be prepared for the fact that Russia’s war of aggression will continue for months,” the Green politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “By slowing down the energy embargo and the necessary arms deliveries, there is a risk that this war will drag on longer and that Putin will attack other countries.” Hofreiter is again urging the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible. “The problem is that Putin’s offensive in eastern Ukraine has already begun. New weapons from the West must be delivered as soon as possible, since large parts of the existing Soviet and old Russian material have already been shot up.”
1:04 a.m
Ex-general coordinates US arms shipments to Ukraine
A retired general and former adviser to ex-President Barack Obama is tasked with coordinating the multi-billion US arms shipments to Ukraine. Terry Wolff was entrusted with the task by President Joe Biden, the AP news agency learned from government circles. Wolff has been deployed to Iraq three times, has held senior positions in the Pentagon, the General Staff and the US State Department. In 2015 he was appointed by Obama as deputy special envoy for the international coalition against the terrorist militia Islamic State. Biden pledged $800 million in military aid to Ukraine on Thursday. Among other things, the country’s soldiers are to receive heavy artillery pieces and drones.
12:55 a.m
Zelenskyy: Russia has rejected the proposal for a ceasefire at Easter
According to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, Russia has rejected the proposal for a ceasefire over the Orthodox Easter holiday. That’s what Selenskyj said in his nightly video message. This shows what the Christian faith and one of the happiest and most important holidays mean to the leaders of Russia, Zelenskyy said. “But we will still keep hope. The hope for peace, the hope that life will triumph over death,” said Zelenskyj.
Among other things, Pope Francis had called for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war in the run-up to Easter for Orthodox Christians this weekend. The Holy See and the Holy Father joined the appeal by UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Svyatoslav Shevchuk on Tuesday. Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on April 24 this year. They are the largest religious group in Ukraine.
12:55 a.m
US Secretary of Defense invites to Ukraine meeting in Ramstein
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin plans to meet with colleagues from several countries on the war in Ukraine next week at the US Ramstein Air Force Base in Rhineland-Palatinate. The meeting should take place next Tuesday, announced Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. Kirby did not provide details on the list of participants. But not only NATO countries would be invited, he said. One goal of the meeting is the lasting security and sovereignty of Ukraine.
It should therefore be about Ukraine’s defense needs beyond the current war. “We think it’s time to have that discussion as well,” Kirby said. In addition, it should be about the further military support of Ukraine. Earlier in the day, the US government announced $800 million in new military aid.