Zelensky: Russian army “stopped” in eastern Ukraine

9:09 a.m.: According to authorities, a man was killed by shelling in the western Russian region of Kursk on the border with Ukraine. Another woman suffered injuries as a result of the attack by the Ukrainian armed forces, the governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said on Telegram. The information cannot be independently verified.

According to him, the town of Goncharovka in the Sudja district, just a few kilometers from the border with Ukraine, came under fire in the morning, presumably from artillery. In addition, the village of Vnesapnoye was shelled and a gas and power line was damaged. Four towns are therefore cut off from the energy supply, writes Starowoit. There is currently no information about this from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Russian border regions near Ukraine are increasingly complaining of shelling from the neighboring country. However, the number of victims and the amount of damage are not comparable to the extent of the destruction caused by the Russian military in Ukraine.

9:01 a.m.: SPD leader Lars Klingbeil defends Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) no vote to deliver the Taurus cruise missile to Ukraine and rejects the option of a ring exchange. In the ARD “Morgenmagazin” Klingbeil says that the European partners should concentrate on finally producing more ammunition and supplying it to Ukraine. When asked about a ring exchange, Klingbeil says: “That’s what everyone should focus on and not other debates.”

In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, British Foreign Minister David Cameron suggested a ring exchange that could allay Scholz’s concerns. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said on Sunday on the ARD program “Caren Miosga” that this “would be an option”. Read more here.

In a ring swap, Germany could give Taurus cruise missiles to Great Britain – and London, in turn, could deliver more of its own Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. Scholz rejects the delivery of the Taurus missiles with a range of 500 kilometers to Ukraine because he fears that their use could drag Germany into the war. Klingbeil emphasizes that the Chancellor has his full support in this stance.

9.30 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj sharply rejects Pope Francis’ appeal for peace negotiations with Russia. The church is with the people, says Zelenskyj in his evening video address. “And not two and a half thousand kilometers away, somewhere, to virtually mediate between someone who wants to live and someone who wants to destroy you.”

“When Russian evil started this war on February 24, all Ukrainians stood up to defend themselves. Christians, Muslims, Jews – everyone,” Zelensky said. And he thanks every Ukrainian clergyman who is in the army, in the Defense Forces. They are on the front line, they protect life and humanity, they support with prayers, conversations and actions. “That’s what the church is – with the people.”

7:16 p.m.: The commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, has been retired, according to an officially unconfirmed report. This is reported by “Izvestia”, citing unnamed sources. Yevmenov was replaced by Admiral Alexander Moiseyev, the previous commander of the Northern Fleet. There was initially no information about this on the Russian Defense Ministry website.

Izvestia did not give a reason for the personnel change. Most recently, the Russian Black Sea Fleet suffered significant losses of combat ships and soldiers due to attacks by Ukrainian missiles and so-called sea drones – i.e. unmanned boats loaded with explosives. Because of the threat from Ukrainian armed forces, Russian naval combat units have largely withdrawn from the occupied Crimean peninsula.

6:35 p.m.: According to a US media report, Russia’s army has gained tactical advantages by increasing the use of guided aircraft bombs on the fronts in Ukraine. As the news channel CNN reports, Ukraine has hardly any defense options against the FAB-1500 gliding bomb. The bomb, which weighs almost 1.5 tons, can be dropped on its targets by aircraft from a distance of 60 to 70 kilometers, beyond the reach of Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses. Small wings allow the bomb to hit its target relatively accurately. The impact creates a 15 meter wide crater.

Speaking to CNN, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat confirmed that the increased use of these glide bombs was most recently registered in the fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. “Within 24 hours, 250 of them were deployed,” he says. Russia is converting its old bombs to the new, controlled type in a factory near Moscow. “It’s not a cheap or quick conversion, but it still costs less than the millions for a rocket,” says Ihnat.

5:24 p.m.: According to the judiciary, Ukraine is making progress in punishing Russian war crimes. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told the AFP news agency during a visit to Brussels that his country had convicted 81 Russian war criminals since the war of aggression began a good two years ago. Of them, 17 were personally tried in Ukraine and received prison sentences.

The majority of the Russian defendants were convicted in absentia, Kostin continues. For the relatives, the verdicts are an important sign that there is no impunity. “Russia must be defeated not only on the battlefield, but also in the courtroom,” emphasizes Kostin. According to him, Ukraine is investigating more than 500 suspects in total. Almost 360 cases should soon be transferred to the judiciary.

Kostin accuses Russia of “repeating Nazi crimes.” In the war against Ukraine, civilians are being targeted and women and girls are being raped. In addition, around 20,000 Ukrainian children were abducted to Russia, of which only 400 could have been brought back. “This policy is orchestrated by the highest political and military leadership,” criticizes the chief investigator.

1:29 p.m.: Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk is promoting close solidarity between the USA and Europe. “The post-war era is over. We live in new times: in a pre-war era,” the head of government wrote on Platform X on Saturday. “That’s why NATO and solidarity between Europe and America are more important than ever before.”

11.35 a.m.: The head of the Catholic Church has called on the parties to the war in Ukraine to negotiate. People react allergically, especially in Ukraine. Here you can read more about it.

9:18 a.m.: The Ukrainian military says it repelled a large-scale Russian attack with combat drones on Sunday night. The Ukrainian Air Force announced in the morning that 35 of 39 incoming drones had been intercepted. “I thank everyone who achieved this result,” Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to the military, an enemy drone struck an industrial building in the Odessa region in the south. Nobody was injured. A transmission line was damaged in the Mykolaiv region. The Shahed drones of Iranian design were launched from the Russian coast of the Sea of ​​Azov and from the annexed Crimean peninsula. According to military information, Russia also fired four repurposed S-300 anti-aircraft missiles at ground targets in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.

8.11 a.m.: Advantage in war? Russia is apparently using a new type of drone. It has decisive advantages. Here you can read more about it.

7:23 a.m.: According to the local governor, Roman Starovoit, a Ukrainian drone hit the Russian Kursk Oblast on the border with Ukraine and set fire to an oil storage facility. “The fire brigade and rescue services are on site,” explains Starowoit on the short message service Telegram. He initially does not provide any further details.

Starowoit also writes that a woman is said to have died in the village of Kulbaki and her husband was seriously injured. The couple’s residential building caught fire as a result of the shelling. Another house in the village was damaged and some of the electricity was out. The report could not be independently verified.

Kursk Oblast lies on the border with Ukraine. There and in other border areas there are repeated detonations for which the Russian side blames the Ukrainian armed forces or pro-Ukrainian saboteurs. The leadership in Kiev usually does not comment on such incidents.

4:00 a.m.: Apparently there will be a summit in Switzerland in May at which a peace plan for Ukraine will be discussed. This is reported by the “Tagesspiegel”. According to the report, the federal government sees progress towards a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine. “The phase in which the national security advisors fleshed out and operationalized Volodymyr Selenskyj’s peace plan is now over,” German government circles confirmed to the “Tagesspiegel” (Sunday): “Intense work is now underway to ensure that in the spring – May is being considered – a summit meeting of heads of state and government will take place in Switzerland.”

Ukraine’s plan is to “adopt a joint statement that takes up some elements of the Kiev peace plan.” A spokesman for the Swiss Foreign Ministry told the newspaper: “The aim is to launch a process towards a common understanding for peace in Ukraine, which is supported by as many states as possible at the highest political level.” “Various meetings” have already taken place in the last few weeks.