Zelenskiy for new sanctions against Moscow – fighting in Seyerodonetsk continues
Kyiv In view of the advance of Russian troops in the east of his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the EU for the planned new sanctions package and at the same time called for new punitive measures. “Ultimately, there should be no significant economic ties between the free world and the terrorist state,” he said in his video speech published on Tuesday evening. “We will work against new restrictions Russia work for this war.”
Thanks to the EU’s planned oil boycott, Russia is losing “tens of billions of euros” that can no longer be used to finance terrorism. At the same time, Zelensky reiterated his demands for the delivery of heavy weapons to the West. Meanwhile, the US government announced that it would deliver modern multiple rocket launchers as part of a new security package.
As soon as these heavy weapons are available, the army should start liberating the territories occupied by Russia. the Ukraine will not rush to recapture their territories if that means tens of thousands of victims, but will rather wait for the necessary weapons, said Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Tuesday at a meeting with Slovak President Zuzana Caputova. For weeks he has been demanding the delivery of heavy weapons from the West in order to ward off the Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine and push back the Russian troops.
biden: United States supply modern missile systems to Ukraine
The US government will deliver advanced missile systems to Ukraine, according to President Joe Biden. Biden wrote in a guest article for the New York Times published on Tuesday evening (local time) that the attacked country should be able to hit “important targets on the battlefield in Ukraine” more precisely. At the same time, Biden assured: “We do not want a war between the Nato and Russia.” The US also didn’t try to smother the Russian president Wladimir Putin to fall.
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The White House said on Tuesday evening (local time) that Ukraine had pledged not to attack targets on Russian territory with the US-made HIMARS artillery system.
The system is part of a $700 million package that also includes missiles, radar systems, Javelin anti-tank weapons, helicopters, vehicles and spare parts. A senior US official said the US would supply missiles with the HIMARS system that would only have a range of around 50 miles.
Biden underscored that there is currently no evidence that Russia intends to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Russia’s “occasional nuclear saber-rattling rhetoric” is in itself dangerous and irresponsible.
Heavy fighting in Sieverodonetsk
In the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Russian troops are poised to overthrow the last bastion of Ukrainian forces. If the embattled regional capital Sievjerodonetsk falls, Russia would have achieved one of its war aims: complete control of the Luhansk region.
From there, the Russian troops and the Moscow-loyal separatists could advance further west to capture the strategically important cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.
During fighting in Sieverodonetsk, an incident occurred at a chemical plant producing nitric acid. The Ukrainian authorities spoke on Tuesday of a Russian airstrike on the plant.
The pro-Russian separatists, on the other hand, announced that there had been an explosion there. A large plume of smoke could be seen in photos published by the Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, on his Telegram news channel.
The pro-Russian separatists announced that there was an explosion at a nitric acid chemical plant in Sieverodonetsk.
(Photo: IMAGO/SNA)
Sieverodonetsk, the administrative center in the Luhansk region controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, has been contested for days. The leader of the People’s Republic of Luhansk, recognized by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin as a state, Leonid Pasechnik, said that two-thirds of the city was now under the control of pro-Russian forces.
Resistance to Russian invasion continues
Ukraine’s governor Hajday said most of Sieverodonetsk is now under Russian control. Still, the Ukrainian defenders didn’t give up. Ninety percent of the city’s buildings are damaged, and 60 percent are not worth rebuilding, he said. Of the once 100,000 inhabitants, 12,000 are said to have stayed there.
President Selensky was combative. In his video speech he said that the Ukrainian armed forces are in a difficult situation due to the lack of weapons. Ukraine will, however, take back its territories guaranteed under international law.
What will be important on Wednesday
After weeks of discussions at a summit in Brussels, the EU countries agreed on an extensive boycott of oil supplies from Russia. This is part of the sixth package of sanctions, further details of which are to be worked out in Brussels this Wednesday. The package could then be formally approved.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the consequences of the Ukraine war:
It is envisaged the largest Russian bank Sberbank excluded from the Swift communication network. In addition, the state television news channel Rossiya 24 and the state channels RTR Planeta and TV Center are to be banned in the EU.
The Russian state company Gazprom will supply gas to the Danish supplier Ørsted this Wednesday, as well as shell Energy Europe. Germany is also affected. Ørsted and shell had Gazprom Export has been informed that the invoices will not be paid in rubles, as requested by Moscow.
Because no money had flowed for the month of April, deliveries would now be stopped. Shell has stated that gas deliveries to Germany will not be paid for in the Russian currency, Gazprom Export said. The maximum delivery volume per year under the contract is 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas.
More: You can read all current developments on the Ukraine war in our news blog.
