Negotiations in the Ukraine war falter. The conflict changes the language chosen for the occupiers. The news ticker.
- Ukraine conflict*: There new reports from Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, which, however, falter.
- Explosive exchange of prisoners becomes topic: Oligarch Medvedchuk offered himself in exchange for soldiers in Mariupol.
- The Russian invasion has changed the language in Ukraine. Russians are sometimes referred to as “Orcs”..
- This News ticker on the diplomatic negotiations and international reactions to the Ukraine war is continuously updated.
Update from April 18, 10:47 p.m.: According to information from Kyiv, Russian troops have started the expected offensive in eastern Ukraine. Heavy fighting is being reported from small towns in the Donbass.
Update from April 18, 7:50 p.m.: Germany is at odds over the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. There is a general lack of understanding about the discussion. The Klitschkos continue to appeal.
Ukraine negotiations: How soon will Ukraine run out of ammunition?
Update from April 18, 3:36 p.m.: The US faces a dilemma: How much can it help Ukraine with arms without Russia responding with even more aggressive aggression? The NATO weapons in Ukraine are definitely needed urgently: how CNN reports, there are renewed concerns about how quickly Ukraine could run out of ammunition as fiercer fighting in Donbass intensifies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the upcoming battle in Donbass “may affect the course of the entire war”. His country has no intention of giving up territory in the eastern part of Ukraine. If Russia is able to conquer the Donbass region, he warned, it is quite possible that Putin could renew his attempt to take control of Kyiv. At the request of CNNAsked whether he was satisfied with the US announcement of another $800 million in military aid to strengthen Ukrainian forces in Donbas, Zelenskyy replied: “Of course we need more.”
“There will never be enough. Enough is not possible. There is a full-scale war going on today, so we need a lot more than what we have today. We have no technical advantage over our enemy. We’re just not on the same level there.” According to Zelenskyy, the most important thing is the speed with which the weapons are delivered.
Although the US announced it would send 18 155mm howitzer guns and 40,000 artillery shells as part of its latest package, a US official issued a loud warning CNNthat the aid could be used up within a few days. America needs to “clarify its goals more clearly and say it’s ready to do whatever it takes to help Ukraine win,” retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the US Army Europe, said in an interview with CBS.
Prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine?
Update from April 18, 2:57 p.m.: Is an explosive prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine looming? On Russian state television, two British soldiers captured by Russia asked to be exchanged for pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk*, who had been arrested by Ukraine. The extent to which the soldiers were able to speak freely is questionable. They previously fought on the Ukrainian side in the Mariupol area.
At almost the same time, the Ukrainian secret service published a video of Viktor Medvedchuk via Facebook on Monday. In it, the oligarch, for his part, asks to be handed over to Russia. In exchange, the Ukrainian soldiers stuck in Mariupol and civilians should be able to leave the city via an escape corridor. He directs his words in the video directly to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin. Here, too, it is questionable how freely the prisoner could speak.
Negotiations: No progress – Russia doubts “Moskva” images
Update from April 18, 2:13 p.m.: According to the Kremlin, no further progress is in sight in the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations to end the war. The dynamics leave a lot to be desired, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to the Interfax agency. Ukraine often changes its position and does not show any particular consistency when it comes to voting issues. Nevertheless, there are still contacts and negotiations will continue at expert level.
The “special military operation” so called by the Kremlin will therefore be continued. It’s going according to plan, said Peskow. He also confirmed that after the sinking of the Russian warship “Moskva” in the Kremlin, the images of a burning ship that were now circulating for the first time on the Internet were sighted. “Yes, we actually saw those pictures; but to what extent they are authentic and correspond to reality, we cannot say.”
Russia claims Ukraine is planning “terrible provocations” with many casualties
Update from April 18, 2:09 p.m.: The Defense Ministry in Moscow claims that Russia has information on plans for attacks on churches in Ukraine next weekend – the Orthodox Easter. On the night of April 24, the “Kiev regime, with the support of Western countries, is planning terrible provocations” with many victims. Russian troops should then be blamed for the crimes in the Odessa, Kharkiv, Sumy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions, said Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev. He did not say how he came up with these allegations or what he based the findings on.
According to Misintsev, nationalist battalions formed more than 70 mobile groups to shell church services with mortars. For example, Russian soldiers were to be accused of new crimes on the holiday, which is holy for orthodox Christians. Kyiv plans to organize a large number of Western reporters to document this, Mizintsev claimed. Russia is calling on the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Red Cross and other organizations to lobby Kyiv to prevent this.
Poland: Again more entries into Ukraine than exits
Update from April 18, 10:36 am: On Sunday, Poland’s border guards again counted more people entering Ukraine than leaving the neighboring country to the east. Around 19,300 people had left Poland for Ukraine, the border guard said on Monday via Twitter. On the other hand, 17,300 people came to Poland from Ukraine in the same period – 10 percent less than the day before.
According to the UN, more than 2.81 million people have fled to safety in neighboring Poland since the Russian attack on Ukraine began.
According to the authorities, the majority of those returning to Ukraine were Ukrainian citizens. They mostly travel to areas that the Ukrainian army has recaptured. There is no official information on how many war refugees stayed in Poland and how many traveled on to other EU countries.
Russia as “occupiers”, “racists” and “orcs”
Update from April 18, 8:32 a.m.: Russia as “occupiers”, “racists” and “orcs”: Moscow’s war against Ukraine also has an impact on the language in the neighboring country. The Russian occupiers are now often referred to as occupiers in Ukraine, just like the Germans did in World War II. Above all, they are called “racists” – a mixture of “Rashya”, as Russia is pronounced in English, and fascist. “Racist” is now even used in the news. In doing so, the Ukrainians are also countering one of Moscow’s justifications for the war of aggression – that their country must be purged of alleged fascists.
In order to characterize the fight against Russia as a fight of good against evil, their own troops are spoken of as “fighters for good”. The Russian troops are said to come from “Mordor”, a hotbed of evil based on the fantasy world of JRR Tolkien and his “Lord of the Rings”. Even before the atrocities in the capital’s suburbs became known, the Russian soldiers were dubbed “orcs” – that is, marauding bands of inhuman beings and willing executors of evil.
As a sign of disregard, many media have started to write the surname of Russian President Vladimir Putin with only the first few letters: putin. Russia often only gets a small r.
Ukraine: Questionnaire for EU accession completed
First report, April 18, 8:28 a.m.: It could now happen quickly for Ukraine to join the EU: according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the country has almost completed the answers to a questionnaire for accession. “The work is almost complete and we will soon make the answers available to the representatives of the European Union,” said Zelenskyj in his evening video message on Saturday night. The questionnaire serves as the basis for accession talks.
Selenskyj received the questionnaire at the end of last week during a visit by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. At the time, Zelenskyi had predicted that Kyiv would reply very quickly – perhaps within a week.
Ukraine had applied for EU membership shortly after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. At the request of the Council of EU States, the EU Commission is currently examining the application. Joining the EU is a long and complicated process. Even if the EU Commission evaluates the application positively, the start of the admission negotiations could still be a long time coming, since all EU states have to agree. However, von der Leyen had promised Selenskyj to ensure an accelerated procedure. Ukraine could then soon be considered a candidate country.
You can read the background to the Ukraine crisis* here. (cg with dpa) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
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