At the end of March, there was a glimmer of hope over the Bosphorus. In Istanbul, for the first time, concrete result achieved in the talks between Russia and Ukraine. The Russians promised to withdraw from the regions around Kiev, Ukraine said that the status of Crimea and Donbas could be discussed.
Two weeks later, there seems to be little left of a view of more, such as a possible truce. Russian President Putin even said today that the negotiations are at a dead end. According to Putin, Ukraine is not keeping to the Istanbul agreements. Ukrainian negotiator Mikhail Podoljak was slightly less pessimistic. According to him, the talks are difficult, but they are still going through various subgroups.
“There is almost no talk anymore,” says defense expert Bob Deen van Clingendael. “Actually only on an operational level, such as about the exchange of prisoners of war.”
Russian soldiers around Kiev, Chernobyl and Chernihiv have indeed left, but any joy at their departure was quickly overshadowed by the atrocities that took place under Russian occupation. In among others Boetsja in Old Bykiv countless Ukrainian civilians were raped, mutilated and murdered.
Butcher of Aleppo
In the east of the country, the fighting intensified at that time. The Russian army continued to bomb civilian targets, such as the railway station in Kramatorsk. It appoint Aleksandr Dvornikov as the chief commander of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, his reputation as the ‘butcher of Aleppo’ does not bode well for the civilian population.
What is the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine? Bob Deen answers these and other questions from viewers:
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