live blog
Status: 05/27/2022 07:46 a.m
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According to its mayor, 1,500 people have been killed in Russian attacks in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk. President Zelenskyy accuses Moscow of “genocide” in the Donbass. The developments in the live blog.
7:35 a.m
Mayor: Around 1,500 people killed in Sieverodonetsk
According to its mayor, the eastern Ukrainian city of Sieverodonetsk has become the scene of heavy attacks by Russian troops. Around 1,500 people were killed, said Olexandr Strjuk. Around 12,000 to 13,000 remained in the city, 60 percent of the residential buildings there were destroyed. The Ukrainian forces withstood the attacks, but a Russian reconnaissance and sabotage group had broken into a hotel in Sieverodonetsk, Strjuk reported.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
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The city is the only area of the Luhansk region in Donbas controlled by the Ukrainian government. Russian troops are trying to cut the city off from the rest of the Ukrainian-dominated territory. The main road between the neighboring city of Lysychansk and Bakhmut further southwest is still open, but travel is dangerous, Strjuk said. Only twelve people could have been evacuated on Thursday.
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7:30 a.m
Ukraine fears new attacks on Kharkiv and Luhansk
The Ukrainian army is under severe pressure in the far east of its front. According to military information, Ukraine is observing that Russia is regrouping troops in its border areas of Belgorod and Voronezh. As a result, further attacks on the Ukrainian regions of Kharkov and Luhansk are to be feared, as the Ukrainian general staff announced in its report.
Russian troops continued to shell the city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Luhansk region. However, the attack on the city and its suburb Borivske was unsuccessful. The military information was not independently verifiable.
In another nearby village, in Ustynivka, the Russian side was said to have achieved a partial victory. The major cities of Sieverodonetsk and Lysychansk are currently the extreme Ukrainian outposts in the east. But there are also fights in the rear of these cities, which means that Ukrainian troops are threatened with being cordoned off.
On the north side of this possible pocket, the city of Lyman is lost, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych confirmed on Ukrainian television. According to general staff information, Ukrainian positions south of Lyman are now being shelled. On the southern side of the possible pocket, there were battles for the towns of Komyshuvahka, Nirkove and Berestove. Here, too, it was said that the attacks had been repelled. However, the Russians achieved a partial success near Pokrovske.
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5:51 a.m
Melnyk accuses Scholz of lacking leadership
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, accuses Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of lacking leadership and disregarding Ukrainian interests. Kyiv had hoped to hear from Scholz’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos which very specific steps the traffic light wanted to take to massively support Ukraine, Melnyk told the “Bild”. “Unfortunately, that was a non-negotiable report, especially with regard to the immediate delivery of heavy weapons from Germany to suffocate the massive Russian offensive in the Donbass,” said the ambassador. There were also no encouraging signals to the Ukrainians on the subject of EU membership
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5:09 a.m
Zelenskyy accuses Russia of “genocide” in the Donbass
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “genocide” in eastern Ukraine. In the Donbass, Moscow is pursuing “an obvious policy of genocide,” he said in his daily television speech at night. The Russian offensive could result in the region becoming “uninhabitable”. He accused the Russians of wanting to reduce Ukrainian cities to rubble. “All of this, including the kidnapping of our people and the mass killing of civilians, is a blatant genocidal policy being pursued by Russia.”
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3:25 a.m
USA: No easing of sanctions against Russia planned
According to the White House, there are currently no talks of easing sanctions against Russia to allow grain exports. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday discussed ways to alleviate the international food crisis. The Kremlin made it clear that this would only be possible if the West lifted its sanctions.
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2:19 a.m
CNN: US may want long-range missile systems for Ukraine
According to a media report, the US government is considering sending advanced long-range missile systems to Ukraine. The US-made weapons systems could fire missiles hundreds of kilometers away, CNN reported, citing several officials. A new military aid package could be announced as early as next week. Ukraine asked for these types of weapons, it said. However, the US government has been hesitant because of fears that Ukraine could use the missile systems for attacks on Russian territory. The question arises whether this could lead to a Russian retaliation, according to CNN. US President Joe Biden put into effect a new billion-euro aid package from the US for Ukraine with a volume of almost 40 billion dollars (38 billion euros) just over the weekend.
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1:32 a.m
BAMF: Refugees are very interested in integration courses
Refugees from the Ukraine are obviously very interested in integration courses for language and culture education. This is determined by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). According to the office, more than 80,000 participation rights have already been granted within a few weeks, as “Die Welt” reports in advance. “We have well-trained participants who learn with great enthusiasm,” says Benjamin Beckmann, head of the BAMF integration course department, the newspaper. According to Beckmann, 95 percent of Ukraine refugees can start their integration course directly with the normal language course.
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1:32 a.m
Selenskyj disappointed about disagreement within the EU
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is disappointed with the disagreement within the EU over further sanctions against Russia. “How many more weeks will the European Union be trying to agree on a sixth package,” Zelensky said in his evening televised speech. He is grateful to the nations that are campaigning for new sanctions: “But where do the people blocking this sixth package get their power from? Why are they allowed to exercise this power?” The EU is currently discussing a sixth round of punitive measures, including an embargo on Russian oil imports. Unanimity is required for such a move, but Hungary rejects the idea for now.
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