The day of the war at a glance
Mariupol reports more than 2100 dead civilians – Progress in negotiations in sight
03/13/2022, 8:45 p.m
Siege, hail of bombs and no way out: the calls for help from the Ukrainian port of Mariupol are becoming more dramatic. According to the mayor’s office, more than 2,100 civilians have already been killed. In the meantime, both sides are cautiously optimistic in the struggle for a negotiated solution. The 18th day of the war at a glance.
Missiles hit military base near Lviv near Poland
Not far from the border with Poland, the Ukrainian military base in Yavoriv has become the target of a Russian airstrike, according to local authorities. “The occupiers launched an airstrike on the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security,” the Lviv regional military administration said. At least 35 people were killed and 134 others injured in the attack, Ukrainian authorities said. According to initial findings, eight rockets were fired. Foreign military trainers are also said to have worked at the base, said Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov.
The base, which is only around 20 kilometers from the Polish border, was used as a training center for Ukrainian soldiers. In the past, the trainers came from countries such as the USA and Canada. It also served as a base for joint exercises by Ukrainian soldiers with NATO soldiers.
Kyiv withstands the advance of Russian troops
Parallel to their nationwide attacks, the Russian armed forces increased the pressure on Kyiv over the weekend. An imminent encirclement of the city was feared, on Sunday only the streets in the south of Kiev were open. An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was preparing for a “fierce defense”. Zelenskyy again appealed to the West to give his country more support.
US journalist killed in Irpin attack
A US journalist was killed in the Irpin suburb northwest of Kyiv. His injured colleague Juan Arredondo reported that their car was shot at after passing a Ukrainian checkpoint. While he and the Ukrainian driver were injured, his colleague, a 50-year-old photographer and cameraman, was killed.
Ukrainian authorities: 2,187 civilians killed in Mariupol
The situation in the port city of Mariupol, which had been besieged by the Russian army for almost two weeks, was particularly dramatic, where more than 2,100 residents died, according to the mayor’s office. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba described the situation in the city on the Sea of Azov as the “biggest humanitarian catastrophe on the planet”. The aid organization Doctors Without Borders also warned of an “unimaginable tragedy,” and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) made a similar statement. An aid convoy with 90 tons of food and medicine, accompanied by Orthodox priests, was expected in Mariupol today, Sunday. According to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Wereshchuk, it was held up for more than five hours at a Russian roadblock on Saturday. Attempts to get the hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians from Mariupol to safety via escape corridors have failed several times.
Ukraine accuses Russia of using phosphorus bombs
According to a local police representative, Russian troops are said to have used phosphorus bombs in an attack in the east of the country. The village of Popasna, around a hundred kilometers west of Luhansk, was attacked by the Russian army during the night, police chief Oleksiy Bilochyzky wrote on Facebook. Phosphorus bombs were also used. There is “indescribable suffering and fires”. The information could not initially be checked by an independent party. Phosphorus bombs contain a mixture of white phosphorus and rubber. Their vapors are highly toxic and cause injuries that are difficult to heal even if they come into slight contact with the skin.
Moscow and Kyiv expect rapprochement
In the struggle for a negotiated solution to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, both sides expressed cautiously optimistic views. “If we compare the positions of the two delegations today with those at the beginning, we will see clear progress,” said Russian foreign policy expert Leonid Slutsky on state television. He is part of the delegation that has been negotiating with Ukraine for two weeks, but so far without a breakthrough.
According to Slutzki, both sides could agree on a common position “in the next few days” and sign it in the appropriate documents. The Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak also expected “concrete results within a few days”. In a video published on Twitter, he said that Russia is not making ultimatums in the negotiations, but is listening to Ukrainian proposals. According to the Russian daily newspaper “Kommersant” the fourth round of negotiations is expected early next week.
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You can read all the other developments of the day in our live ticker on the Ukraine war.