03/29/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 00:52 Selenskyj after a visit to the troops: We are stronger +++
After a visit to the border region with Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again emphasized the strength of the Ukrainians. “The threat is constant, our border is constantly being shelled,” he says in his nightly video speech about the impressions of his visit to the troops in the Sumy region in north-eastern Ukraine. “But life and our people are obviously stronger than all fears.” In the north-east, Ukrainian border troops are shielding a several hundred-kilometre stretch of the common border with Russia in order to prevent Russian units from penetrating there.
+++ 23:33 French National Assembly classifies “Holodomor” as genocide +++
After the Bundestag and the European Parliament, the French National Assembly also classified the famine in Ukraine in the 1930s, which killed millions, as genocide. The deputies passed a corresponding resolution by 168 with only two votes against. The “Holodomor” (German: murder by hunger) is “the story of organized barbarism” and “the use of hunger as a political weapon,” said MP Anne Genetet in an impassioned speech. The draft had been co-signed by members of seven of the ten parliamentary groups in the assembly. MEPs from the extreme left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) did not take part in the vote, while representatives from the Communist Party voted against the resolution.
+++ 22:24 Russia confirms: There is no longer any contact with the USA about the “New Start” treaty +++
Russia is currently not in contact with the US about the New Start treaty on strategic arms reduction, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the state news agency TASS. “There is no contact with the Americans about the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty,” Lavrov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on February 21 of this year that he would suspend the contract and signed a corresponding law shortly afterwards. The USA also no longer shares detailed data on its nuclear arsenal with Russia. Since Moscow doesn’t participate in the information exchange, the US hired it too, says National Security Council communications director John Kirby. Sharing of the data will only resume when Russia is ready to do so.
+++ 21:38 Ukraine reports many clashes with Russian troops in Bakhmut – high losses +++
According to a Ukrainian military officer, the situation in the heavily contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine is “very dynamic”. Sometimes even the enemy has tactical advantages, says the spokesman for the Ukrainian Eastern Front, Serhiy Cherevatyy, on television. But these benefits are predictable. “We recognize them and take countermeasures.” There is no strategic advantage whatsoever. “The situation is stable, but difficult,” says Cherevatyj. “Combat and countermeasures are about denying the opponent the ability to successfully expand their attacks.” In the past 24 hours alone there have been 14 clashes with Russian troops, in the course of which 86 Russian soldiers have been killed and another 117 wounded. The information cannot be independently verified. According to estimates by the NATO secret service, there are five Russians for every dead Ukrainian soldier in Bakhmut.
+++ 21:06 Storms wash away mines – uncontrolled detonations +++
In March 2022, shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army reportedly mined the shipping lanes from the Bosphorus to Odessa. According to a report by “Ukrainska Pravda”, the mines pose a particular danger. Since the beginning of this year, the stormy weather has washed up around 20 mines in several coastal zones, for example in Georgia. Most of the mines were destroyed in a controlled manner, but 20 percent caused “destruction,” according to the report. However, there should not have been any fatalities. More similar cases are expected to emerge in the summer. Romania has also discovered a washed-up sea mine on a beach in the past.
You can read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.