04/12/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 01:44 more than 4000 people manage to escape from embattled cities +++
According to Ukrainian information, 4,354 people were evacuated from besieged cities on Monday. Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk said 556 people managed to leave the encircled city of Mariupol.
+++ 01:13 Russian police arrest Kremlin critic Kara-Mursa +++
The Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Mursa was arrested by the police on Monday in front of his apartment building in Moscow. His lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said Kara-Mursa had to stay overnight in a police station. He was charged with resisting state authority. According to Russian law, this can result in a prison sentence of up to 15 days. Nothing was initially known about other allegations. However, Kara-Mursa is a prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin.
+++ 00:44 So far, reports of the use of chemical weapons have not been confirmed +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says in his evening video address that Russian forces could use chemical weapons in the Ukraine war. However, he does not say that chemical weapons have already been used. On Monday there were unconfirmed reports of the use of chemical weapons in the siege of the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
+++ 00:05 reports of rapes in Ukraine are piling up +++
According to a UN official, there are increasing reports of rape in Ukraine. “We’re hearing more and more about rape and sexual violence,” UN Women’s Director Sima Sami Bahous told the Security Council. The mass expulsions, the use of conscripts and mercenaries and the brutality against the civilian population “make all alarm bells ring”. The president of the human rights group La Strada Ukraine, Kateryna Cherepacha, told the council that her organization’s hotline had received nine calls alleging Russian soldiers. This is just the tip of the iceberg: violence and rape are “used as weapons of war by the Russian invaders in Ukraine.” Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said his country was not waging war against the civilian population. Ukraine and its allies wanted to “represent the Russian soldiers as sadists and rapists”.
+++ 23:30 Only every third Ukrainian gas station in operation +++
As a result of the Russian war of aggression, only about a third of all Ukrainian petrol stations are still open. “There is no doubt that the main reason is lack of fuel,” says the director of the A-95 advisory group, Serhiy Kujon. The supply problems were exacerbated in early April after a Russian missile attack destroyed the refinery in Kremenchuk in the Poltava region.
+++ 22:55 Italy agrees to expand gas supplies with Algeria +++
Italy concludes an agreement with Algeria to expand gas supplies so that in future less gas will have to be imported from Russia. Prime Minister Mario Draghi says after a meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Algiers: “Right after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I announced that Italy would move as quickly as possible to reduce dependence on Russia’s gas. Today’s agreements are a significant step towards that goal. And there are more to come.”
+++ 22:21 Kremlin: Ukraine prepares lies after Russians left Sumy +++
After Ukrainian troops regained control of Sumy on the border with Russia, Russia has accused Ukraine of preparing fabricated allegations of Russian violence against civilians. However, the Kremlin did not provide any clues or evidence. “The Kiev regime is preparing new, false, staged provocations under the leadership of British special forces,” says a statement from the Defense Ministry. It “accused the armed forces of the Russian Federation of alleged cruel treatment of the Ukrainian population in the Sumy region”. Sumy is located in northeastern Ukraine, bordering Russia. Hundreds of bodies were found in Bucha and other suburbs of Kiev after the Russian withdrawal in the past few days. Moscow denies any responsibility for the killings and speaks of fake photos and videos. However, eyewitness reports, satellite images and recordings of intercepted radio communications speak for the responsibility of Russian soldiers.
+++ 21:52 Russia is accused of using chemical weapons in Mariupol +++
According to the “Azov regiment”, Russian units used chemical warfare agents in the attack on Mariupol. The substance was dropped by a drone on Ukrainian defenders of the port city. This information has not yet been confirmed. The spokesman for the pro-Russian forces in Donetsk, Eduard Bassurin, had previously indicated that he might want to take over the embattled Mariupol steelworks Azov-Stahl using chemical weapons. First, the plant must be blocked, he said on Russian state television. “And after that, I think you have to go to the chemical weapons troops, who will find a way to smoke the moles out of their holes.” The use of chemical weapons is banned worldwide.
+++ 21:38 Kyiv: Russia has locked up civilians +++
The government in Kyiv has accused Russia of detaining Ukrainian civilians, some of them in Russia. “There are many priests, journalists, activists, mayors and civilians in general who are in prison,” said Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk in a televised speech. This is not even happening on Ukrainian soil, but in the Russian regions of Kursk, Bryansk and Rostov. The Russian government denies taking action against Ukrainian civilians.
+++ 21:25 demonstration in front of the German embassy in Lithuania +++
At a rally in front of the German embassy in Lithuania, around a hundred people demanded more support for Ukraine from the federal government. The demonstrators called on the federal government to stop energy imports from Russia and to supply more weapons to Russia-invaded Ukraine.
+++ 21:00 “secret operation revealed” – France expels six Russians +++
France declares six Russians undesirables. “After a very long investigation, the Directorate-General for Internal Security (DGSI) on Sunday uncovered a secret operation carried out by the Russian secret service on our territory,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, referring to the French domestic secret service. The people are agents who have posed as diplomats and whose activities are directed against the national interests of France. The ministry was not more specific.
You can read about previous developments here.