According to the Ukrainian defense intelligence service GUR, the Russian army is riddled with informants and has made various “misjudgments”. A “very large number of people” have been mobilized to wage a guerrilla war behind Russian lines, GUR chief Kyrylo Budanov told the US publication The Nation. The Ukrainian armed forces also benefited from “misjudgments” by the Russians. The situation is still “very difficult”. “We have large Russian forces on our territory and they have surrounded the Ukrainian cities,” Budanov said. “As for the prospects for peace, despite the negotiations, they remain vague and unpredictable.”
+++ 02:41 Great Britain donates two million for surrounded Ukrainians +++
Britain is funding £2million in food for residents of trapped Ukrainian cities. “The need on the ground in Ukraine is great. Many people are stuck in basements in the encircled areas without access to food or water,” said Alice Hooper, the British Foreign Office’s humanitarian adviser, in a statement. 25 truckloads of dried food, canned goods and water are to be transported from warehouses in Poland and Slovakia to Ukraine’s most vulnerable cities.
+++ 02:28 authorities accuses Putin of stealing hundreds of planes +++
According to European aviation authorities, Russia has “stolen” several hundred airliners since Western sanctions came into force. The leasing companies would suffer billions in damage, according to a video conference by Eurocontrol, the European organization for the safety of aviation. According to the EU sanctions imposed after the Russian attack on Ukraine, Russia’s airlines have until Monday to return leased planes.
Here you can read more about it.
+++ 02:08 USA want to impose new sanctions against Russia +++
According to a media report, the US government is preparing sanctions against Russian companies that supply goods and services to Moscow’s military and secret services. The Wall Street Journal reports, citing US officials. Most of these companies, including Serniya Engineering and equipment maker Sertal, were previously placed on a US list that bans the export of sensitive technology to these companies. The US Treasury Department’s sanctions could be announced next week, the paper said. The Treasury declined to comment.
+++ 01:42 Energy industry: Russian hard coal can be replaced in a few months +++
The German energy industry is optimistic in its search for alternatives to imports of Russian hard coal. “A complete conversion of the supply chains for the hard coal supply of the power plants in Germany is not easy, but it is possible within the next few months,” says Kerstin Andreae, general manager of the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), the newspapers of the Funke media group. The operators of coal-fired power plants are in talks with other supplier countries.
+++ 01:08 First Ukrainian refugees from Moldova arrive in Frankfurt +++
The first Ukrainian refugees from Moldova come to Germany. A plane with 134 refugees lands in Frankfurt in the evening. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has promised the Moldovan government that, as a first step, 2,500 Ukrainian refugees will be flown out of Moldova. The small neighboring country of Ukraine is particularly affected by the refugee crisis.
+++ 00:39 Poland calls for Germany to give up Russian gas +++
Poland’s head of government, Mateusz Morawiecki, said countries like Germany should be pushed harder to give up oil and gas from Russia. He announced that next week Poland will present a plan on how the country will detach itself from imports from Russia.
+++ 00:02 Macron opposes ruble payment for Russian gas +++
French President Emmanuel Macron says there is no reason to comply with Russia’s demand to pay for energy supplies in rubles. The text of the contract states that it is forbidden to demand payments in rubles. Russia wants to avoid Western sanctions with ruble payments.
+++ 22:34 Ukraine believes Russians can continue to attack Kyiv +++
The Ukrainian military still believes that a large-scale attack by Russian troops on Kyiv is possible. To this end, the enemy is continuing to pull together strong forces, says Ukraine’s army chief of staff Olexander Grusewitsch. In addition, according to the findings of the reconnaissance in the Caucasus Republic of Dagestan, special units are being prepared for this mission. This information could not be independently verified. Recently, Ukrainian troops had managed to recapture several positions and towns in the Kyiv area.
+++ 22:57 7331 people can flee from contested cities +++
According to Ukrainian information, a total of 7,331 people were able to leave the embattled cities via escape corridors this Friday. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 2,800 people self-organized to escape from Mariupol, which is under particularly heavy shelling.
+++ 22:24 authorities: four dead after clinic shelling in Kharkiv +++
According to the police, four people were killed when a clinic was shelled in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. In the morning, the clinic is hit by rockets. It served as a center for humanitarian aid, and there is no military facility nearby, the police said on social media. Seven people are injured, four of them die. Russia has repeatedly said it only attacks Ukrainian military facilities and not civilian targets.
+++ 22:10 Macron plans “humanitarian mission” for Mariupol +++
France is planning a joint initiative with Turkey and Greece to evacuate people from the hard-fought eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol at short notice. The three countries want to start a “humanitarian mission to evacuate all those who want to leave Mariupol,” President Emmanuel Macron announced on the evening after the EU summit in Brussels. There are already concrete talks with the mayor of Mariupol and an agreement with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. An agreement is also necessary with Russia, whose troops have been besieging the city for weeks.
+++ 22:01 Putin signs “false news” law on foreign actions +++
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a law providing for prison sentences of up to 15 years for publishing “false information” about Russian state operations abroad. The law passed by parliament this week sets jail terms and fines for people who “knowingly spread false information” about actions by Russian government agencies “outside Russian territory”. In cases in which the “false information” leads to “serious consequences”, there is a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment. The new rules extend a law passed in early March that allows for up to 15 years in prison for spreading “false news” about the Russian army. This was passed against the background of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
+++ 21:44 Habeck fears hamster purchases in the event of an abrupt gas and oil supply stop +++
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck fears panic buying in Germany in the event that Russian oil and gas supplies are abruptly ended in the course of the Ukraine war. “What would happen if we said: There is no more oil, we all have to save oil and petrol?” the Green politician asked in an ARD interview. There would probably not be less car driving, but there would be a rush to the gas stations – “and everyone is hoarding oil like toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic”. An immediate exit from Russia’s energy supplies would therefore be “dramatic”. If Russia unilaterally stops its gas supplies, there are contingency plans, says Habeck.
+++ 21:21 Pentagon representative: Russia “overestimated” itself when advancing on Kyiv +++
A high-ranking representative of the US Department of Defense sees signs that Russian troops are now primarily focusing on eastern Ukraine. “They are focused on the Donbass,” he says in a briefing to journalists. A Russian advance on the capital Kyiv is currently not to be observed. “They dig in, they set up defensive positions.” The Pentagon official continues: “Obviously they overestimated their ability to take Kyiv. And frankly they overestimated their ability to take any population center: and they clearly underestimated the Ukrainian resistance.”
+++ 21:07 Scholz calls the use of chemical weapons a “sacrilege” +++
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has described a possible Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine as “sacrilege”. He rejects Russian accusations that there are chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine. These warnings from Moscow should not be used as a pretext for Russia itself to use such weapons. “This is a border crossing – after all the border crossings, this would be the furthest and most terrible,” he adds.
You can read about previous developments here.