March 24, 2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 05:41 Attack on Lviv: Poland puts air force on alert +++
Poland mobilizes its aircraft fleet after the Russian air strike on western Ukraine. “Polish and allied aircraft have been activated, which may lead to increased noise pollution, especially in the southeastern part of the country,” the Polish Armed Forces Operations Command said on the social media service X. The southeastern part of Poland borders Ukraine.
+++ 04:48 Russia attacks Kiev and Lviv +++
Russia carried out airstrikes overnight on the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the Lviv region in the west of the country. “Explosions in the capital. The air defense is working. Do not leave the shelters,” wrote Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko on the online Telegram service. The governor of the Lviv region, Maksym Kosytskyi, reported rocket attacks on the district around the city of Stryi, south of Lviv.
+++ 03:59 Ukraine aid: US Congress deeply divided +++
The bitter dispute over the budget in the USA reveals the deep divisions among Republicans in Congress and dampens hopes that new aid funds for Ukraine will be approved soon. The Republican leader of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has come under fire within his group after his support for a bipartisan budget bill. Party colleagues from the right-wing fringe are pushing Johnson ahead of them and threatening to drive him out of office. They are also opposed to new aid for Ukraine, which is being attacked by Russia.
+++ 02:43 Explosions in Crimea: Ukraine targets Black Sea Fleet +++
Ukraine once again fired missiles at the port city of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula, which has been annexed by Russia since 2014, during the night. In the large-scale air attack, a 65-year-old resident of the city was killed by rocket fragments and four others were injured, the Russian-appointed city chief of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvoshayev, said on his Telegram channel. The “most massive attack in recent times” was repelled by the military. According to Ukrainian media reports, the main communications center of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was hit by three cruise missiles in the attack.
+++ 01:43 Sanctions weigh on Russian oil industry +++
Russian oil trading is beginning to feel the pressure of Western sanctions, Bloomberg reports. Indian refineries would no longer accept tankers from Moscow’s state-owned shipping company Sovcomflot. After Western sanctions, India has become one of the most important buyers of Russian oil after China. That seems to have changed: several tankers carrying Russian crude oil have been unable to dock at Indian ports in recent months. According to Bloomberg data, dozens of sanctioned ships lie idle, the most since 2017. The US has tightened its restrictions on Russian oil since October last year, imposing sanctions on around 40 oil tankers involved in the trade. Russia’s largest shipping company, Sovcomflot, was again hit with sanctions in February for violating a price cap of $60 a barrel. According to Bloomberg, Sovcomflot transported around a fifth of all Russian crude oil shipments to India in 2023.
+++ 00:41 Brandenburg CDU wants to pay more attention to war concerns +++
The chairman of the Brandenburg CDU regional group in the Bundestag, Jens Koeppen, is calling on his party to take greater account of fears in East Germany about an escalation of the war in Ukraine. “People are worried about arms deliveries and a possible expansion of the war. We have to take people’s concerns seriously, otherwise I fear that the current view of large parts of the Union will also influence election results if people turn away from us.” says Koeppen to the Editorial Network Germany (RND). “Our party profile is in danger of suffering as a result and the federal government is getting away unscathed with its mistakes in the areas of economic, energy and migration policy.” The Union parliamentary group had repeatedly requested in the Bundestag that Taurus cruise missiles be delivered to Ukraine.
+++ 23:39 Slovakia: Runoff election for president necessary +++
According to initial partial results, there will have to be a runoff election in the presidential election in Slovakia. According to the partial results published in the evening, the populist parliamentary speaker Peter Pellegrini and the liberal diplomat Ivan Korcok will face each other. The runoff election will take place on April 6th. The EU and NATO country Slovakia borders directly on Ukraine. Korcok promises to be a counterweight to the left-wing nationalist government under Prime Minister Robert Fico. He advocates decisive military support for Ukraine. Pellegrini advocates overcoming the deep domestic political divide and urges caution when it comes to arms deliveries.
+++ 22:50 Zelensky advises Putin to take better care of terror in his own country +++
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian President Vladimir Putin should use his followers to fight terrorism at home instead of invading Ukraine. “They have brought hundreds of thousands of their own terrorists here, onto Ukrainian land, to fight against us, and they don’t care what happens in their own country,” Zelensky said in his daily video address.
+++ 21:52 Sirens wail over Sevastopol: Heavy explosions reported in occupied Crimea +++
The Russian naval port of Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean peninsula has again become the target of Ukrainian drone and missile attacks. Russian anti-aircraft defense shot down over ten missiles and numerous drones in the evening, reports the state agency Tass. Shortly beforehand, traffic over the Crimean Bridge between the peninsula and the Russian mainland will be temporarily stopped. According to Russian reports, a woman and a child were injured in the attack on Sevastopol. Reports of serious explosions in the port of Sevastopol and possible hits on a ship there were circulating on social media.
You can read all previous developments here.