UPDATE – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict during a 75-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, a German government spokesperson said.
“The conversation is part of ongoing international efforts to end the war in Ukraine,” the spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the participants agreed to say nothing further about the substance of the phone call.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the state of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv and responded to their concerns about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was sending in new troops after Ukrainian forces had put 31 of its battalion tactical groups out of action in what he called Russia’s largest army losses in decades. He gave no details and it was not possible to verify either statement.
Zelenskiy also said he had spoken to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron about pressuring Russia to release the mayor of the city of Melitopol, who Ukraine says was kidnapped on Friday by Russian forces.
More than 2,000 residents of the southern city, which is now under Russian control, protested outside the city administration building to demand the release of the mayor, Ivan Fedorov, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said.
“Treasury continues to hold Russian officials to account for enabling Putin’s unjustified and unprovoked war,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.
Russian forces kept up their bombardment of cities across the country on Friday in the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two. Satellite images showed them firing artillery as they advanced on Kyiv.
The fighting has created more than 2 million refugees, and thousands of Ukrainians are trapped in besieged cities.
As hundreds sheltered in Kharkiv metro stations, Nastya, a young girl lying on a makeshift bed on the floor of a train carriage, said she had been there for over a week, unable to move around much and ill with a virus.
“I’m scared for my home, for the homes of my friends, very scared for the whole country, and scared for myself of course,” she said.
Putin calls the invasion a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and unseat leaders it calls neo-Nazis. Ukraine and Western allies call this a baseless pretext for a war of choice that has raised fears of wider conflict in Europe.
On Friday, Putin said there had been “certain positive shifts” in the talks, which have been taking place in Belarus, but gave no details.
The Kremlin statement said Macron and Scholz raised questions about the humanitarian situation arising from what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine, and Putin responded with allegations of human rights abuses by Ukrainian forces. It did not cite evidence in support of those allegations.
The three leaders agreed to keep in contact, the Kremlin said.
PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL
The governor of the Kharkiv region on the Russian border, said a psychiatric hospital had been hit, and the mayor of the city of Kharkiv said about 50 schools there had been destroyed.
In the besieged southern city of Mariupol, the city council said at least 1,582 civilians had been killed by Russian shelling and a 12-day blockade that has left hundreds of thousands trapped with no food, water, heat or power.
Moscow denies targeting civilians.
Russia’s defence ministry said the Black Sea port was surrounded, while Ukrainian officials accused Russia of deliberately preventing civilians getting out and humanitarian convoys getting in.
A new effort to evacuate civilians along a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol appeared to have failed, as Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russian shelling prevented them from leaving.
“The situation is critical,” Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko said.
Western countries meanwhile took more economic steps to try to force Putin to end his assault.
President Joe Biden, who this week banned U.S. imports of Russian oil, said the G7 industrial powers would revoke Russia’s “most favoured nation” trade status.
Biden banned U.S. imports of Russian seafood, alcohol and diamonds. Washington sanctioned more oligarchs and elites, including board members of Russian banks, and a dozen lawmakers.
European Union leaders said they were ready to impose harsher sanctions on Russia and might give Ukraine more funds for arms. But they rejected Ukraine’s request to join the bloc.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU would on Saturday suspend Moscow’s privileged trade and economic treatment, crack down on its use of crypto-assets, and ban the import of iron and steel goods from Russia, as well as the export of luxury goods in the other direction.
GEARING UP
Russia’s main force has been stalled north of Kyiv, having failed in what Western analysts say was an initial plan for a lightning assault.
But Britain’s defence ministry said Russia appeared to be gearing up for a new offensive in coming days that would probably include Kyiv.
Images taken on Friday and released by private U.S. satellite firm Maxar showed Russian forces were continuing to deploy closer to Kyiv and firing artillery toward residential areas, according to the company’s analysis.
Multiple homes and buildings were on fire and widespread damage was seen throughout the town of Moschun, northwest of Kyiv, Maxar said. Reuters could not independently verify the images.
But Britain’s intelligence update said Russian ground forces were still making only limited progress, hampered by logistical problems and Ukrainian resistance.
The Ukrainian general staff said Russian forces were regrouping after taking heavy losses. Ukrainian troops had pushed some back to “unfavourable positions” near the Belarus border, it said.
Kyiv’s mayor, former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, said the capital had enough essential supplies to last a couple of weeks. Supply lines remained open.
BELARUS
At a meeting with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Putin said there were “certain positive shifts” in talks with Kyiv, but did not elaborate.
Ukraine has raised the prospect of Moscow’s ally Belarus entering the war, accusing Russia of staging “false flag” air attacks on Belarus from Ukraine to provide an excuse.
Belarus has served as a staging post for Russian forces before and after the invasion. The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment.
Putin and Lukashenko agreed Moscow would supply its smaller neighbour with up-to-date military equipment, the official Belarus Belta news agency said.
Moscow might not have sufficient troops to achieve its goals, said Mathieu Boulegue, an expert at London’s Chatham House think tank.
“You can’t invade a country on a one-on-one ratio” of troops, Boulegue told Reuters. “Nobody has done it, which means that either something was wrong or they had very wrong assumptions.”
Photo – The mural ‘Solidarity with Ukraine’ created by graffiti team WakeUpTime, adorns the sidewall of an apartment building in Gdansk, northern Poland. EPA-EFE/Adam Warzawa
