The new Russian rulers in occupied Ukrainian territories are planning to join Russia. According to Kyiv, a Ukrainian counter-offensive is still a long way off. Meanwhile, the Azovstal soldiers have been taken to Russia. What happened that night in the Ukraine war.
military situation
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russian troops have not yet achieved a breakthrough in the embattled eastern Ukraine. “The situation at the front has not undergone any significant changes in the last 24 hours,” said Zelenskyy in his daily video message on Tuesday evening. “The extremely heroic defense of Donbass continues.”
According to Governor Oleh Synyehubov, at least three people were killed and six others injured by Russian shelling in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. Another person was killed in attacks in the evening, it said. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, two people were killed and three injured in Russian rocket attacks in the city of Bashtanka in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv. There are said to have been violent detonations in the regional capital Mykolaiv. The pro-Russian separatists also reported casualties. A man was killed in Ukrainian shelling in the town of Pervomaysk near the front line.
More than 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war from the conquered Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol have now been brought to Russia. The Russian law enforcement authorities are currently dealing with them, the Russian state agency TASS reported on Wednesday night, citing security circles. Among them could be more than 100 foreign “mercenaries”. In total, more than 2,400 Ukrainian fighters surrendered at the plant.
Political voices and developments
In the areas occupied by Russian troops, the new rulers are apparently planning to join Russia. Preparations for a referendum have begun, said the pro-Russian governor in the city of Melitopol, Halyna Danylchenko. According to a Russian deputy, the deputy chief of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, was in Melitopol, the second largest city in Zaporizhia Oblast, for talks, as well as in Kherson, the capital of the adjacent region of the same name. According to Ukrainian information, a referendum on annexation to Russia will be prepared in Kherson by autumn.
In his video message on Tuesday evening, Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced a new war crimes information system. Confirmed information about war criminals and criminals in the Russian army is to be collected in a “Book of the Torturers”. “I have repeatedly stressed that they will all be held accountable. And we’re taking it step by step,” said the President. Not only direct perpetrators such as soldiers should be held responsible, but also their commanders, who would have made the crimes possible – “in Butscha, in Mariupol, in all our cities”.
According to Russian sources, the bilateral dialogue between Moscow and Washington has almost come to a standstill. “Trust has been eroded, cooperation is crumbling even in areas of mutual interest, communication between the sides is poor and mostly reduced to a debate of technical issues,” Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told Russian state television. However, the defense ministers and chiefs of staff would still hold “occasional phone calls” – these are extremely important to prevent a direct military confrontation.
You can read more updates on the Ukraine war on the following pages.
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