Zelensky: positive signs in negotiations with Russia

Ukraine: Withdrawn Russian groups likely to be replaced

Russia’s promised withdrawal of troops from around Kiev should lead the Ukrainian armed forces astray. Although the soldiers are withdrawing, they will probably be replaced by fresh armed forces. The Ukrainian intelligence service says it has indications for this, reports it on Wednesday in the daily update on the progress of the war. Evidence for the directions has not been disclosed and for NRC not verifiable. According to Ukraine, Russia would like to create a misunderstanding among the military leadership about the abandonment of plans to encircle Kiev.

According to the British intelligence Heavy losses around Kiev have forced the Russian army to return to Belarus and Russia, where it can reorganize and resupply. According to the British, Russia would like to compensate for the reduced presence on Ukrainian territory with shelling and rocket attacks. This statement is also for NRC not controllable. Russia’s stated focus on an offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions would be a tacit admission that the country cannot make progress on multiple fronts.

Russia’s defense ministry announced on Tuesday that it would scale down activities around Kiev in order to “increase mutual trust” and create “the necessary conditions” for further negotiations. According to the deputy mayor of Kiev, there was still fighting over the stand in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, but the city itself was not bombarded by Russian artillery fire.

UN World Food Program Destroyed by Ukraine War

The war in Ukraine is having “devastating” consequences for the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP), which aims to feed some 125 million people worldwide in starvation. That said David Beasley, director of the United Nations World Food Program, during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday night. The WFP normally gets about 50 percent of its grain supply from Ukraine, but the country has now turned from “the breadbasket of the world,” according to Beasley.

According to Beasley, the food crisis is further exacerbated by a lack of fertilizers from Russia and Belarus. This could reduce agricultural crop production “by at least 50 percent”. The UN food chief warns of a food crisis that “could go beyond what we have seen since World War II.”

Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the WFP foresaw problems with food distribution due to high fuel and food prices. In some countries, the UN program reduced rations for this reason, so that millions of people received less food. According to Beasley, the world will “pay a heavy price” if the war in Ukraine is not ended.

Overview: Ukrainian deployment of negotiations known, FVD not present at Zelensky video speech

These are the main developments from Tuesday evening and the night from Tuesday to Wednesday:

• The independent journalistic platform Meduza reports the list proposals that Ukrainian negotiators handed over to the Russian delegation in Istanbul on Tuesday. Ukraine would be willing to become a neutral state, waiving NATO membership in return for international security guarantees. Ukraine does want to join the EU. For Crimea, annexed by Russia, a diplomatic solution must be found within a maximum of fifteen years.
• The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it sees “positive signals” in the negotiations with Russia, but remains suspicious of Russian promises until concrete results are achieved. “Of course we do not trust the words of certain representatives of a state that continues to fight to destroy us, Ukrainians are not naive people,” he said in a video message.
• Forum for Democracy will not be present in the House of Representatives on Thursday when Zelensky makes a video speech. Thierry Baudet and his party do not agree with a foreign head of state addressing parliament in the House. “The democratic bubble formation in the Dutch parliament must be achieved completely independently, shielded from foreign influence and unimpeded by foreign interests,” says FVD. in a statement distributed via social media†

Zelensky: positive signs in negotiations with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sees “positive signals” in the negotiations with Russia in Turkey, but remains skeptical about Russian promises until concrete results are achieved.

“We can say that the signals we are getting from the negotiating table are positive,” he said on Telegram and Facebook at midnight Dutch time. video message† “But those signals do not silence the Russian shells, of course we see the risks.”

Russia’s defense ministry on Tuesday promised to “drasically” reduce its “military activities” in the vicinity of Kiev and Chernihiv. Deputy Minister Alexander Fomin told reporters that the decision was made because of progress in the negotiations.

Although Zelensky seems to find hope in that, he wants to see it first and then believe it. “Of course we do not trust the words of certain representatives of a state that continues to fight to destroy us, Ukrainians are not naive people,” he said in his video message. “Ukrainians have learned during the 34 days of the invasion and the eight years of war in the Donbas that only a concrete result can be trusted.”

According to the Ukrainian president, there can therefore be no question of lifting international sanctions against Russia as long as the war in his country continues.