(updated version)
BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – A good two weeks after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU, the USA and other Western partners have introduced new sanctions against Russia. The states of the European Union and their allies agreed on Friday to withdraw trade concessions from Russia. Among other things, this could result in higher duties on Russian goods. Russia had previously expanded its airstrikes to targets in western Ukraine.
In view of the situation, the European Union intends to allocate an additional EUR 500 million for the supply of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces. Meanwhile, Russia is raising fears in the UN Security Council that the other side will use biological weapons, although neither the United Nations nor international fact-checkers see any indications of this.
More sanctions against Russia – no rapid EU accession for Ukraine
In addition to an import ban on luxury goods – planned in step with the USA – the new EU sanctions package also envisages a ban on the import of certain products from the Russian iron and steel industry. This affects a central sector of the Russian economic system and deprives the country of billions in export earnings, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In addition, a comprehensive ban on new investments in the entire Russian energy sector is planned.
The EU also wants to provide an additional half a billion euros for the supply of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces. This was announced by EU Council President Charles Michel on Friday after consultations with the heads of state and government in Versailles, France. A first package of 500 million euros was approved at the end of February. The EU states also want to increase deterrence against Russia by significantly increasing their defense spending.
However, the EU heads of state and government put a damper on Ukraine’s hopes of rapid EU accession. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his colleagues merely promised Ukraine to further strengthen ties and deepen the partnership in order to support them on their European path.
New hostilities also in western Ukraine
In attacks on targets in Ukraine on Friday, Russia’s armed forces said they destroyed 82 military installations. Among them are four command and control centers of the Ukrainian army, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry said, according to the Interfax news agency. This information could not initially be independently verified. According to the spokesman, 3,346 Ukrainian military objects have been destroyed since the war began a good two weeks ago.
According to Russian information, the pro-Russian separatists are also continuing their advance in the Donetsk region. They were said to have advanced eleven kilometers from the captured city of Volnowakha in the direction of the Zaporizhia region. From the Ukrainian side there was still no confirmation of the capture of Volnovacha.
According to Russia, the south-eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol is now blocked. Hundreds of thousands of residents are stuck in the city. An aid convoy from Zaporizhia was also unable to reach Mariupol on Friday, the Ukrinform agency reported. The city council put the number of civilians killed at 1,582; UN statistics so far show around 560 documented cases of civilian deaths. Several attempts to rescue people via agreed escape corridors have already failed.
On Friday night, Russia expanded its attacks on western Ukraine. Air bases in the western Ukrainian regional capital of Ivano-Frankivsk and in Lutsk in the north-west of the country were put out of action with “high-precision weapons”, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Lutsk and Ivano-Frankivsk are located north and south of the city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border, to which many Ukrainians initially fled because of the fighting.
A kilometer-long convoy of Russian military vehicles in front of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv is dispersing in places, according to the US government. The procedure probably serves to camouflage the vehicles better, said a senior US defense official on Friday. He could not say how far Kyiv has already been surrounded. From the northwest, the Russian military is about 15 kilometers from the center. British government experts say Russian troops are likely to attack Kyiv in the coming days.
people on the run
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR on Friday, 2.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24. According to this, more than 1.5 million people from Ukraine were in Poland, a good 225,000 in Hungary and 176,000 in Slovakia. According to the Federal Police, around 110,000 war refugees have come to Germany so far. In addition to the refugees, 1.85 million people have been displaced within Ukraine, according to UNHCR estimates.
Because of the war, the fear of supply crises and food shortages is growing – even beyond the war zones. Ukraine is the world’s fifth largest supplier of wheat. Many countries would find it difficult to obtain agricultural commodities, said Federal Agriculture Minister Cem zdemir after a video conference with his counterparts from the G7 countries. This threatens the supply in parts of the world.
Russia raises fears of using weapons of mass destruction
Russia accused Ukraine and the United States of developing biological weapons before the UN Security Council. “The Russian Defense Ministry now has documents confirming that there was a network of at least 30 biological laboratories on the territory of Ukraine,” Russia’s UN Ambassador Vasily Nebensia said at an emergency meeting in New York on Friday. These were used for “dangerous experiments” with pathogens that cause anthrax, tularemia, cholera and other deadly diseases. Kyiv was supported by the Pentagon.
However, international fact-checkers have already refuted claims about a network of laboratories. The UN also repeatedly asserted that they knew nothing about weapons of mass destruction allegedly produced in Ukraine. The USA speaks of “propaganda” and a possible pretext for the Russians to use weapons of mass destruction themselves in the Ukraine war.
Media in Russia under pressure – ARD and ZDF want to report again
In Russia, however, the pressure on social networks and media is growing. The Attorney General wants to have the Facebook group Meta banned as an “extremist organization”. The background is a decision by the US company, which also includes services such as Instagram and WhatsApp, to allow calls for violence against Russian troops in Ukraine. Facebook itself has not been accessible in Russia for days. Instagram is now blocked too.
The German television stations ARD and ZDF, on the other hand, want to report from their studios in Moscow again soon. They want to report “on the political, economic and social situation in Russia” again, but “report on the military situation in Ukraine” from other locations.
Reporting was temporarily suspended. The reason was a change in the law in Russia, according to which the dissemination of alleged false information about the Russian armed forces can be punished with high fines and up to 15 years in prison.
The Google video service YouTube is now blocking channels denying Russia’s attack on Ukraine. “Our community guidelines prohibit content that denies, downplays or trivializes well-documented violent events,” said a YouTube spokesman for the German Press Agency.
Gerhard Schrder talks to Putin – no agreement with Scholz
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schrder traveled to Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine war. Corresponding reports from the news portal “Politico” and the “Bild” newspaper were confirmed by the German Press Agency. According to dpa information, the first talks between Schrder and Putin took place on Thursday. It was initially unclear whether more were planned. The federal government had previously said that the trip had not been agreed with her./gma/DP/he