Day 4 of Russia’s Ukraine invasion: There is fierce fighting for Ukraine’s main cities – but they haven’t fallen yet!
Means: The resistance is much stronger, the Ukrainians are doing better than expected. Vladimir Putin’s plan to take Ukraine in a flash operation since Thursday morning has failed.
But how much longer can Kiev and Kharkiv hold out? And many are wondering: will the arms deliveries – including those from Germany – still arrive on time?
Here are the developments in the live blog
3:03 p.m .: Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Woidke: “Putin, stop the killing”
Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the attacks on Ukraine immediately. “Mr. President Putin, stop the aggression against Ukraine immediately! Stop the killing, stop the war!” said the head of state on Sunday at the special session in the Bundestag.
2:55 p.m .: Government spokesman: 47,000 Ukrainians arrived in Romania
More than 47,000 Ukrainians had arrived in Romania by Sunday 12:00 a.m. local time (Saturday 11:00 p.m. CET), but almost 23,000 of them had left the country. This was announced by Romanian government spokesman Dan Carbunaru in Bucharest on Sunday. Only 102 Ukrainian citizens have applied for asylum in Romania so far, he added.
2:51 p.m .: Estonia’s ex-president praises Scholz as a “determined leader”
Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has praised Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and recent German decisions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Scholz, I have to admit after having had many doubts, is developing into the determined leader that Germany and the EU need right now. I hope it continues like this,” he tweeted on Sunday. From 2006 to 2016, Ilves was head of state of the Baltic EU and NATO member Estonia, which borders Russia.
2:45 p.m .: Ukraine agrees to negotiations with Russia
Ukraine has agreed to peace talks with Russia. A Russian and a Ukrainian delegation will meet at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday. There are no conditions.
2:27 p.m .: Putin puts nuclear forces on alert
President Vladimir Putin has put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces on alert amid tensions with the West over his invasion of Ukraine.
At a meeting with his top officials on Sunday, Putin said leading NATO powers had made “aggressive statements” and that the West had imposed tough financial sanctions on Russia, including the president himself.
Putin instructed the Russian defense minister and the chief of the military chief of staff to place the nuclear deterrent forces in a “special regime of combat use.”
2.20 p.m .: Large demo in Berlin with 120,000 participants
According to police estimates, there are now around 120,000 participants in the solidarity demonstration for Ukraine. Because of the large crowds, the police extended the demo area to the Tiergarten S-Bahn station (originally it only went from the Brandenburg Gate to the Victory Column). There is still a strong influx from the direction of Alex and Unter den Linden. The organizers spoke of around 500,000 people in the early afternoon.
Click here for the LiveBlog archive:
Thousands flock to anti-war demo in Berlin
“Economic nuclear bomb” – decision to exclude Russian banks from Swift
Street fighting and artillery fire shake Kiev – all about it in the live blog
Russian paratroopers near Kiev
100,000 fleeing in Ukraine, Chernobyl conquered
Putin ready for “high-level negotiations” with Ukraine
Sirens howl! The battle for Kiev rages!