Russia Steps Up Attacks Near Kiev as Negotiations Continue

Russian forces today intensified their attacks in the vicinity of Kiev in the day 17 of the warWhile the siege of Mariupol continues, in the south, and Russians and Ukrainians revealed today that they are negotiating in videoconference format after three face-to-face rounds.

This Saturday morning they reported heavy fighting in northwest Kiev and a military airfield in Vasylkiv, south of the capital, was hit by Russian missiles, while Russian forces are reported to be 25 km from Kiev.

Meanwhile, in the port city of Mariúpol, to the southeast, Russians have bombed the Mosque of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificentreported the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on its website.

“More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey”, added the ministry, which did not offer more information about the attack.

Mariúpol, a city of some 500,000 inhabitants in southeastern Ukraine and on the shores of the inland Sea of ​​Azov, is an important industrial center that has suffered from a Russian siege since the beginning of the conflict. Today the Ukrainian authorities managed to open a humanitarian corridor to bring food and medicine.

The city of Mykolaiv, in the southwest, suffered heavy shelling and new artillery and air attacks were also registered in the cities of Nikolaev, Dnipro and Kropyvnytski, in the center of the country.

The Russian Army attacks spread for the first time on Friday to populations in the west of the country, close to the borders with the European Unionand this Saturday it was confirmed that the military airfield in Lutsk, near Poland, was completely destroyed.

diplomatic attempts

Once again, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz today called for a ceasefire with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in a three-way telephone conversation. Elíseo later pointed out that the The Russian president has no intention of “stopping the war”.

In this regard, the Kremlin, in a statement, said that Putin accused the Ukrainian “nationalist” forces of violating international humanitarian law and numerous abuses such as using human shields, a version that Paris and Berlin called a “lie”.

“The situation in besieged cities like Mariupol are “humanly unsustainable, Putin has to end the siege,” French sources explained. And Paris and Berlin called the Kremlin’s version of Ukrainian crimes a “lie.”

Macron and Scholz also spoke with Zelenski, who asked them for help in achieving the release of the mayor of Melitopol, near the besieged city of Mariupol, and who was allegedly captured this Friday by Russian soldiers occupying the town.

This morning, some 2,000 people, according to Ukrainian television, gathered in front of the Melitopol town hall, to protest the capture of the alderman, Ivan Fedorov, shouting “Freedom for the mayor.”

Video conference negotiations

The Kremlin’s statement about the phone call between the leaders revealed that Putin told Macron and Scholz in detail “about the recent series of talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives that took place in recent days in video format.”

It was unknown that Russians and Ukrainians were currently negotiating via videoconferenceafter the three face-to-face rounds held in recent weeks.

Both the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, and Mijailo Podolyak confirmed the existence of these contacts.

“Negotiations with the Russian delegation are now being held continuously in video format. Special working subgroups have been created,” Podolyak wrote on his Telegram channel.

“Now the Russian side, in the negotiations, has begun to talk about things and not just issue ultimatums. I think this is a fundamentally different approach. And it should be like that,” the Ukrainian president said.

Putin has previously declared the Russian conditions for a ceasefire, especially the recognition of the independence of pro-Russian Donbas, that Crimea is Russian and the neutrality of Ukraine.

Ukraine acknowledges 1,300 casualties

The Russians will only succeed in entering Kiev “if they destroy us all”, said the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenskyat a press conference.

“This war, this difficult war, has really united our country. You ask me how the situation is on the front… the front line is everywhere,” Zelensky told reporters.

“Some small towns no longer exist. And this is a tragedy, they have disappeared, and the people are gone, forever,” he added.

For the first time since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24, Zelensky gave a figure for Ukrainian military casualties: He reported that 1,300 members of the armed forces have died, while he assured that the Russians have lost 12,000 soldiers.

“About 1,300 of our soldiers have died, and Russia has lost about 12,000. One to ten. I am not happy that 12,000 of their own have died”, he stated, “because the Russians also have fathers”, and -he said- “most Russian soldiers do not know anything in general, and They went to Ukraine because they were told something about fighting fascism.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense has only offered in these 16 days of war in Ukraine a figure of Russian military casualties of just under 500 soldiers. (I)