‘JDN News’ presents the events of the 91st day of the Russia-Ukraine war – as it happened minute by minute.
07:49 The Russian invasion of Ukraine has halted the country’s maritime trade, according to US intelligence. According to the information, in the months since the Russian invasion Russia has established an “effective siege” in the northern third of the Black Sea.
09:44 – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalansky said that Ukraine “will fight until it returns all the occupied territories.” He further said that he was interested in talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin directly and trying to find a diplomatic solution.
10:02 Ukrainian President Vladimir Zalansky said he was “willing to speak directly with Vladimir Putin and not through intermediaries.” In a speech to the International Economic Forum in Davos, Zalansky added that “if the Russian president understands the reality, there is a possibility of finding a diplomatic way out of the conflict.” He called on the Kremlin to withdraw its forces back to existing lines before the invasion that began on February 24, and said its country would fight until it regained all its territory.
10:12 The Ukrainian ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Kornichuk, said at a conference of the Eilat Bar Association that “you as a Jewish nation should be proud of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zlansky, who is a Jew himself.” He added that “if you look at the big picture, most of the foreign governments, including the Israeli ones, relied on the intelligence reports and buried the Ukrainian government when the war broke out. I was ready to hear the condolences from the Israeli side.”
10:20 Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Kornichuk criticized Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and said that “we managed to bring about 30,000 Ukrainians here as refugees, even if Minister Shaked hates the word refugees, because you do not have it in the legislation, and calls them tourists. But It will allow them to work without a permit. ” In a statement at a conference of the Bar Association in Eilat, Kornichuk added that “the support of Israelis is insane, we believe that most of them support Ukraine.”
10:24 – 3 rockets fell not far from the Chabad synagogue in the city of Zaporozhye in the Ukraine. . At the same time, a committee of rabbis and Chabad emissaries in Ukraine stated that the rabbis of the communities and emissaries throughout Ukraine are currently preparing for a special activity on the occasion of Pentecost with the thousands of Jews still remaining in the country.
Photo: Ukrainian Ministry of Defense
13:31 Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko says Russia is ready to lift the siege on Ukrainian ports in exchange for lifting Western sanctions.
14:20 – Nike has decided not to renew its contract with its largest franchisee in Russia, the IRG Group, thus effectively deciding on a final exit from the country following the invasion of Ukraine. “We no longer have Nike products, which is forcing us to close the stores,” franchise president Tichon Smikov told workers.
15:03 – Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order that will allow a fast track for the residents of the occupied Ukrainian cities, Kherson and Zaporizhia, to obtain Russian citizenship. The order actually extends a program available from 2019 to residents of the pro-Russian separatist areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine.
15:15 A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said that “Russia is trying to attack on three fronts in the area of ​ †‹the city of Kharkiv”.
15:22 – Ukrainian intelligence updates: Russia has rescued the bodies of soldiers killed in the sinking of the ship “Moscow”. According to the Ukrainians, the Russian rescue operation lasted at least two weeks.
15:54 – British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said “Russia’s army is exhausted and broken, we expect the Russians to be more threatening in the future”.
16:20 The UK’s defense minister, Ben Wallace, has called on Russia to allow Ukraine to export its grain, to help countries where grain shortages could cause famine. Wallace met with his Spanish counterpart Margarita Robles in Madrid, where he told local reporters that “Russia must do the right thing.” The defense minister rejected the idea that sanctions against Russia should be lifted in exchange for grain exports, and welcomed the proposal to get Black Sea countries, such as Turkey, to accompany Ukraine’s grain shipments.
17:00 – The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Edward Hager, has criticized European countries, which he says “rely too much on Russian energy”, and called for an end to “compromise” in European policy towards Russia. He then claimed that if Ukraine “failed in its mission – Slovakia would be next in line”.
17:38 Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited a Russian hospital wounded by Russian soldiers wounded in the war in Ukraine. As far as I know, this is the first time since the war broke out against the neighboring country that Putin visited wounded. A short three-second video released from the incident shows the Russian president standing in front of two hospitalized soldiers. The soldiers also stand by their beds and shake hands with the president. At the side of the president is Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who has become one of the most infamous figures in Russia since the beginning of the fighting.
18:00 – Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andhshon has referred to the Turkish accusations against her and against Finland, regarding the sponsorship they give to anti-Turkish terrorists in their territory. Andshon said that “Sweden is not helping financially, and certainly not handing over weapons to such and other terrorist elements.” These days, delegations from Sweden and Finland are visiting Turkey to discuss things with their partners.
Photo: Ukrainian Border Police
18:30 – The lower house of the Russian parliament (“similar”) approved the bill that was introduced last week, and is intended to abolish the restriction on the age of recruitment that has so far stood between the ages of 18 to 40 for Russian citizens, and 18 to 30 for residents.
19:00 “Russia rejected the Italian peace plan proposed by it last week on the grounds that” arms can not be supplied to Ukraine on the one hand, and a peace plan offered on the other.
20:00 – The Russian army is focusing its attacks on the eastern part of Ukraine, including west of the city of Sverdansk in the Luhansk region of the Donbas region. Meanwhile, the governor of the Luhansk region reports that the area is left without gas supply and that the flow of water and electricity in the province is limited to a fixed number of hours per day.
20:10 The head of the intelligence ministry of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Kirilo Budanov, said that the delays in the arrival of Western weapons in the country left Kyiv in a “catastrophic shortage of heavy weapons”.
20:16 Ukraine’s foreign minister has blamed NATO for “doing nothing to tackle Russia”.
20:29 The richest man in Ukraine, Rinat Akhmetov, who owns the steel plant in Mariupol, has announced that he will sue Russia for $ 17-20 billion for the damage they caused to the plant during the shelling.
22:26 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalansky has ordered a halt to entry into his country for Russian citizens without a visa, explaining the need to improve border security following the Russian invasion. “I support the need to strengthen the control of the entry of Russian citizens,” he said. Zalansky claimed that he had sent a letter on the subject to Prime Minister Dennis Shmiel requesting that the issue be addressed.