Ukraine’s foreign minister sees Mariupol surrounded by Russian troops.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has described the situation in the beleaguered port city of Mariupol as appalling and heartbreaking. The ongoing Russian attacks on the city could be a “red line” that will end all efforts to negotiate peace, Kuleba said on CBS on Sunday. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had already made a similar statement.
The remaining defenders and the city’s civilian residents were basically surrounded by Russian troops, Kuleba said. The Ukrainians continued to fight, but Mariupol practically no longer exists because of the widespread destruction. According to Ukrainian estimates, which cannot be independently confirmed, at least 21,000 people died there. Before the war the city had 450,000 inhabitants. The remaining 100,000 people have been holding out for weeks without any supplies of food, water, heating or electricity.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported on Sunday evening Russian rocket and bomb attacks on the city. Tu-22M3 supersonic bombers would also be used. Attempts have been made to attack, particularly in the vicinity of the port and the Azovstal steelworks.
Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal told US broadcaster ABC that the city had not fallen. Ukrainian soldiers would “fight to the end” in Mariupol
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Russia had previously threatened Ukrainian troops in Mariupol with annihilation. According to Russian information, the units are said to have entrenched themselves in the steelworks. The Ukrainians ignored an ultimatum to lay down their arms and surrender by Sunday afternoon. President Selenski had repeatedly stated that he wanted to do everything to save the strategically important city. Mariupol is in the Donetsk region, which Moscow wants to take complete control of.
Arms deliveries from Germany continue to be controversial
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appealed to EU countries to quickly deliver weapons to Ukraine. “For all member states, those who can should deliver quickly, because only then can Ukraine survive in its acute defensive struggle against Russia,” said von der Leyen of “Bild am Sonntag”.
The topic continues to occupy German domestic politics. Former Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) defended Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) cautious course and clearly rejected criticism from Ukraine of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk reacted with new criticism and accused Gabriel of “years of Putin-friendly politics”.
“I don’t differentiate between heavy and light weapons. Ukraine needs to get what it needs to defend and what it can handle,” von der Leyen said. The head of the commission prepared the citizens of the EU for a long military conflict. “We have to do everything we can to end it as soon as possible. And at the same time we have to prepare ourselves for the fact that, in the worst case, the war could last for months, even years.”
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the West to supply heavy weapons to defend his country. According to Western analysts, before the war Ukraine had around 900 operational tanks and over 1,200 armored personnel carriers. However, Russian air raids and the fighting that had been going on for almost two months caused heavy casualties. According to Russian data, 2,290 tanks and armored fighting vehicles have been destroyed so far.
First shipments of weapons arrived
In addition, Russia specifically destroyed the tank factories in Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Kharkiv. Kyiv therefore lacks the capacity to repair and reactivate mothballed old Soviet stock because workshops were deliberately destroyed by the Russian army. Without the support of tanks, the Ukrainian army is not in a position to launch its own offensive or repel the large-scale Russian attack threatening from the east.
Zelensky already raised the charge that Kyiv could have fought to free the besieged port city of Mariupol if the West had delivered tanks in good time. His adviser Oleksiy Arestovych recently clearly rejected concerns that the Ukrainian soldiers could be overwhelmed with Western weapons technology. He had explained that the fighters could get used to the operation within a few days.
Meanwhile, the first parts of the latest US support package of weapons and ammunition arrived in Ukraine, as the news channel CNN reported on Sunday night. Washington promised Kyiv additional weapons and ammunition worth up to $800 million (€740 million) on Wednesday, including artillery, armored vehicles and helicopters.
So far, Germany has supplied, among other things, Panzerfaust, anti-aircraft missiles, machine guns, but also vehicles, night vision devices and protective equipment. With a view to the expected large-scale Russian offensive in the east of the country, Ukraine is also demanding the delivery of heavy weapons from the federal government. This includes, for example, battle tanks, artillery pieces or combat helicopters.
Union politicians but also representatives of the traffic light parties of the Greens and FDP had accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of hesitation. Former Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) defended the Chancellor’s course in a guest article for “Spiegel”. It is true that the federal government can only deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine in coordination with the United States. Using the same arguments as the German Federal Chancellor, the USA very consciously weigh up what kind of military support is possible and sensible, and where the limit to active participation in the war against Russia is crossed.
Gabriel defends Steinmeier against criticism
Gabriel also rejected criticism of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He accused the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk of “conspiracy theories”. Melnyk’s assertion that during his active years as a politician, Steinmeier had “for decades created a spider’s web of contacts with Russia”, which has had an impact on the current government, insinuates that the former chancellery and foreign minister helped to organize the representation of Russia’s interests in Germany. “This is untruthful and vicious,” Gabriel wrote. Melnyk made a corresponding statement in the “Tagesspiegel” at the beginning of the month.
After Gabriel’s contribution, there was an exchange of words between the former foreign minister and Melnyk on Twitter. The Ukrainian ambassador wrote: “Above all, your and your SPD cronies’ years of pro-Putin politics were malicious, which brought about the barbaric war of annihilation against the state, nation, culture, against women and children in the first place.” Melnyk also accused Gabriel of to conceal his “personal political responsibility for Putin’s Nord Stream 2 project, which you launched as Vice Chancellor in 2015”. For his part, Gabriel reacted: Melnyk had to stick to the truth. “People like me negotiated with Putin not as ‘friends of Russia’, but to maintain the trans-Ukrainian pipeline that continues to bring Russian gas into and through your country TODAY.”
Read more about the Ukraine war here:
Özdemir demands more weapons for Ukraine because of possible hunger crisis
Food and Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir is pushing for an increase in arms supplies to Ukraine to avert a global hunger crisis. “We are receiving alarming news from Ukraine, where Russian troops are apparently also deliberately destroying agricultural infrastructure and supply chains,” said the Green politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Sunday).
This could have long-term effects on the performance of Ukrainian agriculture and thus on world supplies.
More: You can follow the latest developments in our news blog