During her visit to Washington, the Ukrainian first lady Selenska urged the delivery of further air defense systems for her country. Meanwhile, the US estimates that 15,000 Kremlin soldiers have died since the war began. Foreign Minister Baerbock wants to subject the ring exchange practice to a review.
Zelenskyj: Russia uses Ukraine as a test field
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of using Ukraine as a testing ground for possible attacks against other European countries. “Russia is testing everything in Ukraine that can be used against other European countries,” said Zelenskyy in his daily video address. “It started with gas wars and ended with a full-scale invasion, rocket terror and the burning of Ukrainian cities.”
Ukraine must also defeat Russia so that other countries are safe, Zelenskyj said. “The quicker this happens, the less harm and suffering all European families, all European countries will experience.”
USA estimates Moscow’s losses at 15,000 men
According to estimates by the US foreign intelligence agency CIA, 15,000 people have already died on the Russian side in the war against Ukraine. About three times as many Russians have probably been wounded so far, said CIA director William Burns at a panel discussion during a security conference in Aspen, Colorado. “And the Ukrainians suffered too – probably a little less. But, you know, significant losses,” Burns said.
There is no current information from the official authorities in Russia on the number of deaths. Burns said the concentration of Russian forces in the Donbass indicates, at least for now, that the Russian military has learned from failures at the start of the war that has now been going on for almost five months.
Ukraine asks for anti-aircraft weapons
During a speech in the Capitol in Washington, the Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska urgently asked the United States for more weapons and specifically for air defense systems. In a speech to congressmen and senators, Selenska accused Russia of waging a “war of terror” against her country. In her lecture, in which she showed pictures of murdered Ukrainian children, among other things, she thanked the USA for their support.
“While Russia kills, America saves,” Zelenska said. “But unfortunately the war is not over, the terror continues.” She therefore felt compelled to ask for weapons. “Weapons that are not used to wage a war in a foreign country, but to protect one’s homeland,” said President Zelenskyy’s wife. “I ask for anti-aircraft systems so rockets don’t kill children in their prams, so rockets don’t destroy children’s rooms and kill entire families.”
Baerbock admits problems with the ring exchange
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has announced that the federal government will review the practice of ring swapping with Eastern European countries. “It doesn’t work in all areas,” said the Greens politician to the editorial network Germany (RND), with a view to the negotiations with Poland, for example. You check this and see if you have to go other ways.
The background is that Germany is offering weapons to Eastern European partners so that they can deliver Russian-made tanks to Ukraine. However, Poland did not conclude such an exchange with Germany, but with the USA.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister: Moscow wants blood instead of negotiations
Ukraine was outraged that Russia had threatened to take more territory. “Russia discards diplomacy and is focused on war and terror,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter. Instead of negotiations, the Russians are after bloodshed. Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov had previously stated that Moscow’s territorial claims on Kyiv are now greater than they were at the beginning of the war at the end of February.
After the invasion of the neighboring country, the Kremlin of Kyiv demanded above all the cession of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, as well as the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine clearly refused. Moscow is now pointing to Western arms deliveries that are said to pose a threat to the pro-Russian separatist areas of Luhansk and Donetsk. That’s why they want to push back the Ukrainian army even further than originally planned, according to Moscow.
Russian border region complains about deadly shelling
The Russian border region of Belgorod blames the Ukrainian side for an attack that killed one person. The region’s governor said the villages of Nekhoteyevka and Zhuravlevka were shelled on Wednesday. Several houses were damaged in Nekhoteyevka and a civilian died. Russia, which itself started the war against neighboring Ukraine, has since repeatedly complained about shelling on its own territory. The Ukrainian side usually does not comment on these allegations.
That will be important on Thursday
You can read all further developments in our live ticker on the Ukraine war.
