On the day when the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres goes to Moscow to ask the Russians for an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors, in particular from the martyr city Mariupol , the chances of a widening of the conflict increase dramatically. Vladimir Putin himself freezes the UN, making it clear that without Russian Donbass and Crimea there is no peace.

The Russian president, speaking with Guterres, returns to deny the Bucha massacres, calling them "a provocation" with which "the Russian army has nothing to do". And he puts the usual territories back on the plate to put an end to the conflict: " Without Crimea and Donbass, finding an agreement is impossible ", he cuts short.

According to Putin, "Ukraine's partners had agreed in Istanbul to leave Crimea, Donbass and our recognition of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics out of the negotiations ", but now they would "drastically change the line." 2 were an attempt at a peaceful solution but the population of Donbass remained under siege and military pressure ”, the Kremlin leader also adds.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergej Lavrov in an interview with state TV says in no uncertain terms that that of the third world war is a "real danger". "Our will is to move forward in the negotiations, but NATO is waging a war on us for the Prosecutor's Office, the continuous sending of weapons to Ukraine does not contribute to the negotiation process". Zelensky on the other hand - Lavrov continues - "pretends" to want to conclude the negotiations positively, "he is a good actor".

A further verbal escalation comes from London. The British government of Boris Johnson considers "entirely legitimate" the use by Ukraine of weapons supplied by the United Kingdom to target targets within the territory of Russia, Deputy Defense Minister James Heappey said in an interview. to BBC radio after having previously evoked more generically a use of Western weapons to strike "beyond the Russian lines".

Moscow's reply is ready, according to which at this point it is legitimate for the Russians also to strike NATO: "Russia could consider it equally legitimate to target Ukrainian supply lines in depth right into those countries which transfer weapons to Ukraine that they also produce death and destruction ”, says Maria Zacharova , spokesperson for the foreign ministry.

All while in Ramstein , Germany, 40 countries gathered to discuss further military aid to Kiev. Among these is Israel, which until now has limited itself to supplying Ukraine with helmets and bulletproof vests. While the German government itself, which has said it can give up Russian gas within a few days, is ready to send heavy weapons that it has always denied so far.

A verbal escalation (and not only) that is certainly not a good omen, and which is added to the attacks on Transnistria , an independent pro-Russian republic located in Moldova and bordering Ukraine. Here there have been three attacks in the last hours, the responsibilities of which have not yet been ascertained, but which in any case leave fear of an imminent widening of the conflict. Moldova is now afraid of a Russian attack on its territory, but according to the leader of the self-proclaimed republic the attacks are from Kiev. And there is the hypothesis that they are Russian provocations to be able to mobilize the army even in that strip of land. For what? To attack the southwest of Ukraine and in particular Odessa , which is close to one hundred kilometers. Or, and it would be the worst hypothesis, to also attack Moldova and further enlarge the theater of war.

The day by the hour:

US diplomats in Ukraine for a day

American diplomats returned to Ukraine today for the first time since the Russian invasion began. Informed sources report it to CNN. The diplomats crossed the border into Poland and spent the day in Lviv.

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Blinken: "Open to agreement on neutral Ukraine"

The Biden administration is open to a peace agreement between Kiev and Moscow that indicates Ukraine as a "neutral" and "non-aligned" nation, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Senate hearing. Blinken explained that if Ukraine decides to make an agreement that cancels its Atlantic aspirations, the US would respect the choice. "It's their decision," he said.

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Guerini: "Italy will send more weapons to Kiev"

"Italy will continue to do its part on the basis of the indications decided by the Italian Parliament. From this point of view, there will be a new dispatch from the Italian side of military equipment, essential to continue supporting the Ukrainian resistance". Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said this to Ramstein, referring, the Defense emphasizes, to the second inter-ministerial decree "currently being finalized, of the same nature as the previous tranches of aid, provided on the basis of requests from the Ukrainian side and in compliance to the resolutions of the Italian Parliament ".

"We will support Ukraine for as long as necessary," added the minister.

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Putin: "Without Crimea and Donbass an impossible agreement"

"The talks are going on, they are being held online, we hope there will be positive results. But without an agreement on Crimea and Donbass it is not possible to sign security guarantees on Ukraine". This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, meeting the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.

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Putin: "Bucha was a provocation, it wasn't us"

"We know who staged this provocation in Bucha. The Russian army has nothing to do with what happened." This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Gazprom: "Poland pays gas in rubles"

Poland must pay for Russian gas supplies by today in accordance with the new procedure, which provides for the use of the ruble. This was announced by Gazprom, quoted by Tass, after having denied that it has already suspended supplies through the Yamal gas pipeline.

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M5S snatch on weapons in Kiev

"The M5s opposes the sending of military and counter-offensive aid that go beyond the perimeter of the legitimate exercise of the right of defense referred to in Article 51 of the Charter of Human Rights". Thus the M5s leader Giuseppe Conte at the end of the National Council of the Movement which approved the decision.

"We asked Prime Minister Draghi and Minister Guerini to report to Parliament so that there is full agreement on the political direction and full possibility of knowing the government's programmatic interventions on arms in Ukraine", added Conte.

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Kiev: "Every additional military aid brings us closer to peace"

"I sent a message to the Western partners during the summit at Ramstein Air Base: each tranche of military assistance brings us closer to peace in Europe, strengthens security in the world and justice and our common victory over Russia." Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov wrote it on Twitter.

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Austin: "Nuclear threat rhetoric is dangerous and useless"

"A dangerous and useless rhetoric". Thus the head of the Pentagon Lloyd Austin, in a press conference in Remstein, defined the nuclear threat evoked by Moscow against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict. "Nobody wants a nuclear war," he added, but "we want to make it harder for Russia to threaten its neighbors and to weaken it in that sense." "We want to make sure that they no longer have the skills to bully their neighbors, the ones they had before the conflict in Ukraine started," he reiterated.

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Russia suspends gas supplies to Poland

Russia has suspended gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract. This was reported by the Polish website Onet, taken up by Tass, citing government sources and the Warsaw energy sector, according to which a crisis team met at the Polish Ministry of Climate to address the case.

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Moscow: "Ready for retaliation if hit with Western weapons"

"The army is ready to conduct retaliatory raids if Russia is attacked with Western weapons." This was stated by the Moscow Ministry of Defense, quoted by Tass, explaining that they would be "proportionate raids against decision-making centers in Kiev, where Western advisers are located", in light of "London's attempts to push the Ukrainian authorities" to strike the Russia.

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Berlin: "In a few days independent of Russian gas"

"Germany is very close to independence from Russian oil. And today I can say that an embargo has become manageable." The German Minister of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck, said this in Warsaw at a press conference. The vice-chancellor speculated that it might not take much to find an alternative to the last German refinery that supplies Russian oil: "I hope only a few days". In recent weeks, the number two of the Scholz government had argued that Germany would be independent from Moscow's oil by the end of the year.

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Putin: "Bans for Russian athletes are a violation of human rights"

The ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in international competitions is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin quoted by TASS, adding that there are political reasons behind the sanctions against Russian athletes. Moscow will continue to protect the rights and interests of its national athletes, Putin said.

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Moscow: "If it is legitimate for London to strike Russian territory, it is legitimate for us to strike NATO"

If the British government considers it legitimate Kiev's use of weapons received from the West to "deeply strike the supply lines" of Moscow in Russian territory in order to limit losses and destruction, Russia might consider it equally legitimate to take it aims "in depth at the Ukrainian supply lines" as far as "those countries which transfer weapons to Ukraine" which also produce "death and destruction". This was written by Maria Zacharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, responding on her Facebook profile to statements by the Deputy Minister of Defense of London, James Heappey.

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"Abnormal radioactivity level in Chernobyl"

The radioactivity level of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is "abnormal". This was supported by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea).

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"Difficult to negotiate if the West continues to send weapons"

"We are for a negotiated solution". This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov. "Zelensky has taken back what he had asked for the week before and this saddens us: the Ukrainian side is not interested in the negotiations. someone will present interesting ideas ", he said, specifying that at this stage" it is premature: we want answers to the last variation of the document sent 12 days ago but which perhaps was not delivered to Zelensky, who said he was not aware of it ".

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Guterres: "With Moscow different positions, stop the war"

"It is clear that there are two different positions: according to the Russian Federation, what is taking place is a special military operation with a goal not yet announced. For the United Nations, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a violation of the territorial integrity. However, I am strongly convinced that the sooner the war is put to an end, the better it will be for everyone ". This was stated by the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres at the end of the meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov.

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Dozens of Russian attacks on the Azovstal steel plant

In the last 24 hours, Russian forces have launched 35 air attacks on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where civilians are also hiding: the Azov regiment reports on its Telegram channel, underlining that some civilians were injured and others trapped in the rubble. The news agency Ukrinform reports.

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London: "It is permissible to hit Russian soil with our weapons"

The British government of Boris Johnson considers "entirely legitimate" the use by Ukraine of weapons supplied by the United Kingdom to target targets within the territory of Russia. The Deputy Minister of Defense, James Heappey, specified this in an interview with BBC radio after having previously evoked more generically a use of Western weapons to strike "beyond the Russian lines". The Deputy Minister insisted on denying that a direct NATO involvement against Moscow is at stake anyway; but his words risk fueling Serghei Lavrov's call to the specter of a world war.

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The accusation from Kharkiv: "The Russians have created a concentration camp"

The Kharkiv District Prosecutor's Office announced that the Russians have created a concentration camp in the occupied city of Volchansk "where they torture residents". This was reported by various international media. According to the accusations, "peaceful inhabitants" suffered "physical and mental violence" in a camp set up on the premises of one of the factories in Volchansk. The city, about 70 kilometers northeast of Kharkiv, was occupied by Russian forces in the initial phase of the invasion, the Polish portal Onet recalls.

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Guterres to Lavrov: "Cease the fire as soon as possible"

"We are interested in finding ways to create the conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine as soon as possible, we must do everything possible" for this goal. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said this when he met the Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov in Moscow. Guteress will later be received in the Kremlin by Vladimir Putin.

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Berlin: "We will train Ukrainian troops in the use of artillery in Germany"

"We work together with our American friends in training Ukrainian troops in artillery systems on German soil." This is what German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced, speaking to Ramstein, according to reports from the Dpa, which publishes the manuscript of the speech. "We all know that artillery is an essential factor in this conflict," he added. The minister confirmed that Berlin will make it possible to deliver Gepard panzers.

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The troops still in the steel plant are calling for evacuation to Turkey

Ukrainian soldiers stranded in the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol ask to be evacuated to Turkey instead of the areas of Ukraine under Kiev's control: the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has announced. according to the Tass.

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Moscow: 500 fighters killed in night attacks

Russian forces killed some 500 "enemy nationalists" last night, including 60 militants from the Donbass nationalist group. This was said today by the spokesman of the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor-Konashenkov, quoted by Tass.

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Beijing: "We don't want World War III"

China is not looking for World War III and is calling for a peace agreement in

Ukraine: this was announced by the Foreign Ministry. Tass reports it.

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Hit Russian radio broadcasting center in Transnistria

The Russian radio broadcasting center was hit and blown up in Transnistria. This was reported by the Russian Tass Agency.

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Moscow, Russian village on the border with Ukraine bombed

The village of Golovchino in the Belgorod region of Russia was again hit by bombs from Ukrainian territory. This was stated by the governor of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov quoted by the Russian agency Interfax. "Several non-residential buildings and four houses were damaged. There are no civilian casualties," Gladkov wrote on Telegram. The villages of Nekhoteyevka and Zhuravlyovka in the Belgorodsky district were attacked yesterday, two civilians were injured.

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Kiev, 10 Russian aircraft shot down in the last 24 hours

Ukrainian forces have shot down a total of 10 Russian aircraft in the past 24 hours, Air Force Command spokesman Yurii Ihnat said, according to Ukrainska Pravda. The targets hit are three fighters (Su-34, Su-35, Su-30), three cruise missiles and four drones.

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Kiev, the death toll rises to 217, 391 injured

217 children have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion. This was reported by the Attorney General on Telegram providing the daily bulletin. "According to official data, 217 children were killed and more than 391 injured", explains the prosecutor.

(Unioneonline)

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