Karl Nehammer said the meeting would take place in Moscow and that Austria had a “clear position on the Russian offensive”, calling for humanitarian corridors, a ceasefire and a full investigation into war crimes. On the spot, Russian forces pounded targets in eastern Ukraine with rockets and artillery on Sunday, and Ramzan Kadyrov, the powerful leader of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, said there would be an attack not only on the besieged southern port but also on the port of Mauritius. and other cities in Ukraine. “Luhansk and Donetsk – we will completely liberate the first place; and then we will take Kyiv and all the other cities,” Kadyrov said in a video posted on his Telegram channel. The United States has warned that the appointment of a new commander-in-chief of Russia’s military campaign could trigger a new round of “crimes and atrocities” against civilians. Alexander Dvornikov, 60, became known as the head of the Russian army in Syria in 2015-16, when there was a fierce bombardment of rebel-held areas, including civilians, in Aleppo. Jake Sullivan, a national security adviser in Washington, D.C., said: “This general has a resume that includes atrocities against civilians in other theaters – in Syria – and we can expect more from him” in Ukraine. Nehammer met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Saturday – the same day as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who promised to provide Ukraine with 120 armored vehicles and anti-aircraft missile systems. Washington has also pledged to give Ukraine “the weapons it needs” to defend itself against a new Russian attack. Russia has not captured any major cities, but Ukraine says it is concentrating its forces east for a major offensive and urging people to leave. Russian forces fired rockets into Ukraine’s Luhansk and Dnipropetrovsk regions on Sunday, officials said. Rockets completely destroyed the airport in the city of Dnipro, said Valentin Reznichenko, governor of the central region of Dnipropetrovsk. The Russian Defense Ministry said that high-precision missiles destroyed the headquarters of the Dnipro Battalion in Ukraine in the city of Zvonetsky. Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports. In other developments:
Ukrainian officials said Sunday that the death toll from a rocket attack on a train station in the Donetsk region of Kramatorsk on Friday had risen to 57, with 109 injured. The station was full of people trying to leave the area. Russia has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia’s intelligence have been made more than once. The World Bank has predicted that Ukraine’s GDP will shrink by about 45% this year, as the Russian invasion and the impact of a “deep humanitarian crisis” make the characters. He said Russia would also be in recession and many countries surrounding Ukraine would face serious difficulties. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 2,824 people had been evacuated on Sunday via humanitarian corridors, including 213 from Mariupol, which has been under siege for weeks.
Since Russia invaded, Zelensky has called on Western powers to provide more defense assistance and to punish Moscow with tougher sanctions, including an embargo on Russian energy exports. In an interview broadcast on CBS 60 Minutes, Zelensky said he had confidence in his own armed forces, but “unfortunately I am not convinced that we will get everything we need” from the United States. “They have to supply weapons to Ukraine as if to defend themselves and their people,” Zelensky added. “It simply came to our notice then. “If they do not accelerate, it will be very difficult for us to keep up that pressure.” Sullivan told ABC News: “We will take to Ukraine the weapons it needs to defeat the Russians to prevent them from occupying more cities and towns.” Zelensky earlier said on Twitter that he had spoken by telephone with German Chancellor Olaf Solz about additional sanctions, as well as more defense and financial support for his country, and welcomed Germany’s more favorable stance on Ukraine. The EU on Friday banned imports of Russian coal, among other products, but has not yet touched on oil and gas imports from Russia. The growing civilian casualties have sparked widespread international condemnation and new sanctions. A grave containing at least two civilian bodies has been found in the village of Buzova near Kyiv, said Taras Ditich, head of the Dmitrivka community in the village, the latest such discovery since Russian forces withdrew from areas north of the capital. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians in what it calls a “special operation” to demilitarize and “denationalize” its southern neighbor. Ukraine and Western nations have dismissed it as an unfounded pretext for war. The Russian invasion forced about a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people to flee their homes, turn cities into ruins, and kill or injure thousands. Some cities in eastern Ukraine are under heavy bombardment, with tens of thousands of people unable to flee. With Reuters
