Ukrainians see ‘margin of compromise’ after talks with Russians – 400 people taken prisoner in Mariupol

LAST UPDATE 23:59

The Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia met with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. The three prime ministers traveled to the Ukrainian capital by train in solidarity with Ukraine, Reuters reports. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki posted photos of himself and Slovenian Prime Ministers Petr Fiala and Czech Republic Janez Jansa in Kyiv, where “history is being written”.

It is here, in war-torn Kyiv, that history is being made. It is here, that freedom fights against the world of tyranny. It is here that the future of us all hangs in the balance. EU supports UA, which can count on the help of its friends – we brought this message to Kyiv today. pic.twitter.com/Us7k9xTq5f

– Mateusz Morawiecki (@MorawieckiM) March 15, 2022

End of conversations

The official end of the negotiations was marked by the suspension of one of the Ukrainian delegations. The adviser of the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Mikhail Pontolyak, wrote on Twitter that the current negotiation process was very difficult and complicated, however, it will continue tomorrow.

“There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise. Work in subgroups will continue during the break,” the Ukrainian negotiator wrote.

We’ll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise. During the break, work in subgroups will be continued …

– Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 15, 2022

The Russians are holding hostages

A Ukrainian official has accused Russian troops of holding prisoners in a Mariupol hospital. Pavlo Kirilenko, the head of the Donetsk regional administration, said that doctors and patients were being detained against their will at the Mariupol regional intensive care unit, which is also referred to as Hospital No. 2.

In a statement posted on his official Telegram channel, Kirilenko said one of the hospital staffers had managed to get information about what was happening: “It is impossible to get out of the hospital. They are constantly shooting, we are sitting in the basement. Cars can not “They go to the hospital for two days. High-rise buildings around us are burning … the Russians have brought 400 people from the neighboring buildings to our hospital. We can not leave,” said Kirilenko, who said the hospital had been “practically destroyed”. several days ago, but that the staff and his patients stayed in the basement where the patients continued to be treated.

What is happening in the Ukrainian territory

The Pentagon says Russian troops continue to make little progress on the ground in Ukraine, 20 days after the start of their invasion. However, several large cities are under heavy bombardment, according to a US defense official. The procession to Kyiv remains about 20 km outside Kyiv, where civilians are facing increasing attacks. The Russians continue to face fierce resistance in their attempts to seize Kharkiv and Nikolaev. However, the invading forces have isolated Chernihiv to the north and Mariupol to the southeast, although the United States says Ukraine is working to keep the lines of communication with local leaders open. The defense official notes that both the Russians and the Ukrainians have used about 90% of their combat power. More US-funded weapons are expected to arrive in Ukraine in the next 24 hours, he said.

Mariupol: About 2,000 cars are trying to leave the besieged city, through a humanitarian corridor that has been unblocked. Among them is the Greek Consul General.

Petro Andriuschenko, a city councilor, described the situation in the city as “inhumane” with “no food, no water, no electricity, no heating”, adding that he feared the death toll could rise to 20,000 as the conflict escalated. intensify.

Nikolaev: Nikolaev’s governor said there was more calm today regarding the security situation in the area because Russian forces had been slightly pushed back from the regional capital, which they were trying to seize. In an interview with the national television network, Governor Vitaly Kim noted that Russian forces were still firing on Nikolaev and that 80 people were injured there yesterday, including two children.

Hersonissos: A spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry says Russian forces have taken full control of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region. The BBC has not been able to independently verify Igor Konashenkov’s allegations. The Interfax-AVN news agency reported that Russian forces had taken full control of the entire territory.

Kyiv: A curfew will be imposed in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv from 20:00 (local time and Greek time) on Tuesday to 07.00 on Thursday, after several apartment buildings were hit by Russian forces stationed outside the city, as announced by the mayor of the city. Vitali Klitschko, according to Reuters. Russian fire hit earlier this morning at least two residential areas in Kiev, according to the Ukrainian First Aid Service. The mayor of Kiev spoke of four dead, while the battles around the Ukrainian capital, which the Russian army seeks to encircle, do not stop escalating.

Kharkiv: One person was killed and another seriously injured in multiple shootings in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Monday, Kharkiv regional administration chief Olekh Siniehubov said on Tuesday. He said there had been 65 bombings against the city on Monday alone. He said fighting was continuing in Izium, Balaklia and Dergachi, three towns in the Kharkiv region. Meanwhile, 600 residential buildings in the city had been destroyed in Russian attacks since the start of the war, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Monday, adding that the houses could not be repaired.

Sumi: More than 100 buses carrying civilians departed from besieged Sumy in northeastern Ukraine to a safe area, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced this afternoon. “A total of more than 100 buses are traveling on two different convoys, a joint venture between us and the Ukrainian Red Cross,” JES spokesman Jason Strazius told Reuters in Geneva.

Throw: At least 19 people were killed Monday in an attack on a television tower near the northwestern Ukrainian city of Rivne and nine others were injured, Rivne regional governor Vitaly Koval said on Tuesday.

Dnipro: An airport in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has been hit by Russian missiles, regional authorities have said. Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional state administration, said there had been a “massive catastrophe”. “At night, the enemy attacked Dnipro airport. Two missiles,” he wrote in the Telegram. “The runway was destroyed. The terminal was damaged. Huge damage.”

More than 3 million are displaced

More than three million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. The organization, a United Nations agency, said 157,000 of those who left the country were foreign nationals.

Poland was by far the largest recipient of refugees from Ukraine. As of Sunday, more than 1.7 million people had arrived in Poland from Ukraine, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Sanctions

Russia in Biden: Russia has imposed sanctions on US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and other US officials, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Tuesday. This year, the Russian “stop list” includes on a reciprocal basis President T. Biden, Secretary of State Anne Blinken, Secretary of Defense L. Austin and US Secretary of Defense M. Milli, as well as a number of department heads and prominent American figures. “, according to the announcement.

US in Lukashenko: The United States on Tuesday imposed new sanctions on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has allied himself with Russia in its war on Ukraine. Some other Russians, including a Russian judge, have also been the target of sanctions for human rights abuses, according to the US Treasury Department. Sanctions were imposed on Lukashenko and his wife, Halina. They will block their property and interests in the United States and prohibit Americans from doing business with them.

Britain and the EU: The United Kingdom and the European Union have announced new sanctions against Russia. More than 600 Russian nationals are being targeted by EU sanctions, according to French Finance Minister Bruno Lemerre, who described it as a “historic decision”.

A Russian drone crossed into Poland and was shot down over Ukraine

Ukraine says it has spotted a Russian unmanned surveillance aircraft passing through neighboring Poland before re-entering Ukrainian airspace, where it was shot down, the Ukrainian military said. The observation was the most recent indication of the entry of war into the airspace of a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Russian drone appeared to be watching the Ukrainian military training center that was hit by a Russian missile strike on Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said in a statement overnight.

“Small groups” are “trying” to reach Ukraine from Syria

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday that “very small groups of people” were “trying” to reach Ukraine from Syria to fight alongside Russian forces as foreign fighters. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States had seen evidence that Russia is trying to recruit foreign fighters from the Middle East to fight alongside their forces in Ukraine in the past.