Europe Zelensky leaves room for temporary territorial cessions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has left room for temporary Russian control over Ukrainian territories.

"Perhaps Ukraine needs to outlast someone in Moscow in order to achieve its goals and restore the entire territory of the state," said Selenskyj in parliament, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin (72). There he presented a plan on how his country can better withstand Russian pressure.

There has been speculation in the international media for some time that the war in Ukraine could be frozen along the front line without Kiev legally ceding territory to Russia.

Nevertheless, Zelensky categorically rejected formal legal cessions of territory. "We are not renouncing Ukraine's rights to its territory," the head of state emphasized.

Kiev would also not allow Ukraine to be used in election campaigns, said Zelensky, without mentioning the upcoming federal elections in Germany. "Winning at Ukraine's expense will not work. But you can win together with Ukraine," he said.

Situation on the front remains complicated

The Ukrainian military is still on the defensive at the front. In its evening situation report, the General Staff in Kiev reported 130 clashes over the course of the day. Most of the attacks were launched by Russian troops on the front in the south-east of the country. They attacked Pokrovsk 37 times and Kurakhove 22 times. There were also 15 attacks on the border between the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions.

This section of the front has seen the most movement since the beginning of the year. Since the capture of the Ukrainian fortress of Avdiivka near Donetsk, the Russians have been able to advance around 40 kilometers. One of the causes of the problems for the Ukrainians on the front was the long stagnation in the supply of weapons and ammunition from the West.

Reports: Washington wants to supply anti-personnel mines

Following the authorization for Kiev to use long-range weapons against targets in Russia, US President Joe Biden has now also ordered the delivery of anti-personnel mines to Ukraine, according to a media report. Biden has thus moved away from his previous position to help Ukraine in its defensive battle against the Russian army, the Washington Post reported, citing senior representatives of the US government. The reason for the change of mind in the White House is the steady advance of Russian troops in the Donbass. According to the Pentagon, the delivery of these mines is an effective means of slowing down the advance of Russian units.

However, the use of these anti-personnel mines will be limited to eastern Ukraine. The Russian military has laid out dense minefields on the edge of the occupied territories in Ukraine, causing a Ukrainian offensive to fail.

The use of mines is internationally outlawed. The so-called Ottawa Convention of 1999, which came into force in 1999, prohibits the use, production and transfer of these insidious weapons, which continue to find their victims long after hostilities, particularly among the civilian population in the respective regions. The convention has been signed and ratified by 164 states, but not by Russia and the USA. Ukraine ratified the document in 2005.

Borrell: One million artillery shells delivered to Kiev

According to the European External Action Service, the EU has now at least fulfilled its plan to deliver artillery shells to Ukraine - albeit with a delay. "We have reached the target of one million rounds of artillery ammunition," said EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell after a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels. The ammunition had been delivered to Ukraine "several months later than expected". Originally, the EU had wanted to reach the mark of one million rounds by the end of March.

In fact, only just over half of the quantity was delivered by March. The EU then set a new target of the end of 2024. "We will continue with this because Russia continues to receive large deliveries of ammunition and missiles from North Korea and Iran," announced Borrell.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelensky presented a plan in Kiev to increase the resilience of the country under attack from Russia. Ukraine will invest massively in armaments, he announced. This includes the expansion of its own ammunition production. "Ukrainian weapons" are one of the main guarantees of Ukrainian independence.

Ukraine and Russia attack each other with drones

Drones are one of the most important weapons in the war. Almost simultaneously, Ukraine and Russia attacked each other with swarms of drones during the night.

A massive drone attack by Ukraine caused damage in several Russian regions. "In the city of Alexeyevka, production halls were damaged by the crash of drone debris on the territory of a company," wrote the governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, on Telegram. An infrastructure object and a power line were also hit. There was also an impact in the neighboring Voronezh region.

Drone attacks were also reported in the Bryansk and Tula regions as well as in the Moscow region. According to the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, a total of 42 combat drones were shot down.

The Russian military once again launched several swarms of drones that flew into Ukraine from various directions. An air alert was triggered in numerous regions of the country as well as in the capital Kiev. There was initially no information available about possible strikes by the combat drones.