This Friday, April 1, marks 37 days since Russian troops decided to invade Ukrainian territory. On the last day of the conflict, in Eastern Europe, Ukraine’s attack on a fuel depot in Belgorod, already in Russian territory, is reported. This while waiting for the resumption of talks between the two states to try to find a negotiated solution to the conflict.
Russian-Ukrainian negotiations resumed via video conference, April 1: 6:15 am
Russian-Ukrainian negotiations to try to end the conflict in Ukraine resumed on Friday, according to the Kremlin’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinski.
“We continue the negotiations by videoconference. Our positions on Crimea and Donbas changed us”Medinski said on Telegram, referring to two Ukrainian regions, one annexed by Russia in 2014 and the other partially under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Conflict in Ukraine might drag on as Russia targets Donbas, Pentagon says, April 1: 5:10 am
The redirection of Russia’s military efforts in Donbas might portend a “longer and more protracted conflict” as Ukrainian forces put up fierce resistance in that eastern region of the country, a senior US defense official said on Thursday.
“They have been fighting for her for eight years now,” the official said of the hotly contested Donbas region. “The Ukrainians they know the territory very, very well”, he added. “They still have a lot of strength there and they are fighting very hard for that area,” he said.
“Just because (the Russians) prioritize it and deploy more troops or energy there, it doesn’t mean it will be easy for them,” the official said. “It might be the harbinger of a longer, more extensive conflict, as the Russians try to gain some influence, make some progress, and maybe even get some chips on the negotiating table,” he surmised.
Sergei Rudskoi, Russia’s top military commander, said last week that the first phase of the campaign in Ukraine was finished and that the troops would concentrate on “the main goal: the liberation of Donbas”, where the republics of Donetsk and Luhansk were self-proclaimed.
The US official also said that the Russian military was continuing to reposition forces around kyiv following failing to conquer it. “Obviously they are making decisions to alter their goals and objectives,” he said.
He also said fighting continues in the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol and in Kharkiv to the east, but the Russians are not getting “great results.”
“We believe that one of the reasons why they love Mariupol so much is that from there they can move north,” he said. “Ukrainians are fighting very hard inside the city,” he said.
For his part, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby reported that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin decided to keep around 7,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division in Europe, along with the Harry Truman aircraft carrier response group.
“They’re not going anywhere for the foreseeable future,” Kirby said. “We want to monitor the situation on the ground and make the best decisions in real time.”
United States had sent an additional 20,000 troops to Europe approaching the Russian invasion in order to reassure allied countries neighboring Ukraine, who feared that the conflict would reach their territory.
The Pentagon spokesman added that in the longer term the United States would consult with allies “to decide what would be the appropriate military posture in Europe, whatever the outcome of this war and whatever the date it ends, security in Europe will have changed.” and we will have to answer”.
Russia considers that the Ukrainian attack on its territory will affect the negotiations, April 1; 4:30 a.m.
The Kremlin estimated this Friday that the attack perpetrated according to Moscow by Ukrainian helicopters on Russian territory once morest a fuel depot will affect bilateral negotiations to end the offensive in Ukraine.
“It is clear that this cannot be considered as something that will create the appropriate conditions for the continuation of negotiations,” said Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Russian presidency, following the destruction of a warehouse in the Belgorod region at dawn, Ukraine border.
Russia accuses Ukraine of bombing crude oil depot on Russian territory, April 1; 4:00 a.m.
Russia accused Ukraine on Friday of attacking an oil depot located on the outskirts of the Russian city of Belgorod, next to the border. Russian-Ukrainianwhich caused a huge fire.
“The fire in the oil depot occurred as a result of an airstrike by two helicopters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who entered Russian territory at low altitude. There are no victims,” said Belgorod Governor Viacheslav Gladkov, quoted by Russian agencies.
The emergency services indicated that the fire spread to eight fuel tankseach of them with a capacity of 2,000 cubic meters.
“There is a risk that the fire will continue to spread,” said a source quoted by the official Russian agency TASS, which specified that the territory of the oil deposit houses a total of 27 tanks, 14 of them as affected by the fire.
The Russian Emergency Situation Ministry reported that some 170 firefighters and fire extinguisher cars.
Belgorod is located regarding 30 kilometers from the border with Ukraine and regarding 70 kilometers from Kharkov, the most important city in eastern Ukraine, besieged in the course of the “special military operation” launched by Russia on February 24 last.
