Updated 32 minutes ago
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz has warned of the outbreak of a third world war in which nuclear weapons may be used, while defending his country’s policy towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that his priority is to “avoid a military escalation between NATO” and Moscow.
Shultz is facing mounting criticism as a result of his government’s reluctance to provide Ukraine with heavy weapons such as tanks and howitzers to help it fend off a Russian attack, despite a number of Western countries sending increasing shipments of weapons to Kyiv.
During an extensive interview with German newspaper Der Spiegel, Schulz said he did not pay much attention to “opinion polls and sharp calls” for Germany to change its position on the matter.
When asked regarding his reasons for believing that providing Ukraine with heavy German weapons might lead to a world war, he replied that there is no rule book that specifies when Germany can be considered a party to the war, which prompts his government to “take every step very carefully.”
Schulz’s statements came in violation of previous statements he had made, where he had justified his country’s failure to provide Ukraine with weapons by declining Germany’s stockpile of weapons, which does not allow it to send its weapons to other countries.
At the end of February, Germany told the Netherlands to provide Ukraine with German-made weapons.
During the interview, Schultz defended not making an immediate decision to stop Russian gas imports into his country following Russia invaded Ukraine, saying he did not see “how a gas embargo might end the war,” adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have started this “crazy war” if he had been open. on economic arguments.
British support
picture released, Archyde.com
Johnson visited Kyiv on the 9th of April to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that Russia’s war on Ukraine may continue until the end of next year, following statements by the Deputy Commander of the Russian Central Military District, in which he confirmed that his country is seeking to control Donbass and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of its “military operation.” there.
“Putin has a huge army, and he’s in a very difficult political situation because he made a huge mistake,” Johnson told a news conference during his current visit to India.
“The only option he has now, really, is to keep trying his horrific, heavy artillery tactic to get rid of the Ukrainians,” he said.
Johnson stressed that despite Putin’s military superiority, he “will not be able to destroy the spirit of the Ukrainian people.”
Johnson confirmed that London is training dozens of Ukrainian soldiers to use armored vehicles that Britain will send to their country, and Ukraine has previously received a number of British combat armored vehicles.
The British Ministry of Defense also announced that it will send Challenger 2 tanks to Poland, to replace the T-72 tanks that Poland will send to Ukraine.
Johnson also said that the British embassy in Kyiv would open its doors next week, and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss confirmed that Ambassador Melinda Simmons would return to resume her work following she left Ukraine with the start of the Russian invasion.
picture released, Getty Images
The Russian President says that most of Mariupol is under the control of his forces
Earlier, the Russian Interfax news agency quoted Major General Rustam Minkayev, deputy commander of the Russian Central Military District, as saying that “Russia plans to take full control of Donbass and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of the military operation.”
“The leadership also plans to establish a land corridor between the Crimea peninsula – which it annexed in 2014 – and the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine,” Minkayev added.
Speaking on Friday, the Russian military commander did not mention Odessa and Mykolaev, which remain under Ukraine’s control.
For its part, Ukraine expressed its continued aspiration for peace, even following Russia rejected a truce proposal this weekend on the occasion of Easter, which is celebrated by Orthodox Christians.
“Mass graves“
Meanwhile, satellite images revealed mass graves in Mariupol, which numbered nearly 200.
The American company Maxar, whose satellites captured these images, said that the images it obtained show the expansion of these tombs since the end of last March.
Ukrainian officials accused the Russians of burying the civilians of Mariupol following they were killed. Moscow has not yet commented on this news.
Pictures of these mass graves are near the village of Manhush, 20 km west of Mariupol. The Maxar company stated that it had spotted four rows of these tombs with a length of 85 meters, and the BBC was not able to independently verify these images.
Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko issued a new appeal on Friday for a “complete evacuation” of the southern city, most of which President Vladimir Putin says is now under the control of Russian forces.
“We need only one thing, the complete evacuation of the population. About 100,000 people remain in Mariupol,” Boychenko said on national television.
On Thursday, Putin ordered his forces to surround the last group of fighters holed up in a steel factory in the southeast of the city.
For two months, Mariupol suffered from continuous bombing and a severe siege as Russia cut off food, water and energy supplies.
‘Temporary Russian Gains’
For his part, Russian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia’s recent gains in the east of the country are “temporary” and that Russian forces will be forced back across the border.
Zelensky’s statements came in his latest video, in which he said: “In the east and south of the country the invaders continue to do everything to find a reason to talk regarding some victories. They are massing their forces, transferring groups of new tactical battalions to our land. They are even trying to start the so-called Mobilization in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
“None of these steps will help Russia in its war once morest our country. They can only postpone the inevitable when the invaders will be forced to leave our lands. I am especially here Mariupol, the city that continues to resist Russia despite everything the occupiers say,” Zelensky added.
Russian forces captured 42 villages in the eastern Donetsk region on Thursday, but a Ukrainian official said on state television that his country might retake these villages.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army said that Russian forces are still partially besieging Kharkiv, while it has been subjected to intense bombardment.
The city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, told the BBC that regarding 30 percent of the population had left the city, but a million people remained, and some did not want to leave their homes.
On the economic front, the Ukrainian president said, in a message to the world’s finance ministers, that his country will need “hundreds of billions of dollars to recover from the war.”
Preliminary estimates by the World Bank indicate that the cost of damage to buildings and infrastructure in Ukraine, due to the war, has reached nearly $60 billion and will continue to rise.
