For the purpose of killing and destroying

Advisor to the Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Mikhail Podolyak believes that the shelling of residential areas of Kharkov from the point of view of military art does not make any sense, their meaning is different – to destroy and kill.

He noted that the troops of the Russian Federation do not have the strength to take Kharkov, so they are trying to cause maximum harm to the city. “Russia clearly does not have the strength to take Kharkov. But Moscow does not have such a goal. Their goal is to inflict maximum damage on the city and take revenge on its inhabitants. “, he wrote.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war with Russia, Ukraine has lost almost 10,000 people at the front. Another 30,000 Ukrainian servicemen were wounded. At the same time, 96-98% of wounded soldiers return to the army, said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the head of the President’s Office.

Who needs to go to the state with money if it is in a permanent state of war?

Advisor to the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak, in a conversation in Kyiv with Ivan Zhdanov, an ally of the Russian opposition leader Navalny, explained why Ukraine cannot freeze the military conflict and negotiate with Russia. The politicians discussed the future of Russia and Ukraine, the right to think differently, negotiations and much more.

In particular, Mikhail Podolyak explained why negotiations with Moscow are impossible at the current stage.

“For us, any peace process today, which was in 2014-2015, is fraught with a postponed war. This is the first component. The second component, it must be very clearly understood that if we stop where we are today, we will not receive money, investments. Ukraine will rot from an economic point of view. No one will invest in a country with a postponed war,” Podolyak said.

He also asked who, for example, would go to Zaporozhye, Dnipro, Krivoy Rog, Kharkov, Nikolaevil Odessa today? This is an investment-free economy. “With the blocked waters of the Azov and Black Seas, partially destroyed by the transport infrastructure. Who needs to go to the state with money if it is in a permanent state of war? And the third, for me personally, a very important reason – I believe that if Russia does not lose, this is fraught with bad consequences for us and for Russia itself”.

Russia threatens Europe

Russia has said it has “untied hands” if the European Union does not rectify the situation with the blockade of Kaliningrad.

“The European Union, if it does not immediately correct the impudent withdrawal of Vilnius, will itself disavow for us the legitimacy of all documents on Lithuania’s membership in the EU and will untie our hands to solve the problem of Kaliningrad transit created by Lithuania in any way we choose,” said the head of the Russian Federation Council’s commission for the protection of state sovereignty Andrey Klimov. “The latter can be assessed as direct aggression against Russia, literally forcing us to immediately resort to proper self-defense.

The State Department reiterated U.S. commitment to NATO on the heels of Kremlin threats directed at Lithuania. Last week, Lithuania which shares a border with Russia, announced it would block entry by rail of all EU-sanctioned goods coming from mainland Russia.

Moscow warned it would respond to Lithuania’s blocking of certain goods and called the measure “openly hostile.”

“Lithuania is a member of the NATO alliance and we stand by the commitments that we have made to the NATO alliance and that includes of course, a commitment to Article Five that is the bedrock of the NATO alliance,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said during a daily press briefing.

WCC condemns war in Ukraine

The World Council of Churches has condemned the war against Ukraine. The organization rejected the justification of Russia’s aggression by religion, and also called for an exchange of prisoners of war and the bodies of the dead, according to a special statement from the council.

The Council called on “all parties to the conflict” to respect the principles of international humanitarian law, and called on the international community to invest heavily in promoting peace rather than escalation and division.

Ukrainian vibrations in Kazakhstan

Cooperation between the European Union and Kazakhstan has become even more relevant "in light of the current geopolitical context," particularly as concerns raw materials and alternative routes linking Asia and Europe, the European Union said in a statement following a meeting of the EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council in Luxembourg on Monday.

“The current geopolitical context has highlighted the need for new alternative routes that connect Asia and Europe, and connectivity has become an area of strategic importance where there is a mutual interest for further cooperation,” it said.

The parties analyzed the implementation of the EU-Kazakhstan Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (EPCA), which took effect on March 1, 2020.

The EU is Kazakhstan’s first trade partner and first foreign investor, and Kazakhstan remains the EU's main trade partner in Central Asia. Trade balance between the two amounted to 12 billion euros in favor of Kazakhstan in 2021.

Germany to contribute to building Ukrainians’ resilience

Germany will continue to support Ukraine with weapons "as long as needed," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a speech at the Annual meeting of the Federation of German Industries on Tuesday.

“These sanctions do work. Yes, these sanctions are hurting ourselves as well. They hurt our companies, but they are right,” Scholz said. “Freedom has its price. Democracy has its price. Solidarity with friends and partners has its price. And we are prepared to pay this price.”

Scholz said his trip to Irpin near Kyiv last Thursday made clear to him that Ukraine belonged to the European family. “I will never forget the images of horror I saw there,” he said. Scholz emphasized that he will push for a positive decision on Ukraine as an EU accession candidate.

The European Union’s 27 member states are set to formally grant Ukraine candidate status later this week, following a Monday meeting of EU ambassadors where nobody opposed the decision, according to people familiar with the matter, according to Bloomberg.