Ukraine waits for decisions
At the NATO Summit of March 24, which will involve President Joe Biden, the member states intend to discuss the possibility of Russia using chemical, biological, nuclear and cyber weapons. Washington recently warned that Russia will face serious consequences if it uses chemical weapons in Ukraine.
The British Defense Ministry warned that the Russian Federation is preparing an operation with bio or chemical weapons, which it will try to attribute to someone else for justifying its presence in Ukraine.
There is peace everywhere except for Kyiv
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Italy must stop being 'a resort for murderers' and urged the country to ban Russian ships from its ports as he told lawmakers in a video address this morning that Ukraine is 'on the brink of surviving' its war. In a speech to the Italian Parliament, Zelensky urged the country's MPs to freeze all assets belonging to the Russian elite and to declare a full trade embargo, starting with oil.
“The most terrible thing will be the famine that is approaching for some countries”, he added. “Ukraine has always been one of the largest food exporters, but how can we sow under the strikes of Russian artillery?”
This is the second time since the start of the war that Zelensky addresses the Italian public and decision makers. Earlier, he addressed the American, British and Israeli lawmakers.
War that makes everyone poorer
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that "even if Mariupol falls, Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house. “This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table...It is time to end this absurd war,” he added while calling on both sides to cease hostilities and “seriously negotiate -- now!”
“Continuing the war in Ukraine is morally unacceptable, politically indefensible, and militarily nonsensical,” Guterres told reporters in New York on March 22.
Ban on 11 pro-Russian parties
Ukraine’s President has announced restrictions on the activities of 11 political parties in the country, including some accused of having ties to the Russian state.
In a video address uploaded overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky listed several names, including Opposition Platform – For Life, represented in Ukraine’s Parliament.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Justice would act immediately to enforce the ban, which Volodymyr Zelensky said would last for as long as martial law remains in place.
War crimes in full swing
With reference to CNN, RBC-Ucraina reported that the United States has “clear evidence” that Russian forces have “deliberately and intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure, hospitals, places of shelter”. A senior U.S. defense official said Tuesday the U.S. also has seen “indications of behavior on the ground by Russian forces that would likewise constitute war crimes.”
US President Joe Biden’s administration is “helping to provide evidence” to multiple ongoing investigations into whether Russia is committing war crimes, the official said.
Germans will not shake hands with all Russians
Normalization of relations between Germany and Russia is out of the question as long as it is headed by President Vladimir Putin. According to Bild, Lars Klingbeil, co-chairman of the ruling SPD party, said this.
“What I don't see is that at some point we will again sit at the same table with Vladimir Putin on normal terms. That time is over,” he said.
Klingbeil also said that the era of Putin is coming to an end. “I believe that this war marked the end of Putin,” — Klingbeil said, adding that after four weeks of war in Ukraine, support for Putin's own government and its security services is starting to crumble. “Political processes in Russia will pick up seed very quickly if Putin is asked questions. He is leading his country to misfortune.”
Vladimir Putin’s mistress Alina Kabaeva is allegedly hiding in Switzerland with their four young children, sources told Page Six. “While Putin carries out his assault on the Ukraine, attacking innocent citizens and causing a refugee crisis, his family is holed up in a very private and very secure chalet somewhere in Switzerland — for now, at least.”
Hungarian language is very special
After Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto said that Budapest will not support the EU sanctions against Russia in the energy sector and also opposed the creation of no-fly zone over Ukraine as well as Poland’s proposed peacekeeping mission, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that if Russia achieves its goals in Ukraine, it will move on to its Western neighbors.
“They don’t support the sanctions. They not only refuse to supply arms, they are also not allowing weapons from other countries to pass through their territory. They say no to practically everything. Before long, Budapest’s official rhetoric will be openly pro-Russian. What is this all about? Do they want some cheap Russian gas? Or, maybe, they want our Zakarpattya?” asked Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister for the Questions of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories.
“Not to repeat the mistakes of the Second World War, when Hungary made the wrong choice. Yes, the right decision is always difficult to make at first, but the fact that it is right makes things easier later on,” she posted on Facebook.
They bombard, but photos are inaccurate
In Russia, journalist Alexandr Nevzorov pleaded against the war (see IPN updates) and was therefore accused of alleging that Moscow’s army deliberately shelled a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s embattled city of Mariupol. “The publications were accompanied by inaccurate photographs of civilians affected by the shelling,” Russian investigators said, adding that the pictures had been first published by Ukrainian media.
One cannot go to restaurant with a tank
Ex-President of Poland Alexander Kwasniewski said that Putin made a historic mistake by attacking Ukraine. In an interview for Dmitry Gordon, he said Putin loses Ukraine for good. “This asserts that they are one nation, but fights against this nation.”