Day 404 since the start of the war: Ukraine reports drone attacks on Odessa. Kremlin plans to tighten laws after deadly attack on military blogger All information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
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Russia’s Duma chief: Western heads of state have blood on their hands
8:15 a.m.: Russian Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has accused Western leaders of supporting Ukraine and putting blood on their hands. Aid to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky led to the formation of a “terrorist state”.
The assassination of the prominent military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in Saint Petersburg at the weekend was a “terrorist act” committed by the leadership in Kiev, Duma President Volodin explained on the short message service Telegram. “Washington’s and Brussels’ support for the government in Kiev has led to the creation of a terrorist state in the center of Europe,” he explains. “The blood of the dead and injured is on the hands of (US President Joe) Biden, (France President Emmanuel) Macron, (Chancellor Olaf) Scholz and other leaders who support the Zelenskyi regime.”
Ex-top politician on dead blogger: “A dog dies the death of a dog”
7.43 a.m.: Former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alfred Reingoldovich Koch commented on Telegram about military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky: “A dog dies the death of a dog”. Tatarsky traded in furniture, took out loans, went bankrupt and robbed a bank. He was arrested and escaped from prison, Koch continued. Tatarsky fought in Ukraine for the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, which was annexed by Russia in violation of international law.
He was then arrested again and subsequently pardoned by the head of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, Alexander Zakharchenko, Koch explains on Telegram. Tatarsky then went back into combat before becoming a war blogger. “He came to Moscow and started writing all kinds of nationalistic nonsense.”
Koch was Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister under Boris Yeltsin. The 62-year-old now lives in Germany and regularly publishes texts critical of the Kremlin on his social media channels. In mid-March, for example, he clearly criticized Putin and his war against Ukraine. Read more about this criticism here.
The night: Russian parliament wants to tighten legislation
5.20 a.m.: According to official information, the Russian parliament, the State Duma, is planning further tightening of the law against the background of the attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin has posthumously honored military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, who was killed in a bomb explosion in Saint Petersburg, with a medal. There have apparently been rocket attacks in Odessa. Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls for the reconstruction of Ukraine. Read the most important events of the past night here.
Ukraine reports on Russian drone strikes on Odessa
3.30 a.m.: According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is attacking the port city of Odessa with threats. “There is damage as a result of the use of air defense systems,” writes the head of the regional military administration, Yuriy Kruk, on the administration’s Facebook page. He did not name the extent of the damage. In total, Russia sent 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones to Ukraine overnight, presumably from the east coast of the Sea of Azov, the Ukrainian Air Force Command said on the news app Telegram. 14 of them were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defense systems.
Baerbock calls on Russia to refrain from mines on fields
12:32 a.m.: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has called on Russia to stop mining agricultural land in Ukraine. The mines not only result in many civilian casualties, but also prevent numerous farmers from tilling their fields and bringing in the harvest, said Baerbock, according to a statement from the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. “In this way, Russia is reducing the supply of food on the world market, thereby increasing hunger in the world.”
