Ukraine War: Report: Russian military ships headed for crime scene ahead of pipeline blasts

International

While the West increased arms, tanks and ammunition to the Ukraine would like to deliver Russia and China their connection. Head of state Xi spent three days with Putin in Moscow, where he held strategy talks on future cooperation between the two great powers. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned China against arms deliveries to Russia. The country is thus supporting an “illegal war”.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting in Ukraine continues. These continue to be particularly intense around the Front near the strategically important town of Bachmut.

In our news blog you can read all the important news about developments in the Ukraine war.

25th March

10.50 a.m .: Putin’s allies are probably leaving Crimea

Russia is said to have started evacuating the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea. This is reported by “Kyiv Independent”, citing the Ukrainian military intelligence service. A spokesman said the Russian command and Moscow-appointed deputies had started selling their properties, taking their families with them.

On Wednesday, the residents heard a warning over the radio station. In it they were asked to prepare for leaving Crimea. The information cannot be independently verified.

7:38 a.m.: Report: Russian military ships headed for crime scene before pipeline explosion

A few days before the attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, according to a report, Russian military ships are believed to have operated at the crime scenes. The ship formation had the necessary equipment to plant explosive devicesAs the news portal “t-online” reported on Saturday, citing information from security circles and publicly available data.

On September 26, explosions damaged the German-Russian gas pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. According to “t-online”, satellite images show that at least three suspicious ships left Russia’s naval base in Kaliningrad on the night of September 21. The “SS-750” has a mini-submarine with grab arms, the tugboats “SB-123” and “Alexander Frolow” are equipped with loading cranes. On their way to the scene of the crime, the two smugglers sent position data once on the afternoon of September 21.

Three other ships of the Russian Navy could have accompanied the operation and provided military protection. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the corvette “Soobrazitelny” and the frigate “Yaroslav Mudry” had escorted a convoy of ships for training purposes.

7:00 a.m.: Concerns about a Ukrainian counter-offensive are growing in Moscow

In Russia, there seems to be concern about a possible Ukrainian counter-offensive. This comes from a report by theInstitute for the Study of War” out. Former President Dmitry Medvedev stressed on March 24 that the Russian General Staff is aware that Kiev is preparing offensives and that he considers his own decisions and reactions to them.

March 24th

4:03 p.m.: UN accuses Kiev and Moscow of arbitrary executions of prisoners

The allegations of the UN are drastic: The United Nations accuses both Ukraine and Russia of arbitrarily executing prisoners of war. Even without a court case. The UN is “deeply concerned” about this, said the head of the UN mission to monitor human rights in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, at a press conference in Kiev on Friday.

According to this, both warring parties simply executed prisoners in the course of the war. Either immediately after capture or on the battlefield. “We are deeply concerned about the executions by Ukrainian forces of up to 25 Russian prisoners of war and incapacitated persons that we have documented,” she said. She also expressed deep concern at “the summary execution of 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war shortly after their capture by Russian forces”.

Both Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been arbitrarily executed, according to the UN. Image: AP / LIBKOS

The Russian mercenary group Wagner was responsible for eleven executions. In a UN report published on Friday, former Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war also describe severe torture and abuse by the other warring party.

Selenskyj wants modern fighter jets – no commitments at the EU summit

In defense of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is again pushing for the delivery of Western fighter jets. So he said on Thursday at an EU summit via video connection: “We need modern aircraft”. This will significantly strengthen the defense of the airspace. He was all the more grateful for the decision by Poland and Slovakia to provide Soviet MiG-29 fighter jets.

In defense of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is again pushing for the delivery of Western fighter jets.Image: www.imago-images.de / APAimages

But at the EU summit, fighter jet deliveries were hardly an issue. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already made his position clear several times: For him, the delivery of modern Western fighter jets is currently not an option. Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the issue had not been discussed in detail. And EU Council President Charles Michel and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made it clear that the decision on such deliveries must be made by the individual member states.

March 23rd

2:47 p.m .: Slovakia hands over the first fighter jets to Ukraine

Four of the thirteen fighter jets that Slovakia has pledged to Ukraine were delivered on Thursday. The Soviet-designed jets were safely handed over to the Ukrainian armed forces, said a spokeswoman for Slovakia’s defense ministry in Bratislava.

Soviet-designed fighter jets are intended to make operation easier for Ukrainian pilots.Image: TASR Slovakia / Jaroslav Novak

As the second NATO member after Poland, Slovakia has promised Ukraine MiG-29 fighter jets. Kiev has repeatedly asked its western allies for modern fighter jets to better protect itself against Russian airstrikes. Deutschland has categorically ruled this out so far.

2:32 p.m .: Hungary would not arrest Putin despite an arrest warrant

Should the Russian President Vladimir Putin Hungary enter, he is not threatened with arrest despite an international arrest warrant. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said on Thursday that the arrest warrant is not legally binding in Hungary.

Gulyas described issuing the arrest warrant as “not the happiest decision” and saw it as a step “in the direction of escalation and not in the direction of peace”.

Hungary avoids showing a clear edge against Russia in the Ukraine war. Bild: MTI / Zoltan Mathe

9.19 a.m .: According to Medvedev, arresting Putin would be equivalent to a “declaration of war”.

According to former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia would see an arrest of Vladimir Putin as a result of the international arrest warrant issued against him as a “declaration of war”. Should such an arrest happen in Germany, for example, “all our means, rockets and others, will fly at the Bundestag, the Chancellery and so on”said Medvedev on Wednesday evening.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against Putin for war crimes in Ukraine last Friday.

8.30 a.m .: The number of deaths after a drone attack near Kiev rises to nine

In the small town of Rzhyshchiv near Kiev, a drone hit a residential building on Wednesday and, according to the current status, has nine People killed. This was announced by the local civil protection on Thursday. At first there was talk of three deaths.

According to Kiev’s military administration, the attack also hit a dormitory and a vocational school building, causing a major fire.

The Russian attack on a residential building cost the lives of nine residents. Photo: AP / Efrem Lukatsky

Older news for war in Ukraine you can find here.

(With material from dpa and afp)