Ukraine update: New wave of Russian attacks | Current Europe | DW

The essentials in brief:

• Night Russian attack wave
• Zelenskyj thanks his partners for their support
• Russian train derailed after being blown up
• Prigozhin: Ukrainian offensive could become a “tragedy” for Russia
• Pope Francis hints at peacekeeping mission

In another wave of Russian attacks, 34 people were injured in the city of Pavlohrad in the south-eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, the Ukrainian authorities said. 15 of 18 cruise missiles were shot down by the air defenses. The capital Kiev and other major cities, which also had air alerts, remained protected.

Impacts with far-reaching consequences were only reported from Pavlohrad, a railway junction behind the southern and eastern fronts. 19 blocks of flats, 25 houses, three schools, three kindergartens and several shops were damaged. An industrial company was hit and a major fire broke out in the area. Three children were among the 34 injured.

Russia, on the other hand, spoke of night-time rocket attacks on military targets in Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced that all targets had been hit. These include weapons depots and ammunition factories. Ukraine’s missile defense was recently massively strengthened by the delivery of state-of-the-art defense systems by the western allies.

Zelenskyy thanks partners for support

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video speech that he had spoken to French head of state Emmanuel Macron about a new arms package. “It is very important that Russia receives ever stronger signals that the world will not forgive Russia’s terrorism,” he stressed.

Ukraine and its partners must act with the greatest possible unity and integrity “to protect our common values”. This is the only way to prevent Russia from prolonging the war and achieve a normal and just peace, Zelensky said. “I thank all the people in the world who are helping to reinforce the isolation of terrorists and to cut off any supply of weapons and their components to terrorists,” he said. By “terrorists” Zelenskyy means the Russian military.

Referring to weapons received this week, Zelenskyi specifically thanked Denmark for howitzers, Slovenia for armored vehicles, Spain for tanks and Germany for the planned delivery of more armored vehicles and shells. Zelenskyy listed further new aid from the USA to Ukraine for budget support of 1.25 billion dollars. The Netherlands, on the other hand, are willing to train Ukrainian soldiers on modern weapon systems, Croatia will take care of the wounded soldiers, while Italy wants to help with the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Russian train derails after blast near Ukraine border

According to the authorities, a freight train derailed after a rail blast in the western Russian region of Bryansk near the border with Ukraine. There were no injuries, said the governor of the region, Alexander Bogomas. The incident happened near the small town of Unecha, 140 kilometers southwest of Bryansk. Traffic on the route they temporarily shut down, Bogomas wrote.

According to media reports, the train was loaded with oil and timber products. About a tenth of the 60 wagons lay on their side in the ditch.

A fuel depot in the port city of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia since 2014, caught fire last weekend as a result of a drone attack. According to observers, the attacks on the Russian supply lines to cut off the supply of fuel and ammunition are in preparation for a Ukrainian counter-offensive. This offensive is expected to begin in the next few days.

Russian military reports destruction of Ukraine ammunition dumps

According to their own statements, Russian troops destroyed a depot with around 200 tons of ammunition in an attack on the train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. In addition, a large field workshop of the Ukrainian armed forces was destroyed in the Sumy region, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told the Interfax news agency in Moscow.

The Russian information could not be independently verified. There was initially no reaction from the Ukrainian side.

Prigozhin: Ukrainian counter-offensive could become a “tragedy” for Russia

The head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, expects the announced offensive by the Ukrainian armed forces to begin in mid-May. “This counter-offensive could become a tragedy for our country,” the Russian businessman said in a published interview with Russian military blogger Semyon Pegov.

Prigozhin again complained about the insufficient supply of ammunition to his fighters in Ukraine. “We only have 10 to 15 percent of the grenades that we need,” explained the Wagner boss. He again blamed the Russian army leadership.

Prigozhin is an ally of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, but is involved in a power struggle with the Russian Defense Ministry and the top military. In Ukraine, the Wagner group is currently primarily involved in the Battle of Bakhmut. The fighting for the city in eastern Ukraine has been going on for months.

According to Kiev, preparations for Ukraine’s long-awaited spring offensive are nearing completion. On Sunday, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region announced the death of four people in a Ukrainian missile attack. On Saturday, a suspected Ukrainian drone set fire to a fuel depot on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia.

Pope hopes to mediate his own role in the Ukraine war

Pope Francis has indicated that the Vatican is involved in a peace initiative for the Ukraine war. “Everyone wants a way to peace. I’m willing to do whatever is necessary. A mission is currently underway, but it’s not public yet,” said the head of the Catholic Church on the flight back to Rome from his stay in Hungary journalists. He did not give any further details. “When the time comes, I can comment on it.”

The 86-year-old met Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary over the weekend, who used to be the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s foreign office and a confidant of Patriarch Kirill. “You can imagine that at the meeting we didn’t talk about Little Red Riding Hood, but about everything,” explained Francis. The Pope has long wanted to meet with Cyril, who defends Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

Francis campaigned to maintain diplomatic relations and always keep in touch in order to look for ways to peace together. “I think you get peace by opening channels. You never get peace by closing yourself off.”

Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, the Vatican had repeatedly offered to mediate. So far there have been no major diplomatic successes. The Pope said the Holy See has acted as an intermediary in prisoner exchanges and may do the same in connection with the repatriation of Ukrainian children who have been kidnapped to Russia.

Expelled German diplomats left the country

A good week after being expelled from Russia, a group of German diplomats left the country this Monday. This was announced by the German Foreign Office (AA) in Berlin – without naming a number. At the same time, the AA, led by Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, emphasized in a statement that those affected “always behaved in accordance with their diplomatic status”.

When the expulsions were announced, the Kremlin spoke of more than 20 affected German diplomats. The “mass” expulsion of Russian embassy employees from Germany was cited as the reason.

The Federal Foreign Office said on Monday: “The federal government has been in contact with the Russian side in recent weeks with the aim of reducing the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany.” As a result, members of the Russian representations in Germany left the country in mid-April. “The activities of these people were not consistent with their diplomatic status,” emphasized the Foreign Ministry in Berlin.

Ukrainian army chief Zalushny meets NATO commander Cavoli

Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zalushnyy has consulted with the supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe, Christopher Cavoli. Zalushny said he informed the US general in detail about the situation along the fronts in Ukraine. “I have described possible scenarios, threats and prerequisites for our future actions.”

Zalushny did not specify the location of the meeting. Experts assume that Ukraine is currently preparing for a spring offensive to recapture occupied territories.

During the meeting, he informed Cavoli of the need to provide Ukraine with a wide range of weapons and air defense systems that “would help meet the challenges of countering Russian aggression.”

as/kle/wa/AR/uh (dpa, rtr, afp)

This article will be continuously updated on the day of its publication. Reports from the combat zones cannot be independently verified.