Once a day, NU.nl gives you an overview of the situation in Ukraine. This time: the bodies of two hundred people were found in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol. Moreover, the Russian army is making some progress in eastern Ukraine.
Petro Andryushenko, an advisor to Mayor Vadim Boychenko, said the bodies of 200 people were found in the basement of a destroyed apartment complex. This happened during excavation work. The bodies have been there for a long time.
Russia is said to have asked local residents to remove the deceased from the building, but this was rebuffed, according to Ukraine. Then the Russian forces left the site as it was. Russia has not yet responded. It is not known who the victims are.
‘Western observers may be present at trial of Azovstal fighters’
Denis Pushlin, the leader of the pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk, said that Western and other foreign observers may attend the trial of fighters from the Azovstal steel plants in Mariupol. Prosecutors of the eastern Ukrainian region are currently preparing for a trial, the Russian news agency reported Interfax†
Pushlin had previously said that many of the hundreds of Ukrainian defenders imprisoned for the industrial complex would be prosecuted. Ukraine wants to exchange prisoners for Russian prisoners of war. It is not yet clear when the trial will take place and how many soldiers will be brought to trial.
Ukraine asks the West to deliver weapons faster
Three months after the start of the bloody Russian invasion, Ukraine called on the West to hand over weapons more quickly. It is too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the weapons it needs, wrote Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Twitter†
Kuleba urges the West to speed up the provision of military assistance, due to the intense Russian attacks in the east of his country. Ukraine mainly needs long-range missile launchers and artillery.
Russia is making some progress in the Donets Basin
The Russian army had minor local success at the Battle of the Donets Basin in eastern Ukraine. The British Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that the Russians are ramping up the fight there, but also that the Ukrainians have dug well and are holding out in most places.
The Russians will attempt to encircle Severodonetsk and two neighboring cities. If they captured it, then the entire Luhansk region would be in the hands of Russia. Between the two Russian sides, the Ukrainians still have 25 kilometers in their hands. Ukraine confirmed the Russian advance.
State of emergency in Hungary due to the war in Ukraine
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared a new state of emergency, this time not because of the coronavirus, but because of the war in neighboring Ukraine. He immediately benefited from the amendment of the constitution.
The Prime Minister can now continue to rule with unlimited power. A large majority in Parliament approved the amendment of the constitution. In Parliament, Fidesz, Orban’s conservative party, holds 135 out of 199 seats.
The state of emergency has been imposed in Hungary since the spring of 2020 due to the Corona pandemic, but it will soon end.