EXTRAORDINARY ONLINE Negotiations with Ukraine are at a standstill, according to Putin: Russians should have used chemical weapons – Topky.sk

Live from Ukraine Summary of the 47th day of the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia ONLINE Load new news 19:00 The Ukrainian Border Guard announced on Tuesday that more than 870,000 people who fled Ukraine before the war after the start of the Russian military invasion have already returned. There are more and more women and children among the returnees. 18:15 In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the resettlement of nearly 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in remote parts of Russia, including Siberia and the Arctic Circle. It follows from Russian official documents available to the British daily The Independent. Specifically, there were 95,739 civilians from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, who were to move from areas in the war zones thousands of kilometers further east, The Independent wrote on Wednesday. 18:10 During its presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Czech Republic will try to stop oil imports from Russia and minimize relations. This was stated by Jan Lipavský, head of Czech diplomacy, after a meeting of Central 5 foreign ministers (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria) on Tuesday. 18:05 Ukrainian officials announced on Tuesday that a team of experts had thwarted a planned cyber attack by Russian military hackers on Ukraine’s energy network. The officials added that the Ukrainian National Cyber ​​Security Center (CERT Ukraine) had thwarted an attack planned by hackers from the Russian military secret service GRU, which was supposed to decommission power transformer stations last Friday, April 8. 17:55 The European Union sets up a humanitarian stockpile in Moldova for refugees from the Russian war in Ukraine. More than 1,200 tents and 4,000 blankets will be delivered this week for people driven from their homes by the war in Ukraine, the European Commission said on Tuesday. “Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine is unfolding in a devastating, brutal way, so the humanitarian needs of the affected civilians are growing exponentially,” said Janez Lenarchic, EU commissioner for crisis management. 17:45 The planned trip of the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Kiev will not take place because “he is clearly not welcome” there. During his visit to Warsaw, the German president said he planned to travel to Ukraine with other EU leaders, but Kiev indicated that there was no interest in his presence in the country. Photo gallery (12) Re-elected Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Source: SITA / AP Photo / Michael Sohn, Pool “I was ready to do it, but apparently in Kiev they didn’t want to,” Steinmeier told reporters after a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Dud. According to Steinmeier, Duda suggested that he travel to the Ukrainian capital together with the heads of the Baltic states (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia). It was supposed to be a symbol of “European solidarity with Ukraine”. 17:25 On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the images of dead bodies in the Ukrainian city of Bucha a fake. He also said that peace talks with Ukraine were at a dead end. Photo gallery (12) Source: TASR / AP / Vadim Ghirda Putin likened Ukraine’s allegations that Russian troops were executing civilians in Bukh to chemical weapons attacks in Syria, which the Kremlin leader had directed the West to convict of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “It’s as fake as it is in Bukh,” Putin told a news conference after meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. 17:00 Ukraine’s support in the military-defense and economic fields must be a top priority for the European Union. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Ivan Korčok, said this on Tuesday, who also expressed his support for the future Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU. Photo gallery (12) Source: Topky / Vlado Anjel “Our eastern neighbor is punished for freely choosing where he wants to belong,” Korčok said. According to him, Slovakia supports Ukraine’s integration ambitions. “Our support for Ukraine, including in the military-defense and economic fields, must be a top priority for the European Union,” he added. 16:30 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukrainian investigators were receiving reports of “hundreds of rape cases” in areas that had recently been occupied by Russian troops. These reports also talk about the sexual abuse of young children. “In the areas free of the occupiers, the recording and investigation of war crimes committed by Russia continues. We find a new mass grave almost every day … Thousands and thousands of victims. Hundreds of cases of torture. . “Hundreds of rapes have been reported, including young girls and very young children, even babies,” Zelensky said. 15:15 Negotiations with Ukraine are at a standstill, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to him, Kiev deviated from what the two sides agreed on during the peace talks in Istanbul at the end of March. At the hearing, Ukraine put forward a proposal for possible neutrality. According to the Ukrainian army, Russia is currently preparing a large-scale offensive in eastern Ukraine. Photo gallery (12) Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his speech at a missile assembly workshop during a visit to the Vostočny cosmodrome near Tsiolkovsky
Source: SITA / Evgeny Biyatov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP 14:30 The bodies of six people shot were discovered in the basement of one of the buildings in Brovary in the Kiev region. The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office announced this on Tuesday, the AFP agency reports, adding that this is another case pointing to allegations of atrocities committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. “During a search of the private residence, the bodies of six civilians with gunshot wounds were found in the basement,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. He blamed the Russian troops who took control of the area at the beginning of the invasion. 14:15 The Russian economy is on its way to a decline of more than 10% in 2022. This will be the steepest cut in its gross domestic product (GDP) since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday. 13:50 President Zelensky told a video to the Lithuanian parliament that the sixth package of sanctions must include a ban on Russian oil, while European countries must set a time frame to stop Russian gas imports. 13:43 Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the goals of the military operation in Ukraine, which he said are aimed at ensuring Russia’s security, will certainly be achieved. TASR reports on the basis of reports from AP and Reuters, which refer to the Russian media. Photo gallery (12) Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his speech at a missile assembly workshop during a visit to the Vostočny cosmodrome near Tsiolkovsky
Source: SITA / Evgeny Biyatov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP The head of the Kremlin commented on a visit to the Vostochny cosmodrome, located in the Amur region in Russia’s Far East near the border with China, where he also met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday. This is Putin’s first trip outside Moscow since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 13:28 Slovakia is preparing the return of its diplomats to Kiev. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee) informed about it on the social network. 13:15 On Tuesday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for the introduction of “far-reaching” sanctions against Russia, as well as the provision of additional weapons for Ukraine. According to the PAP agency, he said this in connection with allegations that Russian forces used chemical weapons in Ukraine.