AGI Ukrainian President Zelenskyy gave an interview to CNN in which he underlined the key role of Donbass in the final outcome of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. He then removed some pebbles from his shoes and explained that “there aren’t many countries that have really helped us”. The leader of Kyiv then addressed Macron directly, inviting him to go to the country into which troops from Moscow had entered “to make sure of genocide.”
Instead, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed in an interview with CBS that “we haven’t had any highlevel contacts with the Russians for weeks.” The city of Mariupol, according to the politician, “does not exist anymore” and “The Ukrainian soldiers and the rest of the civilians are surrounded by Russian forces. They continue to fight, but the involvement of Moscow troops suggests that there is an intention to raze the city at all costs.”
© Anatolii STEPANOV / AFP
Ukrainian soldiers near a wrecked Russian vehicle near Kharkiv
In the meantime, the Ukrainian government has filled out the form for EU accession. This was announced by Igor Zhovkva, deputy head of President Zelenskyy’s office. “We are now expecting a positive recommendation from the European Commission, then the ball will pass to the member states,” Zhovkva said, according to Ukrainian media reports.
“A European Council meeting will be held in June, where we expect Ukraine to receive candidate status.” Regarding the accession talks, Zhovkva said they should “start immediately”.
The Russians are preparing a referendum that is supposed to lead to the proclamation of a separatist republic in Cherson, the only major Ukrainian city so far in Moscow hands. This was reported on Facebook by the Kyiv General Staff.
A possible referendum in Kherson
“Preparations for an illegal referendum on the proclamation of the socalled ‘Kherson People’s Republic’ in some areas temporarily occupied by Russia are ongoing,” the statement said, “to falsify the results, it is planned to use the personal data of residents of the region collected by the occupiers in the distribution of socalled “humanitarian aid”. Local residents are also told that once the results of the pseudoreferendum are known, they will be “mobilized” to join the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”
Moscow, a Ukrainian commander died in Mariupol
Volodymyr Baranyuk, commander of the 36th Marine Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, was found dead in Mariupol. This was announced by the deputy head of the proRussian separatist militias in Donetsk, Eduard Basurin. According to Basurin, Baranyuk may have been killed on April 12 when a hundred Ukrainian soldiers tried to escape from the besieged city.
“On the night of April 1112, a group of soldiers of the 36 of the Donetsk People’s Republic, separated from the Ukrainian armed forces, tried. During the inspection of the scene of the clash, the body of the commander of the brigade, Colonel Baranyuk Vladimir Anatolyevich, his personal belongings and weapons were found”. According to Moscow, during the attempt to escape on April 12, 50 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by Russian forces and another 42 surrendered.