Ukrainian troops are reportedly preparing to counterattack after months on the defensive amid Russia’s ongoing campaign to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, the supreme commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, was quoted by Portal as saying that the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenaries were “decreasing significantly in strength” and were “out of strength”. The group was at the forefront of Russia’s eastern and southern attacks.
“Very soon we will seize this opportunity, as we have done in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” he said, listing Ukraine’s counter-offensives over the past year that have seen tracts of land retaken.
Ukraine’s General Staff said in a report on Friday that Russian attacks on the towns of Lyman, Avdiivka, Mariinka and Shakhtarske had all been unsuccessful. However, Moscow’s main focus remained Bakhmut.
Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine could be the next hot spot
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Russia has been fighting to seize the city for months, insisting the move is strategic while Western analysts downplay its importance.
The capture of Bakhmut would not only give Russian fighters a rare battlefield win after months of setbacks, but could also cut Ukraine’s supply lines and allow Moscow forces to advance on other Ukrainian strongholds in the eastern Donetsk region.
Here are some of the other notable developments regarding the war in Ukraine on Friday, March 24:
UN accuses Ukrainian and Russian forces of “summary executions”.
The United Nations has expressed “deeply concerned” by reports of war crimes in Ukraine.
The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, said her organization had registered summary executions by both sides.
“We are deeply concerned about (the) summary executions of up to 25 Russian prisoners of war and immobilized persons by Ukrainian forces that we have documented,” Bogner said.
Bogner said that the executions were often “carried out on the battlefield immediately after capture”.
“Although we are aware of the ongoing investigations by the Ukrainian authorities into five cases involving 22 victims, we are not aware of any prosecution of the perpetrators,” she said.
She said the Wagner mercenary group was responsible for 11 summary executions.
Meanwhile, a UN report released on Friday claimed Ukrainian soldiers had threatened prisoners of war with death threats, mock executions or threats of sexual violence. The report said some beatings were “purely retaliatory.”
Likewise, Ukrainian prisoners of war said they were tortured and subjected to sexual violence by Moscow’s forces and were denied food, water and medical treatment.
Chancellor Scholz calls on China’s Xi to talk to Zelenskyy
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping should speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after his visit to Russia this week.
“We take it for granted that you don’t just talk to the Russian president, but also to the Ukrainian one,” he said at an EU conference in Brussels.
He said it was “clear” that the war in Ukraine could only end fairly if Russia withdrew its troops.
He also warned China against supplying arms to Russia, which he said would be “a grave mistake”.
According to senior European and US officials, there is still no evidence of such a move by China.
Beijing in February proposed a 12-point plan to end the war between Ukraine and Russia that could serve as a basis for peace, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
Ukraine’s western allies have reacted with cynicism, saying the plan does not include Moscow’s withdrawal.
French President Emmanuel Macron also praised China’s plan. He will visit Beijing next month with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Macron said she wanted to form “a united front” to urge China to pressure Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
Estonia expels Russian diplomat for ‘propaganda’
The Estonian Foreign Ministry has decided to expel a diplomat from the Russian Embassy in Tallinn.
The ministry said the Russian diplomat was spreading “propaganda justifying Russia’s military action and causing divisions in Estonian society.”
Russia’s foreign ministry said there would be an “appropriate response,” without giving further details.
Russian airstrike on homeless shelter kills 3
A Russian airstrike on the town of Kostyantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region hit a homeless shelter, killing three women and wounding two others, Ukraine’s emergency services said on Friday.
The deceased women were internally displaced from Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar and Opytne, nearby towns at the heart of the conflict.
Located about 25 kilometers west of Bakhmut, Kostyantynivka is an industrial town that has seen long and bloody fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Kremlin welcomes Gazprom’s Danish invitation to salvage Nord Stream object
The Kremlin on Friday welcomed Denmark’s decision to invite Russian energy giant Gazprom to help recover an object discovered next to one of the Nord Stream pipelines sabotaged last September.
“It is certainly positive news when the pipeline owner is invited to participate in very important stages of the investigation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russian-controlled Gazprom owns most of the two Nord Stream pipelines, with the remaining shares held by German, French and Dutch companies.
Peskov said it was important to identify the object and conduct the investigation into the explosions with full transparency.
Danish authorities announced the discovery of a tubular object 10 centimeters (3.9 in) in diameter protruding about 40 centimeters from the seabed.
Peskov said it was “crucially important” to know whether the object discovered was linked to the “terrorist act” of sabotaging the pipelines.
The New York Times claimed in a report earlier this month that “pro-Ukrainian” groups were behind the attack on the pipelines. Kyiv vehemently denied any involvement.
German lawmaker on Nord Stream explosions: “These are rumours, there is no proof”
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Medvedev says Russia could advance as far as Kiev or Lviv
Russian forces may have to advance as far as Kiev or Lviv, said Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and a confidante of President Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with Russia’s RIA Novosti on Friday, Medvedev was quoted as saying Russian troops will go where they need to go “to destroy this infection.”
“Nothing can be ruled out here,” said Medvedev.
Medvedev further said that Russia has no plans to enter into a direct conflict with NATO.
He said Moscow was interested in resolving the conflict in Ukraine through talks, but warned that any Ukrainian attempts to seize the Crimean peninsula would lead Russia to use “absolutely any weapon” against Kiev. Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014.
Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, has made increasingly aggressive statements about the invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday he said any attempt to arrest Vladimir Putin abroad in compliance with the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant would be treated as a “declaration of war”.
Russian citizen escapes Italian custody before US extradition
A Russian citizen escaped house arrest in Milan, Italy before he was due to be extradited to the US for violating sanctions.
Artem Uss, the son of the governor of Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Krai in Siberia, was arrested in October last year as he was preparing to board a plane bound for Istanbul.
He was later charged by US prosecutors with orchestrating a plan to illegally procure US military technology and Venezuela-sanctioned oil.
Uss broke his court-ordered electronic bracelet and fled two days after a judge issued his US extradition order, Italian media reported.
More DW coverage of the war in Ukraine
EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday approved a deal to increase supplies of artillery shells to Ukraine while the country defends itself against Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
Since Russia’s sweeping invasion of Ukraine in February last year, Ukrainian authorities have registered over 75,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Moscow was a political boost for an increasingly isolated Putin. DW spoke to experts about what this trip means for Russian-Chinese relations.
rmt,sdi,aa/rc,nm (dpa, Portal)