Status: 04/20/2022 04:51
Russia is making little progress in its offensive in eastern Ukraine. According to information from Washington and London, however, the momentum is again not going according to plan. Another ceasefire is said to be in effect in Mariupol today.
According to their own statements, groups from the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” have taken over a small town in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. The city of Kreminna is “completely” under the control of “People’s Republic” units, the Luhansk “People’s Militia” announced on Telegram in the evening. An attached video shows a Russian flag hanging from the front door of the town hall.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, many Ukrainian targets were attacked
Tagesschau 02:51, 2022.4.20
The Ukrainian governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, reported on Monday that control of the small town north of the city of Sievjerodonetsk had been lost. In Kreminna, around 4,000 of the pre-war 18,000 residents are still holding out. According to the latest analysis by the US war research institute ISW, the advance on Kreminna was the only Russian ground offensive in 24 hours that made “significant progress”.
London: Russia’s advances in Ukraine hampered
In British opinion, Russian bombing and attacks along the Donbass demarcation line in eastern Ukraine continue to increase. However, Ukraine is avoiding numerous advances by Russian troops, the Defense Ministry in London said, citing intelligence information.
Russian advances, however, continued to be hampered by terrain, logistical and technical difficulties. Added to this is the resilience of the highly motivated Ukrainian army. Russia’s failure to break resistance at the port of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine and indiscriminate Russian attacks on civilians are further indications that Moscow is not achieving its goals as quickly as it had hoped.
Zelenskyj: The situation in Mariupol remains extremely serious
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sees the situation in the port city of Mariupol as “as difficult as possible”. The Russian military is blocking all attempts to organize humanitarian corridors and rescue Ukrainian citizens, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message posted to Telegram that night.
City residents who are in the hands of Russian units are being tempted to be “deported” or mobilized by Russian troops. Unfortunately, Zelenskyy said, no responses were received to a proposal for an exchange that would save the city’s civilians and defenders. He did not provide further information about the exchange. The information could not be independently verified.
conflicting parties as source
In the current situation, information about the course of the war, bombing and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Russia announces more evacuation corridors
The situation in badly damaged Mariupol is considered dramatic. Russia wants to take full control of the strategically important port city and once again summoned hundreds of Ukrainian fighters at a steel mill to surrender on Tuesday. However, they refused. Moscow announced in the evening that no one had used the corridor until 22:00 Moscow time (21:00 CET).
This was followed by another announcement of a unilateral ceasefire, including a “humanitarian corridor” from the steel mill for Wednesday at 2pm Moscow time (1pm CET). In the course of this ceasefire, Ukrainian fighters could surrender and civilians could be evacuated, according to a statement by Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev in the evening. In recent weeks, both sides have repeatedly accused each other of sabotaging the flight of civilians.
The current situation in Ukraine – A Wednesday morning update
Marius Reichert, WDR, April 20, 2022 5:57 am