Photo: AP Photo/Andrew MarienkoIn Mariupol, the theater where civilians were hiding was hit. The USA allocated an additional 800 million dollars for military aid to Ukraine, and Biden called Putin a "war criminal". Putin warned the Russian oligarchs for the first time, mentioning them in the context of the "fifth column". A spark of hope appeared in the negotiated peace process
On Wednesday, a Russian cruise missile hit a theater in Mariupol where, according to Ukrainian sources, hundreds of civilians were hiding. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called it "another Russian war crime". The BBC showed aerial footage showing "children" written in large letters outside the theatre. The number of victims is not yet known.
On the same day, two residential buildings in Kyiv were also hit.
Putin is a war criminal.
US President Joe Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" for the first time. He did it while passing through a hall full of journalists, briefly answering a question, after signing a decree on military aid to Ukraine in the amount of an additional 800 million dollars. It is not clear whether such qualification of Putin was planned, or it escaped him. Biden is known for gaffes.
Analysts on CNN commented that after Biden called Putin a "war criminal", it will be even more difficult to organize a summit meeting one day.
The Kremlin assessed that such rhetoric was "unforgivable".
The new US military aid includes 800 air defense systems and nine thousand anti-tank systems, drones, seven thousand pieces of small arms and 20 million rounds of ammunition. Biden explained that the Ukrainian army will also receive longer-range anti-aircraft missiles for the first time.
Previously, Zelensky addressed the US Congress via video link and was greeted with applause.
The MFA warns Russia
The International Court of Justice in The Hague called on Russia to immediately stop hostilities in Ukraine. The ICJ assessed that Russia's invasion is inadmissible from the point of view of international law, that the court is closely monitoring what is happening and that data is being collected that could serve as evidence for war crimes.
Russian fifth column
In an address on state television, Vladimir Putin warned that the West is betting on the "fifth column" in Russia, on those who "make money here and live there" and not only in a "geographical sense, but in their thoughts." Putney said he doesn't judge those who live in Miami or the French Riviera and can't live without shellfish or "gender equality," but the problem is that they "mentally live there, not here with our people."
It was the first time that Putin publicly called out the Russian oligarchs who were subjected to targeted Western sanctions precisely with the idea that over time, when they were deprived of the life they were used to in the West, they would turn against Putin.
Cautious negotiating optimism
On Wednesday, for the first time in the negotiation process, slightly optimistic tones could be heard. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the negotiations are difficult, but that Ukraine sounds more "realistic" than before, by which he meant a kind of neutrality, an obligation not to join Western military alliances, which Russia demands. Zelensky stated similarly in the opposite direction, that the Russians no longer demand only the impossible.
Above all, Ukraine wants a guarantee of its survival, it seeks guarantees for possible neutrality, that the Western countries, above all the USA, sign so that they would defend that neutrality militarily if necessary. Russia wants Ukraine to at least remain a buffer zone between the borders with NATO and suggests examining models similar to Austria's or Finland's, but the authorities in Kiev refuse to do so.
Russia previously demanded that Kiev recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea and the so-called independence. Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics in the east of the country. Negotiations are ongoing.
A plan for a 15-point truce appeared in the media, which Kremlin spokesman Peskov rejected, saying it was too early to talk about concrete plans.
Electricity for Ukraine
The European Union made a decision to join the Ukrainian electricity network to the European one. The Austrian daily "Presse" writes that this causes concern in some countries because Russian hackers can disrupt the Ukrainian network and in that case the supply of electricity to some European countries.
Death of a Fox journalist
In a village near Kiev, the cameraman of the Fox-News television station Pierre Zakrzewski, an experienced war reporter, was killed. With him in the car was journalist Benjamin Hall, who was seriously wounded and treated in a hospital.
Battle of Mariupol
Allegedly, one of the Russian commanders with the rank of major general was killed in Maripolje, a port city on the coast of the Sea of Azov that has been under Russian siege for two weeks.
Since Tuesday evening, over 3.000 cars full of civilians have left the city. Negotiations regarding the establishment of humanitarian corridors have previously failed on several occasions.
The correspondent of the German "Zeit" Hauke Friedrichs analyzed the Ukrainian Regiment of Azov which defends Mariupol as a nationalist group of right-wing extremists. They told him they were fighting the "Kadyrovs," a paramilitary group of "80.000 Chechens under the leadership of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov" who is personally in Ukraine.
Three million refugees
About 25.000 people come from Ukraine to Poland every day. On Wednesday, the number of Ukrainian refugees rose to over 3 million.
About 300 volunteers come from Poland to Ukraine every day. They are welcomed in a special tent where they are questioned about possible war experiences and assigned accordingly. If necessary, they also receive appropriate clothing and weapons.
Perverts in Berlin
At the train station in Berlin, pimps appeared who more or less openly offered accommodation to young women for sex. This was confirmed not only by the police, but also by an employee of RTL television who pretended to be a woman from Ukraine and received an offer for accommodation on the condition that she stays in the apartment completely naked. The journalist then found that "bidder", confronted him with the video and interviewed him. He dejectedly apologized and promised "never again."
JH/Fox News Chanel/Le Monde/RTL/Zeit/Spiegel/Kronenzeitung/Magyar Nemzet
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A group of individuals has created two websites where public procurement of the Telecom and IT sectors can be searched and compared. They invite the media, experts and citizens to review the documentation and submit reasoned observations
Very soon it could become obvious whether Milan Radoičić has left Serbia or not
The hospital formed a commission for an extraordinary expert check and informed the health inspection. Cases of death during childbirth in Serbia rarely receive a judicial epilogue.
Two unions of public services supported the request of FDU students for information about RTS employees, since claims appeared in the public that it was a request for "files". The students say they are looking for "public truth about public service."
Among those pardoned is the man who attacked a citizen who came to ask about the street in the office of the mayor of Kosjerić in April. The pardon applies only to one of the two offenses, and the injured party announces a constitutional appeal.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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