Bombs on Zelensky’s hometown, US appeals to ‘neutral’ China | NOW

NU.nl regularly gives you an overview of the situation in Ukraine. This time: Russian troops shelled residential areas of Krivi Rih, the hometown of Volodymyr Zelensky, on Saturday morning. Ukraine’s president visited the city on Friday, while he also visited the frontline. At the same time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on his Chinese counterpart to speak out against Russian aggression.

Ten rockets with cluster munitions were fired Saturday morning at the industrial town in the center of Krivi Rih. It most likely happened at a distance of more than 70 kilometers, the local army commander said. Two people were killed and three others injured by shrapnel.

Further east in the Donetsk region, an attempt by Russia to storm the area around the Vuhlehirska power plant was repelled, the Ukrainian army general staff said.

Russian units continue their offensive west of Lysychansk, the last town in the eastern Luhansk region that Ukraine had to abandon a week ago. Moscow seems to be concentrating its attack on the cities of Siversk, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in Donetsk. Four other people were killed in a Russian attack in Siversk on Saturday, writes the BBC†

The Russian army claims to have shot down a Ukrainian fighter plane in the south of the country on Saturday. A US arms depot near Chasov Yar in Donetsk was also reportedly hit. These claims have not been independently verified.

Firefighters put out a fire in Kramatorsk after the impact of Russian missiles.

US secretary denounces China’s impartiality

According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, China cannot continue to maintain its neutrality as long as it continues to support Russia.

The foreign ministers of the United States and China met for five hours Saturday on the Indonesian island of Bali. A G20 summit was held there in recent days. It was the first time since October that the two had met. The aim was to prevent the tensions of recent times from unintentionally turning into conflict.

The two ministers were satisfied with the meeting. According to Blinken, the talks were “helpful, honest and constructive”. His Chinese counterpart Wang Yi said an agreement had been reached to improve relations.

However, Blinken also strongly criticized the Chinese attitude towards Russia. Russia was criticized at the G20 summit and, according to the US secretary, now is the time for China to condemn “the manifest aggressor”.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his American counterpart Antony Blinken at a previous meeting in 2015.

Zelensky fires Ukrainian ambassador after Holocaust riots

Andrij Melnik, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, was sacked on Saturday, President Zelensky said. Melnik was recently accused of minimizing the Holocaust. He denied this, calling the allegations “absurd”.

Melnik has been ambassador to Germany since 2015 and has featured heavily in German media since the Russian invasion. He also regularly criticizes the German government. He was discredited because he defended controversial Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera in an interview.

Bandera is considered a resistance hero during the Soviet Union, but a collaborator during the Nazi occupation. Bandera’s radical nationalist group is responsible for ethnically motivated mass murders. Melnik denied this in the interview, which drew angry reactions, especially from Poland and Israel.

According to German media, Melnik will now be given a senior position in the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv. This has not been officially confirmed.