The invasion

On the third day of the Russian war of aggression, street fighting and artillery fire are reported from Kiev.

Apparently, the Russian troops have not yet fully penetrated the Ukrainian capital.

According to Ukrainian information, these were Russian "sabotage groups".

Ukrainian soldiers fought with Russian fighters on Saturday night on Victory Street, one of the city's main thoroughfares.

According to unverifiable Ukrainian information, the Russian fighters were pushed back.

The Ukrainian army reports fierce fighting 30 kilometers southwest of the capital.

There, Russian forces tried to land paratroopers, it said.

According to the British Ministry of Defense, this is where most of the Russian troops involved in the attack on Kiev are based.

According to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have now marched into Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia says it has captured the city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced that Ukrainian military facilities were fired on with cruise missiles on Saturday night.

The British Ministry of Defense said, based on intelligence information, that Russia has not yet gained control of Ukrainian airspace.

The Ukrainian government put the number of Ukrainian civilians killed at 198.

Reactions in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on his compatriots to defend the country in a video on Saturday morning.

After a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Zelenskyi announced that there would be new arms deliveries from abroad.

“Weapons and equipment from our partners are on their way to Ukraine.

The anti-war coalition is working," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

reactions in Russia

According to its own statements, Russia wants to continue the attack on Ukraine regardless of international sanctions.

Vice-Chairman of the National Security Council and former President Dmitry Medvedev said the sanctions would not derail the government from its course.

His country does not need diplomatic relations with the West.

It was time to “seal the embassies”.

refugees

According to estimates by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, well over 100,000 Ukrainians have fled to neighboring countries since the Russian attack.

According to the government in Warsaw, 100,000 refugees from Ukraine have arrived in Poland so far.

So far, only a few refugees from Ukraine have been registered in Germany.

In Brandenburg, which has the longest border of all federal states with Poland, the state's initial reception center in Eisenhüttenstadt took in six refugees by Saturday noon.

A single-digit number of people from Ukraine had arrived at the Saxon-Polish border near Görlitz since Friday, the federal police said on Saturday.

Debate on Russia's SWIFT exclusion

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD)'s negative attitude towards Russia's exclusion from the international payment system SWIFT has provoked opposition in the SPD.

Juso chairwoman Jessica Rosenthal called on Saturday to clear the way for this particularly harsh sanction.

In the EU, Italy and Cyprus have apparently given up their opposition to Russia being excluded from the SWIFT international payments system.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced on Saturday that Italy would fully support the EU's position on sanctions against Russia, including SWIFT.

Cypriot Finance Minister Konstantinos Petrides tweeted on Saturday that his country was not opposed to Russia's exclusion from SWIFT.

So far it is unclear whether France and Hungary have also given up their blockade.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter that his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian had assured him in a telephone call that he would agree to Russia being excluded from SWIFT.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country would support all European Union sanctions against Russia - without explicitly mentioning SWIFT.

According to EU diplomats, Italy, France, Cyprus and Hungary, like Germany, have initially rejected such sanctions against Russia.