The most important things for you this Tuesday:

Sebastian Reuter

Editor on duty.

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1. New phase of the Russian offensive


2. Growing pressure on Schwesig and Scholz


3. What's next in the corona pandemic?


4. The lower middle class is being left behind


5. How countries are benefiting from the real estate boom


6. Who is playing for the DFB Cup in Berlin?


7. This will be important this week

1. New phase of the Russian offensive

Russia launches ground offensive in eastern Ukraine.

Continued resistance in besieged Mariupol.

Kiev Mayor Klitschko expects chemical weapons to be used.

Kreminna and Kharkiv:

According to Ukraine, Russia has launched the long-awaited offensive in the Donbass, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Monday evening.

In heavy fighting, Russian troops had previously taken the small town of Kreminna, which has a population of just under 20,000.

According to Zelenskyy's advisers, the new phase applies primarily to the previously unoccupied western part of the Luhansk region.

Further north, the city of Kharkov was intensively shelled.

President Zelenskyj said in a video speech: "This is nothing more than deliberate terror." It is strongly discouraged to try to escape on your own and to stay in bunkers and cellars all day even without an air alarm.

Mariupol:

In the port city of Mariupol, which has been extensively besieged by the Russians, Ukrainian units are apparently still resisting.

The last Ukrainian units are said to have entrenched themselves in the Azovstal steelworks.

About a thousand civilians are said to have found refuge there.

The number of remaining civilians in the city, which originally had 400,000 inhabitants, is estimated at 50,000 to 150,000 people.

According to the United Nations, around five million people have left Ukraine so far.

Several million are on the run in the country itself.

At the same time, more and more people who have left the country are returning to the country.

Lviv and Kiev:

Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, was hit by rockets for the first time in days on Monday.

According to the authorities, seven people were killed.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of the capital Kyiv, which was also shelled, now sees a nuclear threat from Russia in the war.

"Chemical weapons or nuclear weapons (...), we expect everything.

Anything is possible," he said in an RTL interview.

Ukraine is not only defending itself in the war. "We are not just defending ourselves, we are defending you." Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has given an honorary title to the brigade that Ukraine has accused of war crimes and mass killings in the city of Bucha.

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2. Growing pressure on Schwesig and Scholz

The pressure on Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) because of her commitment to Nord Stream 2 is growing.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is being asked to take a clear position on how he intends to support Ukraine.