According to political scientist and military expert Carlo Masala, Russian President Vladimir Putin currently sees no reason for negotiations with Ukraine.
Masala, Professor of International Politics at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich, told the German Press Agency that Putin would only begin to negotiate seriously if he had to fear that he would lose more than he would win by continuing the war.
But that is not the case at the moment.
"It works for him.
So there is absolutely no incentive to get involved in these negotiations.”
According to Masala, the most recent military successes of the Russian armed forces in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine can be traced back to two causes: First, the Ukrainians lack heavy weapons.
Second, the Russians had successfully changed their strategy.
"In contrast to the previous course of the war, they are no longer advancing on broad sections of the front, but are concentrating their troops to advance on small sections of the front.
As a result, they currently have a personal advantage.”
Zelenskyj calls for classification of Russia as a terrorist state
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of a policy of terror.
"I will always remind the world that Russia must finally be officially recognized as a terrorist state, as a sponsor of terrorism," Zelenskyy said in a video address.
At the beginning of the week he wanted to address the participants of the EU special summit in Brussels and also talk about it.
"About terror, which today has actually become the only form of action of the Russian state against Europe," said the President.
“Terror in Ukraine.
Terror on the energy market in Europe, not only in our country.
Terror in the food market, worldwide.
And what kind of terror will come next?” Only together could the Europeans stop the policies of such a state, he emphasized.
Ukraine: Need long-range multiple rocket launchers
Zelenskyi advisor Mykhailo Podoliak called on the West to supply modern long-range multiple rocket launchers.
"If the West really wants Ukraine to win, maybe it's time to give us MLRS?" he asked on Twitter.
MLRS are US-made artillery systems.
"It's hard to fight when you're attacked from a distance of 70 kilometers and you don't have anything to defend yourself with," Podoljak said.
According to a media report, the US government is considering sending multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich advocated deliveries of Harpoon-type missiles that can be used to attack ships.
Arestovich was quoted as saying by the Unian agency that this would allow Ukraine to break through the Russian blockade of seaports.
Ukraine: Russia sanctions not the cause of the food crisis
Ukraine again emphatically contradicted Russia that Western punitive measures against Moscow were the reason for the current lack of food security in the world.
"Sanctions against Russia have nothing to do with the emerging global food crisis," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
"The only reason for shortages, rising prices and the threat of hunger is that the Russian military is physically blocking 22 million tons of Ukrainian food exports in our seaports," Kuleba stressed.
The West must bring Russia to an end of the blockade.
Only on Saturday did Russian President Vladimir Putin say in a phone call with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and French President Emmanuel Macron that the "flawed economic and financial policies of Western countries" and the "anti-Russian sanctions" were responsible for the problems.
The federal government always points out that there are no sanctions against food.
According to the federal government, Scholz and Macron complained about the tense situation on the global food market during the phone call.
Reports of dead and wounded in Russian attacks
According to the authorities, several civilians were killed or wounded in attacks on Ukrainian locations.
President Zelenskyy accused Russia of "new terror".
These are "senseless, barbaric attacks" with rockets and mortars.
The Ukrainian army said it had repelled Russian attacks.
33 "occupants" were killed and six armored vehicles destroyed.
The information is not independently verifiable.
The city of Sievjerodonetsk in the Donbass was particularly hard fought.
Russian troops are trying to gain a foothold there, Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov said, according to Unian agency.
According to Luhansk Governor Serhiy Hajdaj, the city is still under the Ukrainian flag.
He contradicted reports from Russia that Sievjerodonetsk was completely taken.
Meanwhile, after the capture of the port city of Mariupol by Russian troops, Mayor Vadym Boychenko warned of the risk of infectious diseases.
The sewage system and garbage disposal no longer worked, and the temperatures rose.
"Therefore, our doctors report the danger that may arise this summer: outbreaks of infectious diseases such as dysentery and others," said Boychenko, who is not in the city himself.
That brings the day
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is expected in Potsdam for a constituency talk about the Ukraine war and its consequences.
In Berlin, a charity event is taking place at the Brandenburg Gate under the motto "Save Ukraine - #StopWar".
Among other things, the Kalush Orchestra Band, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, has been announced. The Klitschko brothers are to be added.