After the attack on Vinnytsia: Selenskyj calls Russia a terrorist state

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia as a "terrorist state" after the rocket attack on the center of the city of Vinnytsia in western Ukraine, which killed many civilians.

"No other country in the world poses such a terrorist threat as Russia," said Zelenskyy in his video address published on Thursday evening.

No other country in the world dares to destroy "peaceful cities and everyday human life" every day with its missiles and artillery, Zelenskyy said.

The rocket attack in Vinnytsia on Thursday killed 23 people, including three children.

Those are not the final numbers.

The search for dozens of missing people in the rubble continues, Zelenskyj said.

There are also many seriously injured.

The day showed once again that Russia should be officially classified as a "terror state" and that those responsible should be brought before a war crimes tribunal, Zelensky said.

A medical center was also hit.

"If someone launched an attack on a medical center in Dallas or Dresden, isn't that terrorism?"

Since invading Ukraine at the end of February, Russia has maintained that it only attacks military targets in the neighboring country.

Nevertheless, there are many civilian casualties, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure has reached enormous proportions.

Rockets of old Soviet design often miss their targets.

Baerbock: Don't soften the sanctions

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has ruled out easing the sanctions imposed on Russia for the attack on Ukraine.

Even such a step would not ensure the gas supply from Russia, "but we would be doubly open to blackmail," said the Green politician on Thursday at a discussion with citizens in Bremen.

Accepting that someone would break international law "in the most brutal way" would be "an invitation to all those who trample on human rights, freedom and democracy".

Therefore, Germany will support Ukraine "as long as it needs us," emphasized Baerbock.

"And that's why we will also maintain these sanctions and at the same time ensure that our society is not divided."

The western states have gradually tightened their punitive measures against Russia since the beginning of the war.

Politicians from the left and the AfD have spoken out in favor of easing – on the grounds that the punitive measures will also burden the German economy.

According to EU experts, measures are working

According to data that has been kept secret so far, the EU sanctions imposed on Russia are taking effect.

As experts from the EU Commission confirmed to the German Press Agency, targeted trade restrictions are now affecting Russian export transactions, which had a volume of more than 73 billion euros a year before the war.

In percentage terms, it is about 48 percent of Russia's previous exports to the EU.

In addition, within around four months, Russian assets of around 13.8 billion euros were frozen - for example by oligarchs and other supporters of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin.

The reserves of the Russian central bank, which are worth billions, can also no longer be accessed.

Russia continues attacks

So far, however, the sanctions have failed to achieve their goal of stopping the Russian attack on Ukraine.

In eastern Ukraine, the separatists, who are supported by the Russian army, say they have advanced further towards the small town of Soledar.

The villages of Stryapivka and Nowa Kamyanka on the eastern outskirts of Soledar had been taken, the separatists in Luhansk announced on Thursday evening.

In Kyiv, the information was contradicted.

"In general, over the past week we have repelled enemy attacks and not a single meter of Ukrainian soil has been lost," Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army Oleksiy Hromov told a news conference in Kyiv.

The evening report of the general staff spoke of shelling of Soledar and the north-eastern suburb of Yakovlivka.

Ukraine has been fighting the Russian invasion to capture eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk for nearly five months.

The Russian troops have almost completely taken control of the Luhansk region.

The focus of the fighting has shifted to neighboring Donetsk region.

Grain export from Ukraine not yet secured

After the rapprochement in the dispute over grain exports from Ukraine, Development Minister Svenja Schulze warned against being too optimistic.

"An agreement on safe transport options for grain from Ukraine by sea would be a relief for starving people worldwide," said the SPD politician to the editorial network Germany.

Every ton of grain that comes out and is available on the world market helps.

"But the experience with Putin shows that you shouldn't rely on it."

Internationally mediated talks about ending the Russian naval blockade in the Black Sea have, according to the UN, achieved a first breakthrough.

President Zelenskyj was optimistic that his country would soon be able to export grain again.

Before the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world.