++ Newsblog on Ukraine ++ Putin still believes in a Russian victory

Day 497: Both warring parties accuse each other of an impending attack on a nuclear power plant. Moscow confirms that it wants to let the grain agreement expire. All information in the news blog.

The most important things at a glance

Scholz and Biden are on the phone to Ukraine and Nato

10:44 p.m.: The federal government announces a telephone call between Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden. Topics are said to have been the Ukraine war and the preparations for the NATO summit next week. The meeting in Vilnius should send a strong signal that the alliance is united.

Putin still believes in Russian victory in the war against Ukraine

10:30 p.m.: According to his own statements, Russian President Vladimir Putin remains convinced of Moscow’s victory in the war of aggression against Ukraine. “There is no doubt about it,” he said at a meeting with graduates of the College of Public Administration, according to the state news agency TASS on Tuesday. The Kremlin chief himself ordered the war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.

At the time, he stated that the war aims included protecting the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine and demilitarizing the neighboring country. In addition, for its own security, Russia must prevent Ukraine from joining NATO, according to Putin.

After more than 16 months of war, Russia still occupies large areas of Ukraine, but is far from achieving these war goals. After a series of defeats in the war and a recent mercenary uprising in his own country, Putin has recently been less open about whether he still believes in victory.

Moscow and Kiev accuse each other of an imminent attack on a nuclear power plant

10:31 p.m.: Moscow and Kiev are accusing each other of an imminent attack on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine. An attack by Russian or Ukrainian troops is expected as early as Wednesday night. Neither Moscow nor Kiev have provided any evidence of this. In the past, the warring parties have repeatedly provoked each other with claims about Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.

Number of injured near Kharkiv rises to 43

7:28 p.m.: Dozens of people were injured in a suspected rocket hit in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pervomaiskyi. At least 43 injured have now been registered, including several minors, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Synyehubov, said on Telegram on Tuesday. Many children are said to be among the injured. In the affected residential area there is damage to nine apartment buildings and several cars.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, a Russian Iskander missile hit the site. Originally, it was assumed that it was an artillery shell. Authorities launched an investigation into why no air alert had been sounded in the area at the time. The county seat is more than 100 kilometers from the front line in the east and the Russian border in the north. Moscow has not yet commented on the incident.

Ruble falls to its lowest point in more than a year

6:32 p.m.: In Russia, the national currency, the ruble, continued to depreciate. For the first time since the end of March 2022 – i.e. shortly after the outbreak of war – the dollar cost more than 90 rubles on the Moscow stock exchange on Tuesday. The euro reached a value of over 98 rubles at times during the course of the day. The Russian national currency is thus well below its highs from the previous year.

While the ruble initially collapsed in 2022 immediately after the start of the war of aggression against Ukraine ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, it rose sharply later in the year. One reason for this was the Western sanctions, which initially restricted imports while Russian exports continued.

However, with the restrictions on oil exports and the introduction of a price cap for Russian oil, Russia’s export earnings fell in 2023. The fall in the exchange rate is related to the reduction in the trade surplus, said the deputy head of the central bank Xenia Judaeva on Tuesday. However, the current development of the ruble does not pose a threat to the country’s financial stability, so the central bank will not oblige exporters to sell their currency again for the time being, she said.

Moscow wants to let grain agreements expire

5:23 p.m.: Russia currently sees no reason to extend the agreement on grain exports from Ukraine, which is due to expire in just under two weeks. “Given the current circumstances, it is clear that there is no reason to extend it,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement released in Moscow on Tuesday.