Russia-Ukraine Crisis: “Mr. Scholz, tear down this wall,” says Zelensky evoking US Prez Reagan

In Zelensky's emotional address, he also appealed directly to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying "Dear Mr. Scholz, tear down this wall." 

In Zelensky's emotional address, he also appealed directly to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying "Dear Mr. Scholz, tear down this wall."

By using the term "wall", the president made a direct historical reference to a speech by US President Ronald Reagan standing next to the Berlin Wall in 1987, DW's Chief International Editor Richard Walker explained.

The former US president famously pleaded with Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," an appeal Zelenskyy was making to Olaf Scholz.

"This was a theme Zelenskyy had in his speech that there is a new wall in Europe suggesting that this was a wall Ukraine was on the wrong side of, that there is this in-group of NATO and there's Ukraine on the outside vulnerable to these attacks from Russia," Walker said.

Series of appeals to leaders

The virtual address follows a series of direct appeals Zelenskyy had been making to leaders to drum up support after Russia invaded the country.

After speaking to the Canadian parliament earlier this week, the Ukrainian president addressed the United States Congress and called for tougher economic sanctions on the Kremlin and enablers of the invasion.

He reasoned that "Peace is more important than income."

On Wednesday, day 21 of the war, the council for the besieged city of Mariupol claimed Russia had destroyed the Drama Theatre, which Russia denied.

Germany's stance on Ukraine

In response to Russia's invasion on February 24, the German government had approved supplying weapons to Ukraine. It had so far sent 1,000 anti-tank weapons, 500 surface-to-air missiles and reportedly 2,700 Soviet-era missiles to the eastern European country.

This week Germany also announced it will buy F-35 stealth fighter jets from the US, considered the world's most modern combat aircraft. This comes after Scholz unveiled plans to up its defense budget by €100 billion last month.

The country's actions marks a major shift from its long-standing defense policy of not sending or selling weapons to war zones.

But Germany maintained it opposes NATO getting involved in the Ukraine war, stressing that de-escalation is vital.

Earlier this month, Poland had offered to send its 28 MiG fighter jets to Ukraine using the US Air Base in Ramstein, Germany on the condition NATO would back the move. But both Germany and the US refused to support the proposal.

Olaf Scholz said at the time: "We want to de-escalate the conflict, we want to see an end to this conflict."

Mariupol city council claims Russia destroys crowded theater

Ukraine claimed on Wednesday that Russia had destroyed a theater in the besiged port city of Mariupol. Russia disputed the claim, as it had with explosions last week at a maternity hospital, claiming that a Ukrainian nationalist regiment, the Azov Batallion, was behind the attack.

A post on Telegram from the Mariupol local council appeared to suggest that as many as 1,000 people were sheltering inside.

"Today, the invaders destroyed the Drama Theater. A place, where more than a thousand people found refuge. We will never forgive this," the Mariupol local council said in a Telegram post.

The number of casualties from the incident is still not known.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister said that "the Russians could not have not known this was a civilian shelter. Satellite images of the building showed the words "children" written in Russian on either side of it, presumably in the hope that this could be seen by either pilots or artillery units.

Russian ballerina quits Bolshoi Theater over invasion

Russian prima ballerina Olga Smirnova has quit Moscow's Bolshoi Theater to join the Dutch National Ballet. She made the decision over "incredibly sad circumstances" in reference to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Smirnova took to Telegram earlier this month to say she was "against war with all the fibers of my soul."

Ukraine prosecutor general seeks punishment for 'war criminal' Putin

Ukraine's prosecutor general has welcomed the International Court of Justice's ruling for Russia to "immediately suspend" military operations in Ukraine.

Iryna Veneditktova told DW it as an "important first step" for Ukraine though "we understand that such decisions cannot stop the war, can't punish the people who are guilty in the deaths of Ukrainian citizens."

The prosecutor wants to eventually see proceedings brought against Russian "soldiers, their top management, and the main war criminal of the 21st century — President Putin" over the "brutal and aggressive war."

Summary of Wednesday's events in Ukraine-Russia crisis

The United Kingdom, United States, Albania, France, Norway, and Ireland requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting, asking for it to take place on Thursday.

Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a theater in Mariupol. Hundreds of people were said to have been sheltering there at the time.

Prosecutors in France opened a war crime investigation into the death of Franco-Irish Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski.

The Kremlin said US President Joe Biden's characterization of Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a war criminal was "unacceptable and unforgivable," the Tass news agency reported.

Russia released Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Europe would "suffer" over the sanctions it has imposed.