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Union parliamentary group leader Merz is urging the government to make a quick decision on the delivery of German cruise missiles. Ukraine calls for international help in law enforcement. All developments at a glance.
- Russia takes action Port city of Odessa with drones
- Union faction leader Merz urges rapid decision on cruise missiles
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has arrived in the Baltics for a three-day visit. The SPD politician and his delegation landed in the Latvian capital Riga on Monday, where talks about the security policy situation and further military cooperation with the NATO partner are on the agenda. On Tuesday we will continue to Estonia.
The Annual Baltic Conference on Defense/ABCD will take place there until Wednesday. Germany has significantly expanded its military involvement in the Baltics following the Russian attack on Ukraine.
The most intensive cooperation is with Lithuania, where the federal government wants to station a combat-ready Bundeswehr brigade in the future. Germany has already expanded its defense cooperation with the other two Baltic republics.
In Latvia, the Ministry of Defense in Riga has opened an investigation to determine the reasons for the loss of contact with a drone on the Latvia-Russia border. This is intended to determine the previously unknown technical cause of the loss of communication with the unmanned flying object, said Defense Minister Andris Spruds.
According to the army of the Baltic EU and NATO country, the drone was lost during a military exercise at the weekend. There is a “high probability” that it landed on Russian territory, the Latvian armed forces said. The drone was not armed militarily, but was used for surveillance.
Spruds reported that after the loss of communication with the drone, Latvia acted in accordance with international norms and informed Russia of the incident. At the same time, he pointed out that Russia could use the possible landing of the aircraft on its territory for propaganda purposes – even if international practice would actually require its return.
After violent protests, Canada’s Parliament Speaker Anthony Rota has apologized for honoring a Ukrainian SS veteran during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Ottawa. “I would particularly like to express my deepest regret to the Jewish communities in Canada and around the world,” Rota said, according to Canadian media reports over the weekend. He takes full responsibility for his actions.
As head of state of Ukraine, Zelensky visited Canada on Friday and spoke to parliament in Ottawa. A little later, the organization Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) expressed outrage that Rota had honored the 98-year-old Ukrainian immigrant Jaroslaw Hunka as a “Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran” who fought for Ukraine’s independence against Russia.
Rota did not mention that Hunka served in a Waffen-SS unit during the Second World War. Hunka was present in the chamber and received thunderous applause, according to the statement. According to Radio Canada, he lives in Rota’s constituency.
After the renewed Russian attacks on Odessa, regional governor Oleh Kiper said that “port infrastructure” had also been hit. In addition, a civilian was injured by a blast wave and taken to a hospital, he wrote on Telegram.
According to Russian information, Crimea has also been the target of drone attacks from Ukraine. The Defense Ministry in Moscow said four unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by Russian air defense over the peninsula and the Black Sea. It is not immediately clear whether there were any casualties or damage as a result of the attacks.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
According to local authorities, there have been renewed drone attacks in the Russian region of Kursk. Accordingly, several private houses and an administrative building were damaged. The Russian region of Belgorod was also the target of drone attacks. The regional government announced that the two aircraft coming from Ukraine were destroyed.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz is calling on the federal government to make a quick decision on the delivery of German cruise missiles. “The Americans have now decided to supply cruise missiles. I am curious to see how the federal government responds to this,” Merz told the “Augsburger Allgemeine.” The West must support Ukraine militarily so that it can win the war against Russian President Vladimir Putin. “If the West stops its support, Ukraine is lost, and if the country is lost, our freedom is seriously endangered,” said the CDU leader.
The Ukrainian special investigator for the documentation of war crimes, Gyundus Mamedov, has called for international support in the prosecution. In this way, the judiciary of other countries can investigate if there are starting points, Mamedow told the dpa news agency in Kiev. This could be the case if victims of the Russian war of aggression are in countries like Germany.
It is exemplary that the German judiciary has carried out legal proceedings for crimes committed in the Syrian war. Mamedow is now also pinning his hopes on the federal government “committing itself to the creation of an international institution that is completely dedicated to solving the crimes against Ukraine.” When asked whether violations of international humanitarian law had also been committed by the Ukrainian side and should also be prosecuted, he said: “I don’t deny that either.”
Russia attacked the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa with drones and missiles on Monday night. According to media reports, explosions were heard. A large building on the coast was hit and caught fire. Initially nothing was known about possible victims.
The Ukrainian Air Force had previously warned on Telegram about attacks with Shahed drones, Kalibr missiles and Oniks cruise missiles. The military governor of Odessa, Oleh Kiper, called on residents to seek safety and not to leave shelters prematurely. There was a temporary air alert throughout Ukraine during the night.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Russian air defense combats a drone attack on the Tula region of Russia. This is reported by the Russian news agency RIA. Tula borders the Moscow region to the north. According to preliminary information, there was no damage or injuries in the attack, according to RIA. According to the state news agency Tass, air traffic at Moscow’s two major airports, Vnukovo and Domedovo, was restricted and flights were diverted.
The head of the Donetsk administration has ordered military censorship. According to Russian information, an administrative building was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack on Kursk. Sunday’s developments to read.