News ticker on the Ukraine war on Tuesday (May 17): Asselborn accuses Erdogan of having a “bazaar mentality” in the dispute over joining NATO

It’s war in Ukraine. For over two months. And an end to the hostilities is not in sight for the time being. Not even through diplomatic channels. A bitter struggle is raging, especially in the Donbass. The News on Tuesday (May 17).

More on the Ukraine conflict:

Update, 11:03 a.m. – Asselborn accuses Erdogan of “bazaar mentality” in the dispute over NATO accession

Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn assumes that the Turkey a Finland and Sweden join NATO will not block. Ankara cannot accept the responsibility of denying both countries membership, he said on Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday. He doubts that it is the Turkish President reception Tayyip Erdogan actually around Sweden and Finland and how to deal with Kurdish extremist groups.

Rather try Erdoganto inflate the price said Asselborn. He spoke of a “bazaar mentality” on the part of the Turkish president. The Luxembourg Foreign Minister speculated that Ankara’s negative attitude could have something to do with Turkey’s move Concessions on armaments deliveries hope.

Update, 10:23 a.m. – Report: Germany delivered more anti-tank weapons to Ukraine

Germany has he Ukraine According to a report, more weapons were delivered. In the past two weeks, 2,450 RGW 90 anti-tank handguns, also known as “Matador”, 1600 DM22 anti-tank mines and 3000 DM31 anti-tank mines in the Ukraine arrived, he reported “Mirror” on Tuesday. The weapons have already been distributed within the Ukrainian army.

The deliveries had been confirmed by Ukrainian government circles, the magazine continued. The federal government initially did not comment on the report.

According to “Spiegel” had the Ukraine ordered and paid for the Matador anti-tank weapons directly from the German manufacturer. The mines, on the other hand, came from “apparently” from Bundeswehr stocks.

Update, 9.44 a.m. – Russian ex-military man speaks openly about the situation on state television

In an assessment that is very neutral by Russian standards, the ex-military and war strategist Mikhail Khodaryonok assessed the current political and military situation in Russia. On Russian state television, Khodaryonok warned his country against threats to NATO. Then the ex-soldier really put his country under the magnifying glass:

“The most important thing in our business is to always maintain a sense of military-political realism. If you ignore this, sooner or later historical reality will hit you so hard that you will regret it. So what is the most important thing in this regard? Not rattling sabers. Let’s look at the situation as a whole from a strategic position. We shouldn’t rattle our sabers towards Finland with our missiles. That actually looks pretty amusing. In the end, the main problem with our military-political situation is that we are completely geopolitically isolated and that, much as we hate to admit, the entire world is against us. We have to get out of this situation,” he said Kodaryonok.

The presenter tries several times to explain the explanations to stop Kodaryonoks. Such frank statements are Russian state television very unusual. The Scandinavian countries Sweden and Finland had only recently declared that Nato to want to join.

This evoked a reaction from Russian President Putin on the plan. He threatened consequences should there be a northern expansion of the defense alliance. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock had the support of both countries of Germany already promised in an accession procedure.

Update, 8.47 a.m. – Scholz only rejects a trip to Kyiv as a “photo opportunity”.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) explained his thoughts on a possible trip to Kyiv. It must be during a site visit “it depends on concrete things being advanced, and it shouldn’t just be a photo opportunity”said scholz on Monday evening in the program “RTL Direkt”. “I’m not going to join a group of people who go for a quick in and out with a photo op. But if, then it’s always about very concrete things.”

scholz also stressed that he had already spent many hours with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the phone. At the beginning of May, he invited the entire federal government and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Kyiv. The invitation was preceded by a controversy about the fact that Steinmeier was not initially welcome in Kyiv because of his Russia policy in his previous position as Federal Foreign Minister.

On the Russian War of Aggression in the Ukraine said Scholz: “We have to worry that the war will escalate, but we mustn’t let that paralyze us.” The government must “be able to make sensible, very conscious and also very courageous decisions”.

Update, 8:29 a.m. – EU defense ministers discuss with Ukrainian colleagues

the European Union Defense Minister deal with it on Tuesday Ukraine-War (from 10.15 a.m.). At the Brussels meeting, they want to Representatives of EU countries via video conference with the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov and with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. the Ukraine hopes among other things from Germany more heavy weapons.

Of the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also wants to inform the defense ministers about the situation in West African Mali. It is also about the implementation of the new security strategy of the EU. Borell proposes, among other things, a rapid reaction force with up to 5,000 members. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is expected in Brussels for the federal government.

Update, 7.50 a.m. – Russian border region reports new shelling

In the western Russian region of Kursk According to the authorities, several buildings on the border with Ukraine were set on fire and damaged. “Today, at five o’clock in the morning, the border village of Alexeyevka in the Glushkovo district was shelled with heavy weapons”, Governor Roman Starowoit announced on Tuesday. Accordingly, three houses, a school and a vehicle were damaged. There were no injuries.

According to Russian information, it is an attack from Ukraine. The fire was returned by the border guards. From the Ukraine there was no comment at first. After the start of the Russian war of aggression at the end of February, Russian areas near the border have also come under fire in recent weeks.

First Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from Azov Steel Plant

After weeks of blockade have good 260 Ukrainian soldiers that Azov Steel Plant in Mariupol leaving. Among them were 53 seriously injured, said the Ukrainian general staff on Facebook on Monday. The other 211 Ukrainian fighters were taken to a town occupied by Russian troops. They were later to be released in a prisoner exchange, it said. In the evacuation of the other defenders of the Steelworks Azovstal will still work.

“Thanks to the Mariupol defenders, we got critically important time to form reserves, redeploy forces and receive help from our partners”, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar wrote on Facebook. All tasks to defend Mariupol have been completed. A free fight from Azov valley was not possible, she emphasized. The most important thing now is to protect the lives of the Mariupol defenders.

The seriously injured were taken to the pro-Russian separatist-controlled city of Novoazovsk for medical treatment, it said. The remaining soldiers would go to Olenivka. The Russian Defense Ministry had previously spoken of a ceasefire for the evacuation. Several hundred soldiers are said to still be in the steelworks.

“We hope that we can save the lives of our boys”said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video message. “I want to underline: Ukraine needs its Ukrainian heroes alive. That is our principle.”

That Azov Steel Plant is the last bastion of the Ukrainian army in the strategically important port city. In the past few weeks, hundreds of civilians have been brought to safety from the huge industrial complex. However, hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers continued to hold out there. According to Ukrainian information, there were still around 1,000, including 600 injured.

This happened in the night:

fgr/afp/dpa