live blog
Russian authorities report six deaths in the Belgorod region. According to the Defense Ministry, Russian President Putin has ordered exercises to test the readiness of the nuclear forces. All developments in the live blog.
Germany will not take part in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inauguration of his new term in office planned for Tuesday. “We will not be represented,” said a spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Ministry in Berlin. This applies to the government as well as to the ambassador. Government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann once again criticized the recent presidential election in Russia. It cannot be recognized as legal. The election did not meet democratic standards.
In the Russian war of aggression, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Europe to switch to a “war economy”. “If we want to maintain peace in the European Union, we must move to a war economy and industry in Europe,” Kuleba said at the Armaments Forum in Brussels. This is the only way to prevail in the new “arms race” with Russia.
Kuleba also called for investments in Ukrainian defense companies. This is “a great opportunity to provide Ukraine with more weapons,” he said in his video-streamed speech. “Our production capacity far exceeds our financial resources.” Otherwise the motto remains: “Deliver, deliver, deliver!” said Kuleba in the direction of Western governments.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged member states to hand over more air defense systems and ammunition to Kiev. “Our security is at stake,” emphasized the Spaniard. According to Borrell, more than 140 defense companies from 25 EU countries took part in the forum – the third of its kind since the Russian war of aggression began a good two years ago. The EU Commission described the meeting as the first step towards implementing a defense strategy presented in March.
The Kremlin has described the announced Russian nuclear exercises as a response to statements by “Western representatives” about the possible deployment of “NATO soldiers” in Ukraine – and referred, among other things, to French President Emmanuel Macron. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said these politicians had “talked about the will and even the intention” to “send armed contingents to Ukraine, that is, to pit NATO soldiers against the Russian army.” In response to questions from reporters about the justification for the exercises, Peskov further said: “It is obvious that we are talking about statements from Mr. Macron and statements from British representatives.” He added: “This is a completely new phase of escalation of tensions. It is unprecedented and requires special measures.”
Macron said in an interview published last week about the possibility of deploying Western soldiers in Ukraine: “If the Russians break through the front lines and if Ukraine asks for it – which has not happened so far – then we would rightly have to ask ourselves this question .” According to Macron, ruling this out from the start would mean “not drawing any lessons from the past two years.”
Macron had already said in February that he did not want to rule out the use of ground troops, triggering a controversial debate.
According to the Defense Ministry, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a military exercise that will also test the readiness of nuclear strike forces. According to the ministry, the background is provocative threats from the West.
The military exercises also include the preparation and use of non-strategic nuclear weapons, it is said. Missile formations from the Southern Military Command and the Naval Forces would take part.
According to a diplomat, Russia must increase its entire missile arsenal to deter the West. “We are in an open confrontation that hopefully will not lead to a direct armed conflict,” Russian special envoy Grigory Mashkov told the state news agency RIA, referring to the West.
Russia needs to do more given the growing threat and technological advances in missile types – from tactical to intercontinental – said Mashkov.
According to authorities, the power supply was temporarily interrupted following a Russian drone attack on the northeastern Ukrainian region of Sumy. However, it has now been restored in the affected settlements and parts of the regional capital Sumy, the region’s military administration said on Telegram. Twelve of 13 attack drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defense in the region during the night.
According to authorities, six people were killed in a drone attack in the Russian Belgorod region.
Not far from the village of Beryozovka, the Ukrainians shot at three vehicles – including two buses with workers, wrote Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on Telegram. Another 35 people were injured, including two children.
Ukraine reports another Russian air strike. The air defense system shot down 12 of 13 attack drones, the Ukrainian Air Force said via the Telegram short message service. The drones were destroyed over the northeastern Sumy region. There is currently no information about the drone that was not shot down.
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.
Representatives of the European and Ukrainian defense industries and politicians are meeting in Brussels today. The aim of the armaments forum is closer cooperation in the Russian war of aggression. Ukraine is hoping for additional deliveries of anti-aircraft systems, weapons and ammunition. According to Brussels, more than 350 participants are expected at the meeting.
Green Party politician Hofreiter wants to enable Ukrainians in Germany to refuse military service. Germany should issue them replacement documents, he said Report from Berlin. Sunday’s developments to read.