live blog
Russian Defense Minister Shoigu asserts that Moscow has no intention of attacking NATO territory. Ukrainian Ambassador Makeiev is pushing for more arms deliveries. All developments in the live blog.
The Russian edition of Forbes has reported the arrest of one of its journalists. Sergei Mingasov is accused of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army, the magazine reports on its website. There is no contact with the employee. Mingasov’s lawyer said his client was being held in a detention center in the city of Khabarovsk in Russia’s Far East. After the invasion of Ukraine, Russia drastically tightened its laws controlling the media.
Two men have been arrested in Ukraine for allegedly passing on military information to Russia. The two suspects posed as private tradesmen and traveled around the northeastern Kharkiv region, said the Ukrainian domestic secret service SBU. There they secretly spied out the locations of Ukrainian troops and defense lines and passed them on to the Russian side in preparation for their attacks. The suspects were arrested in their homes, it said. According to the SBU, they face life imprisonment if convicted.
On the anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of a similar threat in his own country. “The largest nuclear power plant in Europe near Zaporizhzhia has been in the hands of Russian terrorists for 785 days,” Zelensky warned on Telegram. He called on the international community to put pressure on Russia to bring the power plant back under Ukrainian control. “And that all nuclear objects in Ukraine are safe from Russian attacks,” Zelensky added. That alone would save the world from a new nuclear catastrophe.
Marc Dugge, ARD Kiev, tagesschau, April 26, 2024 11:35 a.m
According to British estimates, the Russian military is making faster progress in the area after taking over the eastern Ukrainian town of Adviyivka. “Russian ground forces have created a narrow ledge deeper into Ukrainian territory to penetrate the town of Ocheretyne, about 15 kilometers north of the center of Avdiivka,” the British Ministry of Defense said.
Ocheretyne in the Donetsk region had around 3,500 inhabitants before the start of the war. Even after the capture of Avdiyiva in mid-February, the area remains one of the most important areas for Russian operations, London said: “Although they have suffered heavy losses, it is very likely that Russian ground forces are able to capture Ukrainian positions in the to attack the area and take control of several small settlements.”
One person is said to have died in Ukrainian shelling in the Russian city of Kursk. This was announced by the governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, on Telegram. Houses were also damaged by the shelling. There was no confirmation of the attack from Ukraine.
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.
In an interview with the Tass news agency, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu emphasized that Russia has “no military or geopolitical interest” in “attacking NATO states.” Even if NATO has created an additional threat by approaching its troops to Russia’s border.
Ukraine once again accused Shoigu of being responsible for attacks on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. These attacks could have “catastrophic consequences.”
At the same time, Shoigu criticized the USA again. The United States is helping to prolong the war – also by exerting constant pressure on international partners.
During his visit to Beijing, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns about China’s military support for Russia. The US State Department said that Blinken’s reservations were about “the support of the Russian defense industry by the People’s Republic of China.”
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned of a deterioration in relations with the US. Although the two sides are talking to each other more again, the “negative factors” in the relationship between the USA and China have increased, Chinese state television quoted Wang as saying. The foreign minister denounced a “groundless suppression” of China’s right to develop.
Spain will supply Ukraine with some missiles for the Patriot air defense system, the newspaper El Pais reported. The government has ruled out supplying a complete “Patriot” system, but it does want to provide some projectiles. The newspaper relies on unspecified sources. The Ministry of Defense in Madrid initially did not comment on this.
As the AP news agency reports, the Ukrainian military no longer wants to use “Abrams” tanks received from the USA directly at the front. This is partly because Russian drone warfare makes it too difficult for battle tanks to move undetected, the agency quoted two US military representatives as saying. In January 2023, the USA agreed to send 31 “Abrams” tanks to Ukraine
Before the deliberations of the so-called Ukraine Contact Group planned for today, the Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, said in ARD morning magazine once again emphasized the urgency of further arms deliveries from the West. “Wars cannot be won without weapons. Without weapons we have lost,” emphasized Makeiev. In some cases, Ukraine had to wait “too long for support,” which was also noticeable on the front.
At the same time, Makeiev thanked the German government for agreeing to deliver a third “Patriot” air defense system to Ukraine.
Constant shelling in Kharkiv, lack of ammunition and lack of recruits in Donbass. An overview of the current situation in the two regions.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyj has to be remanded in custody on corruption charges. According to the court order, the politician would have to pay around $1.9 million in bail to avoid imprisonment.
Solskyj is said to have been involved in the illegal acquisition of state land worth a total of around seven million dollars in the period before he took office in 2022. He denies the allegations. Solsky is the first minister under President Volodymyr Zelensky to be listed as a suspect in a corruption case. He submitted his resignation on Thursday, but will formally remain in office until Parliament decides on his request.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hopes to be able to strengthen and expand the country’s defense sector with the help of investments from the West. In his international discussions, Zelenskyj said in a video speech that he was encouraging partners without their own production capacities to invest in the Ukrainian defense industry. The aim is to establish joint weapons production and strengthen the front.
Former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace is calling on Germany to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz must decide whether he wants Ukraine to win the war or not, Wallace told the dpa news agency. Although he understands the concern about further escalation, he believes it is unfounded. “Russia’s red lines are like chalk wiped off a blackboard,” Wallace said.
Scholz had repeatedly justified his rejection of “Taurus” deliveries by saying that neither Germany nor NATO should be actively involved in the war against Ukraine.
What kind of weapon system is the Taurus cruise missile?
The “Taurus” cruise missile is around five meters long and weighs almost 1,400 kilograms. It is equipped with its own engine and several navigation systems that enable autonomous low-level flight through enemy territory. This means that the cruise missiles can be fired from fighter aircraft from a safe distance during war and can hit and destroy targets up to 500 kilometers away.
Since the cruise missiles fly particularly low and are relatively small, they are difficult to hit by enemy air defenses. The Bundeswehr has had the “Taurus” weapon system since 2005. It can be used with the “Tornado” and “Eurofighter” combat aircraft. The manufacturer is a subsidiary of the defense company MBDA.
The “Taurus” cruise missile is the German-Swedish counterpart to the British-French cruise missiles “Storm Shadow” and “Scalp”, which were developed in parallel.
According to sources, the US government wants to initiate long-term military aid for Ukraine. For this purpose, a further aid package worth around 5.6 billion euros is to be decided, as the “Politico” portal and the AP news agency reported. As part of the program, long-term contracts are to be awarded to US defense companies to produce military equipment for Ukraine, which means that it could take months or even years for the goods to be delivered.
Just on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden signed a law for an arms package worth one billion US dollars. This primarily concerns anti-aircraft equipment, artillery, missile systems and armored vehicles from the US military’s inventory. Ukraine should receive this arms aid as quickly as possible.
Russian President Putin is planning a state visit to China in May – it would be the first foreign trip of his new term in office. Several injuries were reported after an attack in the Cherkasy region of Ukraine.