Ukraine-News: EU plans new sanctions against Russia

North Korea says it is not planning to sell arms or ammunition to Russia. In a statement, the Defense Ministry in Pyongyang accused the United States and other “hostile forces” of spreading rumors of an arms deal with Russia in order to damage North Korea’s image. “We have never exported arms or ammunition to Russia, and we have no plans to export them,” a senior official at the ministry’s equipment bureau was quoted as saying by the state-controlled media.

The ministry was responding to statements by the US government earlier this month that Russia was planning to buy munitions from North Korea on a large scale.

At a special meeting on Wednesday, European Union foreign ministers discussed imposing new sanctions on Russia in response to its partial mobilization for the war in Ukraine. “We will examine new restrictive measures, we will adopt them,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told journalists after the meeting. However, a final decision must be made at a formal meeting, he added.

Borrell indicated that new sanctions would target both individuals and specific industries.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss promises military aid to Ukraine until Ukraine defeats Russia in her first speech to the UN General Assembly. “At this crucial moment in the conflict, I promise that we will maintain or increase our military support to Ukraine for as long as necessary,” Truss said in New York on Wednesday. “We will not rest until Ukraine wins,” added Truss.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sees the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of Russian reservists for the war of aggression against Ukraine as a sign of failure. The move reflects the Kremlin’s difficulties on the battlefield, Blinken said in a written statement on Wednesday evening (local time). It shows how unpopular the war in Russia is and how unwilling the Russians are to fight in it. “President Putin is not acting from a position of strength,” said Blinken, referring to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. “Rather, this is another sign of his failed mission.”

The German Reservists Association describes the partial mobilization announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine war as “inhuman”. Sending such “ill-prepared” soldiers into a war would also be “militarily a disaster for Russia,” said association president Patrick Sensburg to the editorial network Germany (Thursday editions). Reservists also need to be well trained and prepared. In his view, the partial mobilization would “even weaken rather than strengthen” the Russian troops, Sensburg said.

On the fringes of the 77th general debate of the UN General Assembly in New York, the UN Security Council is to deal with the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine from 4:00 p.m. (CEST). The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine and Germany, Sergei Lavrov, Dmytro Kuleba and Annalena Baerbock, among others, are expected to attend the meeting.

Baerbock will also participate in side events on law enforcement during Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, UN Security Council reform, feminist foreign policy, and meet with Pacific partners and her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

In Russia, several thousand people protested the Kremlin’s announcement that 300,000 reservists would be called up. According to the civil rights portal OVD-Info, the police arrested more than 1,380 protesters in 38 cities by Wednesday evening, most of them in St. Petersburg and Moscow.