Dhe Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko reaffirmed his close ties with Russia. Belarus is so closely linked to the Russian Federation “that we practically have a common army. But you knew all that. We will remain firmly united with brotherly Russia,” Lukashenko said at a celebration marking the anniversary of the liberation of Minsk by Soviet troops in World War II. He supported Putin’s actions against Ukraine “from day one”.
“Lukashenko’s statement about a joint army with Russia is particularly dangerous for the Belarusian people,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian officials believe the former Soviet state is becoming increasingly involved in the conflict.
All developments in the live ticker:
11:50 am – Baerbock at G-20 summit, no meeting with Lavrov
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock will take part in the meeting of the heads of departments of the G20 countries in Indonesia on Thursday and Friday. According to the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin on Monday, the minister will be leaving for Bali on Wednesday, where the heads of department of the 20 most important industrialized and emerging countries will be meeting over the next two days. Russia also belongs to the circle, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected at the meeting. In view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, a meeting between Baerbock and Lavrov is “not up for debate,” said a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office.
11:46 a.m. – Task force advises on the changeover
A project group on the future of the PCK oil refinery in Schwedt met for its second meeting on Monday. Under the leadership of the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, Michael Kellner (Greens), the “Taskforce Schwedt” advises how to proceed with a conversion away from Russian oil for the plant and what opportunities there are for the location. The aim of the federal-state project group is to maintain the location as a prerequisite for the security of supply with mineral oil products and, above all, for the preservation of jobs at one of the largest employers in the region, it said.
10:20 a.m. – Pope thinks about trip to Moscow
Pope Francis is considering a trip to Moscow amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Francis said there were contacts between Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about a possible visit. A few months ago, the Vatican asked for a possible trip to Moscow for the first time. At that time, the Russian answer was that this was not the right time. But Francis is now hinting that something may have changed recently.
9:52 a.m. – anti-Semitism officer criticizes Melnyk
The federal government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, has criticized the Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk for his statements about the Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera. “I think Ambassador Melnyk’s statements about Stepan Bandera, an extremely controversial personality, are problematic,” said Klein. They caused “rather division and misunderstanding among friendly states.” Melnyk had denied that Bandera, as a Nazi collaborator, was jointly responsible for pogroms and the murder of 800,000 Jews in Ukraine.
9:25 am – Governor expects attacks on Donetsk
After capturing the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Russian troops will now concentrate on the neighboring region of Donetsk, according to the local governor. He expects that the cities of Slovjansk and Bakhmut in particular will be attacked, says Governor Serhiy Hajdaj of the Reuters news agency. Russia is trying to gain complete control over the Donbass. This region on the border with Russia consists of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.
05:05 – Lindner: A massive increase in government spending would be wrong
Before the top meeting on how to deal with the dramatically rising consumer prices, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner rejected massive increases in government spending as the wrong approach. “A central contribution of the state is to avoid additional price pressure through solid finances,” said the FDP boss of the German Press Agency. Instead of just curbing the consequences of inflation, the state must fight the causes.
The federal government, trade unions and employers want to discuss Monday at the opening meeting of the “Concerted Action”. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had announced the plans for this “targeted effort in an extraordinary situation”. Representatives of the Bundesbank should also be there. The “Concerted Action” has its model in similar conversations in the 1960s and 1970s.
“The return to the debt brake that I am defending is also a signal to the ECB (European Central Bank) that it does not have to take the German federal budget into account when making monetary policy decisions, but can do what is necessary,” said Lindner. “At the same time, we should reduce price-driving subsidies and do everything we can for cheaper energy.”
00:11 – London pledges permanent support to Kyiv for reconstruction too
Ahead of a donors’ conference for Ukraine in Lugano, Britain pledged continued support to the country. Secretary of State Liz Truss will announce on Monday that London will “do everything possible to ensure Ukraine wins the war and recovers”. As the British Foreign Office also announced on Sunday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj asked the United Kingdom to work to rebuild the capital Kyiv and the region of the same name.
The British government wants to host a Ukraine conference next year. A program based on the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after the Second World War is to be adopted there, the Foreign Ministry said. The British government has so far pledged 1.5 billion pounds (1.74 billion euros) in financial aid to Ukraine, mostly in the form of loans. In addition, Great Britain has delivered or promised significant quantities of arms.
3:26 a.m. – Klöckner demands concrete results from concerted action
The economic policy spokeswoman for the Union faction in the Bundestag, Julia Klöckner, has demanded concrete results from the concerted action with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). “It’s no use just talking about the problems, you have to tackle them,” Klöckner told the German Press Agency in Berlin. Scholz had announced that no concrete decisions were to be expected this Monday at the start of the dialogue process with the social partners against inflation in Germany.
Klöckner demanded: “The Chancellor must now finally present his concept of how he wants to support the people in our country.” Every weekend shopping becomes a challenge for families with a small income. “The traffic light coalition rejected our proposals.” Everything the government has delivered so far is “a vendor’s tray with individual measures that also forget about pensioners and students”.
2:02 a.m. – CDU leader takes a critical interim assessment of German support
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has taken a critical stock of Germany’s support for Ukraine. “To be honest, if Ukraine had had to wait for Germany alone, the country would now be completely in Russian hands. Without the arms deliveries from the USA, Ukraine would have lost the war long ago,” Merz said in an interview with the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ).
When the American President says that Ukraine must win this war and the German Chancellor says that Ukraine must not lose this war, then there is obviously “a difference in the assessment of the situation,” explained Merz. He himself says: “Ukraine must win. Russian aggression must be stopped and pushed back as far as possible.”
1:06 am – Antisemitism expert: Ukraine should join Holocaust Alliance
The German government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, has called on Ukraine to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The reason for this is the statements made by the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, about the former Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera (1909-1959). “This intergovernmental organization is the appropriate forum in which the issues raised by Mr. Melnyk can be discussed in an internationally differentiated manner,” Klein told the Funke media group.
Ukraine has so far been reluctant to join the IHRA. “The debate triggered by Ambassador Melnyk should be an opportunity to quickly seek admission,” he said. Nationalist partisans from western Ukraine were responsible for ethnically motivated expulsions in 1943, in which tens of thousands of Polish civilians were murdered. Their leader, Bandera, was himself imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, but is ideologically held jointly responsible for the crimes. Melnyk had said in an interview: “Bandera was not a mass murderer of Jews and Poles.” There is no evidence for that.
9:41 p.m. – Selenskyj meets IOC boss Bach – “No place for Russian athletes”
At a meeting with IOC President Thomas Bach in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from many tournaments. “One must not allow a terrorist state to use sport to promote its political interests and propaganda,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Sunday. He is grateful to Bach for his “unshakeable position” on the subject. “While Russia is trying to destroy the Ukrainian people and conquer other countries in Europe, its representatives have no place in the world sports community,” Zelenskyy said.
The president described the Russian war of aggression against his country as a “brutal blow” to Ukrainian sport. “More than 100,000 Ukrainian athletes have no opportunity to train, and hundreds of sports facilities are being destroyed,” Zelenskyy said.