Live ticker Ukraine war
Russia is conducting target practice in the Baltic Sea
“Without these weapons from the West there will be active death here”
WELT chief reporter Steffen Schwarzkopf describes the situation in eastern Ukraine near the front line: “A Russian reconnaissance drone is hovering above us again,” he reports from a command post: “There is fighting here every day and deaths every day.”
The exercises are said to have been “dangerous for civil shipping and aviation”: According to the Defense Ministry, Russia’s Baltic Fleet conducted shooting exercises in the Baltic Sea. Moscow did not say exactly when. More in the live ticker.
RAccording to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Russia conducted firing maneuvers at training targets in the Baltic Sea. The crew of a warship conducted a series of planned exercises in which they fired at surface and air targets in a “difficult jamming environment” while using electronic countermeasures of a possible enemy, the ministry said.
“The Baltic Fleet sea area where the exercise took place has been temporarily declared dangerous for civil shipping and aviation,” the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging platform. It is not known when the exercises took place. The Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet has its headquarters in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea between the NATO states Poland and Lithuania.
All developments in the live ticker:
7:41 a.m. – Refinery fire after Russian drone attack
In the central Ukrainian region of Poltava, a fire broke out on the site of the Kremenchuk oil refinery after a Russian drone attack, according to Governor Dmytro Lunin. Operations have been temporarily suspended. Information about possible victims was not available.
6:22 a.m. – Mayor warns of risk of accident at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The mayor of the Ukrainian power plant town of Enerhodar, which is occupied by Russian soldiers, warns of a growing risk of nuclear accidents at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant near the front. “The fears are growing every day because there are several dangerous factors,” said Dmytro Orlov of the German Press Agency. He carries out his function as head of a civil-military administration in the eponymous city of Zaporizhia in the south of Ukraine and left Enerhodar – the plant’s factory settlement – after it was occupied by Russian soldiers.
Dmytro Orlov sees a great risk of accidents at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Source: Oliver Weiken/dpa
The danger of a technical catastrophe is great, said Orlov. “The power station now has to be supplied from outside and since September alone there have been six incidents in which the power supply was interrupted. There has not been a single such incident in the previous 40 years,” he warned.
05:39 a.m. – Russia reports fire in Sochi
According to the Russian news agency RIA, a fire broke out near the airport and not far from an oil storage facility in the Black Sea city of Sochi. The cause of the fire is unclear. The Russian news channel “Marsh” publishes a video on Telegram that shows a large column of smoke over the city. Explosions were heard before the fire broke out.
3:35 a.m. – Scholz warns against bogus solutions in a UN speech
At the United Nations, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) warned against false solutions in the search for peace in Ukraine. “Peace without freedom means oppression,” said Scholz at the UN general debate in New York. “Peace without justice is called diktat. Moscow must finally understand this too.”
Olaf Scholz during his speech at the United Nations
Source: Getty Images via AFP/MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO
Scholz said Ukrainians would fight to uphold the very principles “to which we all committed ourselves in the UN Charter.” The Russian war of aggression is not only causing great suffering to Ukraine, Scholz added. “Citizens worldwide are suffering from inflation, growing debt, fertilizer shortages, hunger and increasing poverty.”
“Because this war has unbearable consequences around the globe, it is good and right that the world also takes part in the search for peace,” Scholz continued. “And at the same time, we must beware of pseudo-solutions that only have ‘peace’ in their name.” Russia is responsible for this war. “And it is Russia’s president (Vladimir Putin) who can end it at any time with a single order.”
12:01 a.m. – Zelensky and Scholz speak to the UN Security Council
The UN Security Council in New York will discuss the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in an open session on Wednesday from 11 a.m. local time (5 p.m. CEST). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak at the meeting. The UN Security Council, the most powerful body in the United Nations, is blocked in the Ukraine war because Russia, as one of the five permanent members, has a veto right.