live blog
Status: 09/17/2022 08:26 a.m
The Bundeswehr Association warns of “cannibalization of our troops” if weapons and ammunition are handed over to Ukraine. Scholz describes his phone calls with Putin as “always friendly in tone”. All developments in the live blog.
8:05 a.m
Bundeswehrverband: No levy from troops
In the debate about tank deliveries to Ukraine, the German Bundeswehr Association warns against “cannibalizing our troops”. “We understand Ukraine’s desire for heavy weapons only too well. We can imagine, for example, handing over armored personnel carriers from the stocks of the industry,” said association head André Wüstner to the editorial network Germany. “What is no longer possible from our point of view as a professional association, however, is the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the Bundeswehr. Every single delivery leads to a weakening of the Bundeswehr.”
Many in the Bundeswehr feared that a policy of further cannibalization of the troops would have negative effects, Wüstner added. He related this to a “sometimes precarious material operational readiness”, the NATO obligations as well as training and exercise “as a prerequisite for everything”. Wüstner emphasized: “Our demand is therefore: No further sale of Bundeswehr stocks. And, just as important: Immediate procurement of replacements for the systems that have been sold so far!”
7:49 a.m
Kyiv: Even tougher sanctions for Russia
After the discovery of hundreds of bodies in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum, which had been liberated from Russian occupation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv called for the international community to react to Moscow’s crimes. Currently, more than 440 graves have been found near Izyum in the Kharkiv Liberated Region.
“It is too early to say anything about the number of people buried there, the investigation is ongoing,” said Zelenskyy in a video message distributed in Kyiv on Friday evening. The world must not look on as the “terror state” kills and tortures Russia, he warned. Russia must be punished with even tougher sanctions.
“There is already clear evidence of torture, degrading treatment of people. There is also evidence that Russian soldiers, whose positions were not far from this spot, shot at the buried just for fun,” said Zelenskyy.
7:37 a.m
Scholz: Talks with Putin “always friendly in tone”
According to a media report, Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the telephone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the start of the attack on Ukraine as “always friendly in tone”. This was the case, even if there were “very, very different, even very different views on the matter” that he had clearly presented, said the SPD politician in the “Interview of the Week” on Deutschlandfunk.
When he sums up all the talks he’s had with Putin recently, there have been “definite movements.” These were just not very far-reaching, said Scholz.
After a break of several months, the chancellor called Putin again on Tuesday. According to the government, the interview lasted 90 minutes. Scholz insisted that a diplomatic solution to the Russian war in Ukraine be found as soon as possible, based on a ceasefire, a complete withdrawal of Russian troops and respect for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.