live blog
Status: 12/29/2022 4:44 am
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Makeiev, would like to see “more courage and determination” from the western partners. According to the UN, 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of mental illness. All developments in the live blog.
4:44 a.m
Merz demands from Scholz yes to the delivery of tanks to Ukraine
Union faction leader Friedrich Merz insists on the delivery of modern Leopard II battle tanks to Ukraine. “Supporting Ukraine with armored personnel carriers and battle tanks would not prolong this war, it would shorten it,” said the CDU chairman in an interview with the German Press Agency. “Germany and other European countries should have supplied Ukraine with infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks of Western design long ago.”
Merz described it as an important signal to Russia that US President Joe Biden once again pledged his support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week. It is good that at least the Americans acted decisively and delivered defensive missiles. A joint action by the United States and the European Union on various arms deliveries to Ukraine “would certainly have been possible,” said Merz. “The chancellor’s office obviously lacks the political will to take over leadership in Europe.”
4:11 a.m
Makeiev wants Western partners to show “more courage and determination”
The Ukrainian Ambassador in Berlin, Oleksii Makeiev, hopes that Western support will be expanded against the Russian aggression. For the coming year, the Ukrainians would like “more courage and determination from our allies and partners so that we can jointly implement all of our projects and bring peace back to our continent,” Makeiev told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
As goals for 2023, Makeiev named “the complete liberation of our country from Russian occupiers, the restoration of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, the return of our compatriots home, the reconstruction of our country and further progress in integration into the EU and NATO”.
The ambassador reiterated his call for further arms deliveries. In view of the Russian rocket attacks on civilian infrastructure and the artillery shelling of Ukrainian cities, this aid “must be intensified and strengthened in the coming months so that even more civilians in Ukraine can be rescued,” Makeiev said. “Peace doesn’t fall from the sky. It has to be fought for. And we Ukrainians do that on behalf of all Europeans.” On the question of a peace solution, he referred to the ten-point plan of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
4:11 a.m
UN: 1.5 million Ukrainian children at risk of mental illness
According to UNICEF, children and young people in Ukraine are suffering psychologically from the effects of the war in their country. “UNICEF estimates that around 1.5 million children in Ukraine are at very high risk of developing depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder,” Christian Schneider, Managing Director of UNICEF Germany, told the Rheinische Post in Düsseldorf.
This state of emergency causes great damage to the children’s psyche, said Schneider. “Mothers report that they need psychological help as early as two-year-olds because they don’t know how to calm their child down,” said the managing director. To alleviate the need, UNICEF has set up a total of 140 children’s centers in Ukraine, where boys and girls can play and also receive psychological care if required.