live blog
Status: 02/20/2023 02:39 am
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces is pushing for long-term financial commitments from politicians for the armaments industry and a simplification of the award procedure. The consequences of the war cost Germany around 100 billion euros in 2022. The latest developments in the live blog.
2:37 a.m
Sexual violence as a systematic weapon
In addition to human rights organizations, the United Nations also assume that Russian soldiers are systematically using sexual violence as a weapon in the war against Ukraine. The victims of such war crimes are left traumatized.
Rape allegations against Russian soldiers
Susanne Petersohn, WDR, currently Kiev, daily topics 11:15 p.m., February 19, 2023
2:21 a.m
The consequences of war cost Germany around 100 billion euros
DIW President Marcel Fratzscher expects the costs for the German economy to continue to rise as a result of the Ukraine war and high growth losses. “The Ukraine war and the associated explosion in energy costs cost Germany almost 2.5 percent or 100 billion euros in economic output in 2022,” Fratzscher told the Rheinische Post newspaper. These costs would continue to increase in the coming years.
“Germany is economically more affected by the crisis because it was more dependent on Russian energy, has a high proportion of energy-intensive industry and is extremely dependent on exports and global supply chains,” said the President of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW).
2:03 a.m
Zelenskyj: Macron is wasting time
French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron is wasting his time seeking dialogue with Russia, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “It will be an unsuccessful dialogue. In fact, Macron is wasting his time. I have come to the conclusion that we are unable to change the Russian position,” the Italian daily Corriere della Sera quoted Zelenskyj’s reaction to Macron’s statement that the conflict must be settled through negotiations.
He rejects any suggestion that it was Western sanctions that drove Russian President Vladimir Putin into isolation. “It was rather the decision to start the war that marginalized Putin,” said Zelenskyy.
1:29 am
Högl calls for simplifications for the allocation of armaments
The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces, Eva Högl, is pushing for long-term financial commitments from politicians for the armaments industry and a simplification of the award procedure. “The industry now has to build up production capacities as quickly as possible and for this they also need commitments from politicians that this will be financed – beyond the federal budget for 2024,” Högl told the editorial network Germany.
In any case, the defense budget must be increased by ten billion euros beyond the 100 billion special fund. “We need the money, but also better processes and structures. Everything has to happen much faster.”
This applies to the new procurement and the replacement of the device that will be handed over to Ukraine. “We have to simplify the legal hurdles, the legal provisions. It starts with European public procurement law.” Procurement problems exist in all European member states.