live blog
Status: 01/18/2023 01:39 am
The Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Melnyk demands decisive action and heavy weapons from the designated German Defense Minister Pistorius. Moscow denies talks about a major prisoner exchange in Turkey. All developments in the live blog.
1:08 am
Melnyk turns to Pistorius
Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk of Ukraine expects the new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to support Kyiv with heavy arms deliveries. “We call on Boris Pistorius to support Ukraine with battle tanks, fighter jets and warships,” Melnyk told the news portal t-online. Pistorius must act “much more decisively and quickly” than his predecessor Christine Lambrecht. At the same time, there is an opportunity for the SPD man: “In this way, he can prove that Germany has put its refusal tactics on hold forever.”
1/17/2023 • 11:47 p.m
Russia: no prisoner exchange talks in Turkey
Russia denies reports of talks on a major prisoner swap with Ukraine. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova told Telegram that she had not discussed the issue with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets in Turkey last week.”
In my negotiations with Lubinets in Ankara, there was never any question of an exchange, and I always emphasize that these issues fall within the competence of the Russian Defense Ministry,” Moskalkova writes.
The Turkish mediator Seref Malkoc reported on Monday that at a meeting on the sidelines of an international conference, Lubinets gave Russia a list of 800 people who were to be exchanged and Moskalkova presented a list of 200 people. He was present at the encounter.
1:05 a.m
Blink to “Leopard” debate: sovereign decisions
In the debate about the possible supply of “Leopard” main battle tanks to Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized that arms deliveries to Kyiv are always the sovereign decision of the individual countries. It’s about “sovereign decisions that each country makes for itself,” said Blinken in Washington. At the same time, he acknowledged Germany’s “extraordinary” contribution in supporting Ukraine.
Blinken made the comments after meeting British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, whose country announced at the weekend it would be supplying heavy battle tanks to Kyiv. In view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, these tank deliveries are a “moral imperative,” Cleverly said, increasing the pressure on other countries to follow his country’s decision. Blinken “applauded” London’s decision, but did not want to commit itself to possible US tank deliveries.