Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has accused Russian politicians of denying the facts. The World Bank has revised its economic forecast for Ukraine significantly downwards. All developments in the live blog.
3:19 a.m
Zelenskyj welcomes Germany’s “more favorable” position vis-à-vis Kyiv
In a video speech that evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised what he called the “more favorable” change in Germany’s attitude towards Kyiv. “I’m pleased to note that Germany’s position has recently changed in favor of Ukraine. And I think that’s absolutely logical, because the majority of Germans support this policy. I’m grateful to them for that.”
Selenskyj spoke to Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the phone yesterday. Zelenskyi said that they talked about how to bring war criminals to justice, tighten sanctions against Russia and get Russia to seek peace. Now it is important that everything that has been agreed is implemented.
3:12 a.m
Media report: Finland and Sweden ready for earlier NATO accession
Finland and Sweden are ready to join NATO this summer. This is reported by the British newspaper “The Times”. US officials told the paper that the Nordic countries’ NATO membership was “a topic of conversation and the subject of several sessions” at last week’s talks between NATO foreign ministers. Sweden and Finland also took part. Russia made a “massive strategic mistake” by invading Ukraine.
3:12 a.m
Strack-Zimmermann: Arms deal with Eastern Europe
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the German Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, proposes an arms deal with Eastern European partner countries instead of supplying German “Marder” armored personnel carriers. “The Ukrainian army would first have to be trained on the “Marder” tanks. That’s why I suggest that our Eastern European partners deliver the appropriate material to Ukraine,” the FDP politician told the “Rheinische Post”. Material from former Russian stocks can be used and deployed immediately by Ukrainian soldiers. Germany should then compensate the Eastern European partners with corresponding deliveries.
3:12 a.m
World Bank significantly downgrades forecast for Ukraine
With the progress of the Russian war of aggression, the World Bank has revised its economic forecast for Ukraine significantly downwards. The economists predicted that Ukraine’s gross domestic product will fall by 45.1 percent this year – after a month ago they had expected a drop of between 10 and 35 percent. The economy of Russia, which is subject to international sanctions, will shrink by 11.2 percent.
3:12 a.m
Kyiv: Russian army continues to work on “minimal plan for eastern Ukraine”
According to official reports, the reorganization of the Russian units has brought neither peace nor stability to Ukraine. “The Russian army continues to work on its minimum plan for eastern Ukraine,” said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar. This was reported by the agency Unian. Ukraine, meanwhile, continued its own preparations with continued mobilization and training of recruits.
Meanwhile, the general staff of the Ukrainian army expects a new push by the Russian forces to completely conquer eastern Ukraine. For this purpose, new troops from other parts of Russia are currently being brought to the borders. In addition, smashed Russian units would be replenished with new personnel. The focus of the next Russian attacks is expected to be near Kharkiv and Sloviansk, it said.
conflicting parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body.
3:12 a.m
Zelenskyj: Russia cannot admit mistakes
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Moscow does not have the courage to admit its misguided policy towards its neighbor. “They are afraid to admit that for decades they have taken wrong positions and spent colossal resources to support human zeros they wanted to build as future heroes of the Ukrainian-Russian friendship,” Zelenskyy said in a video address. Moscow’s attempt to build up its own people in Ukraine did not work. Because these people “were only used to stuffing money from Russia into their own pockets.” And to cover up these mistakes, new mistakes were made. But in doing so, Russia deprived itself of all political instruments and finally started this war.
In addition, Russia is trying to shift the blame for everything onto Ukraine – he accused the Kremlin of denying the facts. “They grabbed Crimea, we’re supposedly to blame for that,” Zelensky said. “They destroyed every normal life in Donbass, we are supposedly to blame for that. They killed people in our country for eight years, we are supposedly to blame for that.” This also applies to the destruction of the strongest economic region in Eastern Europe and the destruction of the lives of millions of people. “And finally they started a full-scale war against us, and again it’s our fault.” And all this out of “pure cowardice,” summed up Zelenskyj. Nevertheless, the day will come when Russia will have to admit the truth.
3:12 a.m
Federal Environment Agency: Replacement of Russian gas with coal is unavoidable
The president of the Federal Environment Agency considers the replacement of Russian gas with coal to be unavoidable because of the Ukraine war. “Coal will replace gas for a short time. It is important that the overall climate goals are not shaken,” says Dirk Messner to the newspapers of the editorial network Germany. The additional CO2 emissions urgently need to be saved elsewhere. This can be achieved with efficiency and reforms, for example in the mobility sector, through renovation measures in the building sector and through more rapid planning and approval of renewable energy sources. The EU emissions trading must not be softened. Messner considers a tax cut on petrol to be wrong. “Climate change does not stop even in war.”