live blog
Status: 04/12/2023 07:41 a.m
In view of the difficult situation at the front, Ukrainian President Zelenskyj has called on his compatriots to hold on. The US emphasizes its support for Ukraine. All current developments in the live blog.
7:18 a.m
Selenskyj calls on Ukrainians to persevere
In view of the difficult situation at the front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on his compatriots to persevere. “We are now at a stage of the war where it is important for our society and our partners not to lose a sense of the path ahead,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video message. “Compared to last year, things are now quieter in many places,” said Zelenskyj. “But that doesn’t mean that you can ignore the war somewhere or focus less on helping the state,” he said to the Ukrainian population. The Ukrainian head of state emphasized that it was by no means the time to “rest on our laurels”: “The road still lies ahead of us.”
More than a year after the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, the Ukrainian army is currently under pressure, especially in the east around the city of Bakhmut, where costly fighting has been raging for months.
“There are shortages on both sides,” Hanna Notte, Russia expert at the James Martin Center, on Ukraine’s spring offensive
Morning magazine, April 12, 2023
7:18 a.m
World Bank: Western European countries must support reconstruction
According to World Bank President David Malpass, the international financial institutions can only shoulder the costs of rebuilding Ukraine with the help of Western European countries. “The amounts for rebuilding the electricity sector, the road sector and the railway sector are much larger in relation to the size of the balance sheets of the international financial institutions,” he says. “The scale is frightening.” The European Union has large amounts of funding that could be used.
The current estimate by the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Commission and Ukraine that rebuilding Ukraine’s economy would cost $411 billion is significantly higher than the $349 billion calculated in September last year.
7:18 a.m
US emphasizes support for Ukraine
After leaking US classified documents, the United States has stressed its support for Ukraine. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and “reiterated our continued support for Ukraine and her efforts to defend her territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence”.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he spoke to his Ukrainian colleague Oleksiy Reznikov. “He and the leadership remain focused on the task at hand,” Austin said. Ukraine has “many of the skills it needs to continue to be successful,” Austin said.
7:18 a.m
Moscow announces testing of an ICBM
According to Russia, it has tested an ICBM. In the Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea, the long-range ballistic weapon was successfully fired from a ground-based missile system at the Kapustin Yar training ground, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on the night.
The training warhead was later scheduled to hit a test site in the neighboring country of Kazakhstan in Central Asia, the statement said – and further: “The goal was to test the promising combat equipment of ICBMs.”
Especially since the war of aggression against Ukraine began more than a year ago, international observers have repeatedly accused Russia of building up military threats.