War against Ukraine: ++ Strack-Zimmermann: Deliver Marder directly ++

12:58 a.m

Council chief Michel proposes EU candidate status for Ukraine

EU Council President Charles Michel proposes making Ukraine and Moldova EU candidates. The latest draft of the final declaration of the forthcoming EU summit reads: “The European Council has decided to grant the status of candidate country to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.” The 27 heads of state and government meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday would thus follow the recommendation of the EU Commission.

In addition, the draft from Tuesday, which is available to the dpa news agency, states that they are prepared to also grant candidate status to Georgia. To do this, however, the priorities specified by the EU Commission would have to be met. All three countries applied for EU membership shortly after the Russian attack on Ukraine began. Last week, the EU Commission recommended granting candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova. The decision for this must be taken unanimously by the 27 EU countries.

12:29 a.m

Zelenskyi Advisor: Can win war

The economic adviser to the Ukrainian President, Alexander Rodnyansky, firmly believes that his country will win against the Russian aggressor. “We can win the war,” he said in the ARD– Show “Maischberger”. He hopes that the counter-offensive can begin at the end of August or in August. Aid from abroad would help a lot, would also arrive, but it would take a while before the weapons could be used.

You can’t make a lasting peace with Russia anyway. Russia under President Vladimir Putin is not interested in peace with Europe, it’s about revanchism, about imperialism – “and it will stay that way.”

Rodnyansky said that Ukraine defends the European peace order and needs maximum support, otherwise there will be war somewhere else in Europe. “You shouldn’t be more afraid of a Ukrainian victory than a Russian defeat, so that’s totally out of place.” In any case, after almost four months, there is no war fatigue in his country. However, there are massive problems with supplies, one has become even more dependent on the West.

12:17 a.m

Zelenskyj calls for another package of sanctions

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj is calling for further EU sanctions against Russia because of the war against his country. A seventh package of sanctions is needed as soon as possible, said Selenskyj in his video message on Wednesday night. He emphasized this in talks with various European heads of government on Tuesday. “Russia must feel the growing pressure for war and for its aggressive anti-European policy,” Zelensky said.

He again stressed the urgency of further arms deliveries. “The lives of thousands of people depend directly on the speed of our partners,” he said. On the front in the east of the country, the Ukrainian army was able to strengthen the defense in the heavily contested Luhansk region. In the Kharkiv region there is still heavy shelling by Russian troops. The area around the city of Cherson occupied by Russian troops is gradually being recaptured, Zelenskyj said.

12:13 a.m

Strack-Zimmermann for direct Marder deliveries

The Chair of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-zimmermann, has in the daily topics demanded that the Marder infantry fighting vehicle be delivered directly to Ukraine. “We will have to have the discussion.” Your party, the FDP, is of the opinion: “We should do it.”

Overall, the decision to use heavy weapons was made too late. Now it is time to deal with what is in August and September. Putin made it clear “that he wants the whole of Ukraine to disappear from the map,” said Strack-Zimmermann. “We should deal with the next few months in perspective. We should do that now.”

12:23 a.m

Tuesday’s live blog to read

Since the beginning of the war, many IT specialists have left Russia – there is now a shortage of 170,000 specialists. Moscow and Washington are at odds over the status of US citizens captured in Ukraine. Tuesday’s developments to read.