live blog
Status: 05/08/2022 05:19 a.m
The leadership in Kyiv does not want to lose the city of Cherson in the south of the country, which is occupied by Russian troops. Britain pledges another £1.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine. The developments in the live blog.
5:19 a.m
Minister: Ukrainian pilots should learn on Western jets
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov wants his air force pilots to be trained on Western combat aircraft soon. Negotiations are already under way, Resnikov said on Ukrainian television. It’s time for Ukrainians to master the US model A-10 Thunderbolt, for example.
As further types he named the US fighter jets F-15 and F-16 as well as the Saab JAS 39 Gripen from Swedish production. As Reznikov said, Ukrainian soldiers are already being trained by Britain on anti-aircraft weapons and artillery systems. He cited the Starstreak anti-aircraft missile as an example.
4:29 a.m
Ukraine wants to recapture Kherson
The Ukrainian leadership is counting on recapturing the city of Cherson in the south of the country, which is occupied by Russian troops. “There will be no People’s Republic of Kherson,2 said Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Ukrainian radio. The area will be completely liberated, which will cost the lives of many Russian soldiers.
He was reacting to statements by Moscow politicians and the occupying power that want to declare Cherson Russian. “Russia is here forever,” said the general secretary of the Kremlin’s United Russia party, Andrei Turchak, during a visit. Russian passports are also to be issued in Cherson, and the ruble is to become the only means of payment. This would be a development similar to that in the people’s republics founded in 2014 by the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
4:29 a.m
Gysi against arms deliveries to Ukraine
At the end of a multi-day trip to Ukraine, left-wing foreign politician Gregor Gysi spoke out against German arms deliveries to the country attacked by Russia. “We caused 27 million deaths in World War II in the Soviet Union, mostly Russians,” Gysi told the German Press Agency. “In second place are the killed Ukrainians and then people of other nationalities.”
Germany should not arm one ex-Soviet republic against the other. Of course, Ukraine has the right to defend itself and import weapons, said the 74-year-old. Nor is it Germany’s job to decide how to end the war, said Gysi. If the Ukrainian government wants to reach a compromise with the Kremlin, the federal government cannot forbid it. “I can only hope that Russia and Ukraine will agree on a ceasefire as soon as possible.” At the same time, Gysi criticized the Kremlin in clear terms: “I’m done with the Putin regime.”
4:29 a.m
London pledges more military aid
Ahead of G7 consultations with Ukraine, Britain pledged more military aid to the war-torn country of £1.3 billion (€1.52 billion). This was announced by the Treasury Department in London.
“The UK was the first country to recognize the scale of the threat and is sending arms to help Ukrainians defend themselves,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson was quoted as saying by the PA agency. The brutal attack by Russian President Vladimir Putin not only caused unspeakable destruction in Ukraine. “It also threatens peace and security across Europe.” Johnson announced part of the new £300m package last week.
The heads of state and government of the seven most important western industrialized countries (G7) plan to meet today to coordinate their aid to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also expected to take part in the deliberations.