live blog
Status: 04/29/2022 05:59 am
According to Chancellor Scholz, the war against Ukraine is also directed against democratic values. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy thanked US President Biden for planned new billions in aid. The developments in the live blog.
- USA: Historical regulation for arms delivery
5:57 a.m
IAEA examines Ukrainian report on rocket flight over nuclear power plant
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is currently reviewing a report by Ukraine that a Russian missile flew directly over a nuclear power plant. “Had such a missile strayed, it could have had a serious impact on the facility and possibly lead to a nuclear accident,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi. Kyiv officially informed the authority that the missile flew over the facility about 350 km south of Kyiv on April 16. Grossi did not mention who fired the missile, but Kyiv had previously accused Moscow of targeting missiles at nuclear power plants.
4:44 a.m
BDA warns of the consequences of a gas delivery stop
The Confederation of German Employers’ Associations (BDA) warns of the drastic consequences of a Russian natural gas supply stop for the German economy. “In the event of a gas embargo, regardless of which side it kicks off, this country will stand still,” says Employer President Rainer Dulger of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” according to a preliminary report. Such a situation would have catastrophic consequences for entrepreneurs, employees and, last but not least, the national budget. “A gas stop would hit our chemical industry and the raw materials industry particularly hard. This would indirectly affect the production of a large part of our industrial products,” says Dulger. That is why Germany should prevent a gas embargo for as long as possible.
4:28 a.m
Teachers’ Association: Too few teachers for refugee children
From the point of view of the teachers’ association, German politicians are doing too little to bring additional teachers for refugee children from Ukraine to schools in the short term. “We would have to start big campaigns – with pensioners who are supposed to return to school, with students studying to be teachers who help out in the schools,” demanded Heinz-Peter Meidinger, President of the German Teachers’ Association, in the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. “And I can imagine that financial incentives could encourage part-time workers to temporarily increase their hours.”
3:19 a.m
Report: Attacks hit the hospital at the Azovstal plant
According to a report in the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrajinska Pravda, the field hospital set up there came under heavy fire during a Russian attack on the last defenders of Mariupol who were holed up in the Azovstal steel works in the evening. According to the report, at least one soldier was killed and around 100 patients suffered further injuries. According to the defenders, the hospital, in which around 500 wounded and doctors were staying, was specifically attacked. The information cannot be independently verified.
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.
3:17 a.m
Selenskyj thanks Biden for new billions in aid
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has welcomed the new US financial support in the war against Russia as an “important step”. In his daily video message, Zelenskyy thanked both US President Joe Biden and the American people for their help, which Congress will “hopefully quickly” support. Biden previously announced in Washington that he would ask Congress to approve an additional $33 billion (€31.4 billion) for Ukraine.
2:38 a.m
Kyiv: Russification of Kherson will not work
According to the Ukrainian leadership, Russian plans to consolidate control of the occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine are doomed to fail. The secretary of the Ukrainian Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov, described an expected Russian referendum in Kherson as “legally and internationally meaningless”. The referendum with which the Russian occupiers wanted to proclaim a “People’s Republic of Cherson” is a “classic” with which Russia wants to legalize its actions.
The introduction of the Russian ruble as a means of payment in the occupied territories is “classic Russian practice,” said Danilov, according to the Unian agency. These efforts by the Russian side would not lead to success either. “They will try to introduce a currency or pseudo-currency for these areas for some time,” he said. But in view of the resistance to be expected from citizens, this will be “very short-lived”.
2:32 a.m
USA: Historical regulations for arms deliveries
Based on a regulation from the Second World War, the USA wants to facilitate the delivery of armaments to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. After the Senate, the House of Representatives also passed a corresponding bill. The President is temporarily authorized until 2023 to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe affected by the Russian war of aggression. Certain formal requirements in the procedure are to be suspended.
The US Congress passed a similar lend-lease law in 1941 during the Second World War: This allowed armaments to be delivered quickly and in large quantities to the Allies fighting the National Socialists.
1:40 a.m
Pentagon probes missile strikes on Kyiv
The US is currently investigating the recent rocket attacks on Kyiv. “We’re trying to analyze and find out what happened here, what was hit and with what kind of ammunition,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN. Ukrainian authorities previously said the Russian military carried out the attack.
12:48 a.m
Zelenskyj: Guterres’ visit was important
In his evening video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again emphasized the importance of the visit by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. “It was very important that the Secretary General visited Borodyanka in the Kyiv region and saw with his own eyes what the Russian occupiers were doing there. There is no doubt that the Russian army in Ukraine laid the foundations of the world order established after the Second World War trampled underfoot,” said the President.
After the conclusion of the talks with Guterres, a total of five rockets were fired at Kyiv. Nevertheless, he believes that evacuations in Mariupol are possible with the help of the UN: “But we also need the Russian side, which approaches the matter without cynicism and actually implements what it says.”
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.
12:38 a.m
Kyiv and Sofia agree on cooperation
Ukraine and Bulgaria have agreed on close military and economic cooperation. This was announced by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy after a meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. Among other things, damaged Ukrainian military equipment should be repaired in Bulgaria. “Another issue on which we have agreed is the delivery of Ukrainian electricity to Bulgaria and the use of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline together with the Bulgarian side,” said Zelenskyy. Just the day before, Russia had stopped supplying natural gas to Bulgaria because of alleged non-payment.
12:38 a.m
Kiev’s presidential adviser criticizes rocket attack in Kyiv
During the visit of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Ukrainian presidential adviser Olexy Arestovych criticized the Russian rocket attacks on Kyiv as the “stupidest variant ever”. “How should the UN chief or the United Nations react to this at all,” said President Volodymyr Zelenskyj’s adviser. “They (the Russians) just spat in his back, so juicy, with blood.”
Russia “shot Guterres in the back with this attack,” Arestovych said, according to the Unian agency. “For a cruise missile, the distance between the point of impact and Guterres’ location is about the same as two millimeters for a pistol. So the shot missed his temple.”
12:35 a.m
Scholz: Putin is fighting democratic values
Chancellor Olaf Scholz accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of wanting to destroy democratic forms of government. “After all, Putin is not only pursuing the goal of destroying Ukraine. His war is directed against everything that constitutes democracy: freedom, equality before the law, self-determination, human dignity,” wrote Scholz in a guest article for “Welt”. From the Chancellor’s point of view, the democratic countries are more united in the face of this danger than they have been for a long time. “This shows what unites us as democracies: the conviction that law must set limits to power,” said the SPD politician.
12:22 a.m
Putin does not want soldiers to withdraw from Azovstal
Russian President Vladimir Putin is opposed to the withdrawal of Ukrainian soldiers from their last bastion in Mariupol, the Azovtal Steel Works. Putin clearly said civilians could leave Azovstal, his spokesman said. The fighters would have to lay down their arms. This is non-negotiable.