Clear warnings from NATO to Putin

Munich Representatives of NATO, the European Union and the G7 are currently finding clear words about the situation in Ukraine at their summit meetings in Brussels. At the beginning of the NATO special summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Russia would have to pay a high price for the attack on Ukraine. The alliance will continue to stand by Ukraine’s side. US President Joe Biden is also taking part in the NATO special summit.

As soon as he arrived, the NATO Secretary General said at the headquarters of the defense alliance that a Russian use of chemical weapons in Ukraine would change the course of the war. However, he did not say whether NATO would intervene militarily in such a case.

When asked whether a chemical weapons attack represents a red line for NATO, Stoltenberg said: “I will not speculate beyond the fact that NATO is always ready to defend against any kind of attack on a NATO-allied country and respond to it.”

He added, “Any use of chemical weapons would fundamentally change the nature of the conflict. It would be a flagrant breach of international law and will have far-reaching and serious consequences.”

There are concerns among NATO countries that Russia is trying to create a pretext for using chemical weapons in Ukraine. It was expected that the summit would decide to supply Ukraine with equipment that could be used against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. Approval was also expected for the step to create four new multinational combat groups in Eastern Europe to prevent Russia from attacking a NATO member.

Ukraine war: NATO demands a clear position from China on Russia

Turning to China, NATO is demanding a clear position against Russia’s attack on Ukraine. “We call on China to join the rest of the world in clearly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and not providing any political support,” NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said on Thursday morning. This also includes not providing any material support for the invasion of Ukraine.

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There was also news about the NATO Secretary General himself: Jens Stoltenberg extended his term of office by one year. At noon, NATO confirmed corresponding reports from the Norwegian broadcaster TV2 and the newspaper “Dagens Naeringsliv” from the morning.

Stoltenberg’s regular term ends at the end of September, after which he should become his country’s central bank governor. The background to the extension, which the NATO states must formally agree to, is the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Intensive negotiations are also expected from the European Union, whose heads of state and government will also meet in Brussels on Thursday from 5 p.m. The EU Commission is preparing for a possible delivery stop of Russian gas in the coming winter.

“We are reviewing scenarios for a partial and full disruption of gas flows from Russia next winter,” Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said in the European Parliament on Thursday. This should help EU countries to revise their gas contingency plans and better coordinate their efforts.

It is clear that more coordination at EU level is needed in the area of ​​gas purchases and storage, as well as in the event of possible supply disruptions, Dombrovskis said. The economy commissioner presented MEPs with new plans to ensure security of supply and lower energy prices in Europe in the face of the war in Ukraine, as the EU depends on Russian gas imports.

On Wednesday, the EU Commission presented, among other things, a legislative proposal for mandatory gas reserves and proposals for joint gas purchases. These should also be an issue at the EU summit in Brussels on Friday.

Olaf Scholz calls for determination in the Ukraine conflict

Before the start of the NATO summit, Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the determination of the West in the Ukraine conflict. “Exactly a month ago, President Putin launched his terrible war of aggression against Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.

Great Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson found much sharper words than Scholz. He literally accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “barbarism”. “Vladimir Putin has already crossed the red line towards barbarism,” said Johnson on his arrival at the NATO summit in Brussels.

At the same time, Johnson spoke out in favor of further sanctions against Russia. Earlier, the British Prime Minister brought up restrictions on access to Russia’s gold reserves as a further means of exerting pressure.

Johnson told radio station LBC that it had to be examined whether access to the gold reserves could also be restricted in addition to measures on cash funds. “The more pressure we put on now, especially over things like gold, the more I think we can shorten the war.” Ahead of the NATO meeting in Brussels, Johnson said Russia’s President Putin should be tried before the International Criminal Court .

More on the Ukraine war:

The military situation

The fighting in Ukraine itself continued unabated on Thursday: According to the Ukrainian military, Russian troops are attacking numerous cities and areas in the country – but have been prevented from advancing near the capital Kyiv and, according to Ukrainian information, have even been pushed back in some places .

Russian troops were stopped near the Kiev suburb of Brovary, according to a report by the Ukrainian general staff published on Facebook on Thursday night. They failed to break through Ukrainian defenses to reach the north-western outskirts of Kyiv.

At noon, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense even said that the Russian units had been pushed back more than 70 kilometers in some places. Russia has not given up on its plans to encircle and capture the capital, said ministry spokesman Olexander Motusyanyk. Russia has sent more military equipment to Belarus to reinforce the advance on Kyiv. The spokesman did not provide any evidence.

At the same time, there are further reports of high losses on the Russian side. According to British intelligence services, Russian troops have suffered massive losses in their war of aggression in Ukraine and are increasingly looking for reinforcements. “Russian forces almost certainly suffered thousands of casualties during their invasion of Ukraine,” one said Department of Defense update posted on Twitter Thursday morning. The information cannot be independently verified.

Therefore, Moscow is now allegedly trying to use reservists, conscripts and mercenaries from private and foreign military companies to compensate for the “considerable losses”. It is still unclear what influence these groups will have on the combat strength of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, citing the state of knowledge of the secret services.

Even before the war began, London had begun sharing intelligence information with the public in an unusually open manner. For several weeks now, the government has been publishing daily assessments of the course of the Russian war of aggression.

According to NATO estimates, between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine so far. A senior military officer who wished to remain anonymous said on Wednesday that the figures were based on information provided by the Ukrainians, information disseminated in Russia and intelligence findings. The information cannot be independently verified.

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine

Ukraine was apparently unable to negotiate an escape corridor from the center of the besieged city of Mariupol for Thursday either. Vice Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, as on Wednesday, that Mariupol residents have transport facilities in Berdyansk. The city is around 85 kilometers west of Mariupol.

In Mariupol in particular, the situation is particularly critical for the population. In order to bring civilians from other embattled locations to safety, seven escape corridors have been agreed, says Wereshtschuk. It was nine on Wednesday.

At the same time, as the war continued, the number of people fleeing continued to rise. Around 2.2 million people have fled to safety in Poland since the Russian attack on Ukraine. This was announced by the Polish border guard on Thursday on the short message service Twitter.

On Wednesday alone there were around 30,000 people. This is a decrease of about 2.5 percent compared to the previous day. Since the war began on February 24, around 296,000 people have crossed the border.

There is currently no official information on how many of the refugees stayed in Poland and how many have already traveled to other EU countries. Ukraine – the largest country in Europe by area – had a population of more than 44 million before the Russian attack began. Poland and Ukraine are connected by a national border that is more than 500 kilometers long.

In Germany, the federal police have registered the arrival of 238,932 refugees from the war. However, the actual number is likely to be significantly higher – Ukrainians are allowed to enter the country without a visa, and there are no regular border controls at the internal EU borders.

It is also unclear how the refugees will be distributed within the EU. The EU Commission rejected calls for mandatory quotas. Germany is one of the countries that are pushing for distribution throughout the EU.

Ukraine war: Great support for humanitarian aid

Meanwhile, almost 80 percent of people in Germany advocate that the Federal Republic should provide humanitarian aid in the Ukraine war. This is the result of an Allensbach survey commissioned by the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Deliveries of drinking water, medicines and bandages, for example, have priority. A good two-thirds (68 percent) are in favor of Germany providing aid by taking in refugees, and a little less than two-thirds are in favor of economic sanctions.

On the other hand, only eleven percent are of the opinion that Germany should also help with soldiers. A majority of 51 percent of respondents support Ukraine joining the EU, while only 39 percent support NATO membership.

In principle, surveys only reflect the opinion at the time of the survey. The pollsters point out that the surveys have an error rate – for example plus/minus three percent.

With agency material

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