Russia continued its attacks unabated on Friday.
(Photo: Reuters)
Kyiv, Moscow In its defensive struggle against Russia, Ukraine has asked the German government to supply it with Taurus cruise missiles. A corresponding request from Kiev had been received in the past few days, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense on Friday evening in Berlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that he would continue to seek support from his western partners.
“We will do everything possible and impossible to speed up the delivery of more air defense systems of higher quality to Ukraine,” the head of state said in his evening video address.
This is “a daily matter in the truest sense of the word when working with partners”. His country is making faster progress in modernizing its defense than was foreseeable six months ago.
Details of the request from Kiev to the Ministry of Defense in Berlin are still unclear. For example, the question of how many cruise missile units Ukraine has asked for. The “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” had previously reported on Ukraine’s Taurus request.
A few days ago, the CDU defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter spoke out in favor of deliveries and said: The guided missiles with a range of up to 500 kilometers enabled the attacked country “to strike the Russian military infrastructure far behind the front line”.
Scholz confirms readiness to defend NATO territory
During a visit to Estonia, Chancellor Olaf Scholz renewed his commitment to defending the NATO states in the Baltic States in the event of an attack. “To say it clearly again: We are ready to defend every square centimeter of NATO territory against attacks,” said Scholz on Friday after a meeting with his colleagues Kaja Kallas (Estonia), Krisjanis Karins (Latvia) and Ingrida Simonyte (Lithuania). ) in Tallinn. “And I mean it exactly like I say it.”
The Chancellor pledged support to Estonia’s Prime Minister and other Baltic government leaders.
(Photo: Reuters)
Lithuania is hosting the upcoming NATO summit in July. “For peace in Europe we need Ukraine in the EU and in NATO,” said hostess Kallas. The Ukrainian President announced in his video message that his country would use every opportunity to “fill relations with the western military alliance with real political content”. Ukraine is pushing for NATO membership.
Scholz, however, dampened expectations with regard to the meeting: the summit will “above all be about organizing concrete support for Ukraine in this situation”.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galusin told the state news agency TASS on Saturday night that one of the conditions for peace is that the neighboring country does not become a member of NATO and the EU.
Kiev: Russia fires missiles at neighboring country again
Russia continued its attacks unabated on Friday. By the evening, the Ukrainian General Staff counted at least 18 rocket attacks on inhabited areas around the Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk regions in the south-east of the country.
In addition, Russia has used missiles from the S-300 and S-400 systems, which are actually intended for air defense, according to the army’s evening report. The military also registered 60 airstrikes – so-called kamikaze drones of the Iranian type Shahed-136/131 were said to have been used.
efforts at peace talks
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said during a phone call with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin that his country, like India, Indonesia and China, is ready for a dialogue with both parties to the conflict. China’s special envoy Li Hui was in Moscow for talks on Friday. At the same time, the Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed diplomat, reported that Li Hui had called on Europe to “cede” to Russia the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine has repeatedly made it clear that it will not accept this. Zelensky’s adviser Mykhailo Podoliak warned on Twitter that such a scenario would be tantamount to a victory for Russia and a defeat for democracy at the same time. Before possible negotiations, Moscow insists that Ukraine renounce the occupied territories.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war:
Former Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told the Tagesspiegel: “It will be a painful ceasefire that will not satisfy either side.” present as a success at home, it will certainly not be easy. Conversely, Ukrainians will find it very difficult to make territorial compromises.”
That will be important on Saturday
It is eagerly awaited whether there will be any new information on the situation in the embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Russia announced last weekend that it would take over the completely destroyed city. Ukraine has not yet confirmed this. On Saturday night, the Ukrainian agency Unian, citing the military in Kiev, reported that it was “continuing to inflict heavy casualties” on Russian troops there. The information from the war zone cannot be independently verified.
More: Current news on the development of the Ukraine war can be found in our news blog