Despite Putin’s warning to the West, Britain pledges to supply long-range missile systems. The weapon system can hit targets up to 80 kilometers away. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
03:05: Despite warnings from Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin, Great Britain also wants to support Ukraine with the delivery of long-range missile systems. The Ministry of Defense in London announced on Monday that the delivery of the US-made multiple rocket launcher artillery system (MLRS) to Ukraine was closely coordinated with the government in Washington.
The British Ministry of Defense emphasized that the planned delivery of the M270 multiple rocket launchers means “a significant boost to the capabilities of the Ukrainian army”. The weapon system can hit targets up to 80 kilometers away with precision-guided missiles. Great Britain also wants to train Ukrainian soldiers in the use of the new weapon system.
The United States announced last week that it would deliver its Himar mobile artillery missile system to Ukraine, which can launch several precision-guided missiles at the same time and surpasses previous Ukrainian weapon systems in terms of range and precision. According to military experts, its range of up to 80 kilometers is slightly greater than that of similar Russian systems, allowing Kiev forces to hit enemy artillery without getting within range.
Monday, June 6, 12:00 a.m.: According to information from Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cannot travel to Serbia on a planned two-day visit this Monday because he did not have a flight permit. According to the Russian agency Interfax, a high-ranking ministry official confirmed a corresponding Serbian media report on Sunday, according to which Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Montenegro had not given permission for the Russian government aircraft to fly over. Lavrov is subject to Western sanctions over Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In addition, European airspace is closed to Russian aircraft.
The minister wanted to meet with the Serbian leadership to talk about supplying the country with Russian energy, for example. When asked whether the visit had been cancelled, the ministry official replied: “Diplomacy has not yet acquired the ability to beam.” Serbian media had previously reported on the cancellation of Lavrov’s visit to Belgrade because there was no overflight permit. On Sunday, Lavrov surprisingly invited foreign journalists to a press conference this Monday.
11:51 p.m .: According to a report in the newspaper “El País”, Spain wants to deliver German Leopard 2 A4 battle tanks and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine. The newspaper wrote on Sunday, citing information from the Defense Ministry in Madrid, that these were mothballed tanks that had to be prepared for use first. The training of Ukrainian soldiers on the tanks should first take place in Latvia and later in Spain. The German press agency asked the ministry for a statement on the report, but there was still no answer.
It would be the first time that Ukraine would receive modern Western tanks in a fight against the Russian army. In Germany, politicians from the ruling SPD party have so far emphasized that there is an informal agreement between the NATO countries not to supply such weapons. According to the newspaper report, around 40 of the 108 Leopard tanks that Spain bought used in Germany in 1995 could be made operational again.
8:44 p.m .: Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bulgaria want to refuse Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the overflight to Serbia. Lavrov was due to travel to Serbia earlier in the week. According to the Serbian newspaper “Novosti”, the three countries want to ban the foreign minister from flying over their borders. There is no official confirmation for this. However, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has publicly announced that things are complicated in connection with the foreign minister’s planned arrival.
4:48 p.m .: The Russian embassy in Stockholm, Sweden seems to have little financial leeway due to the EU sanctions imposed on Russia. In a joint application with the Russian consulate in Gothenburg, the embassy submitted an application via the Swedish “Kommerskollegium” (equivalent to the German Federal Office of Economics and Export Control) to be allowed to withdraw money from a Russian account. This is reported by the Swedish newspaper Expressen. It is safe to assume that other Russian embassies in Europe are facing the same financial problems.
Usually, the embassy and consulate cover their expenses from accounts in Russia’s VTB bank, which is blocked due to sanctions. Embassies are allowed to give up to 100.00 euros – but apparently the embassy in Sweden needs much more. According to the newspaper, it should be several hundred thousand euros. In the letter of application she lists, among other things, money for electricity and water, internet, salaries and heating oil. At the same time, the embassy announced that it intends to withdraw the funds in Swedish kronor and US dollars. In addition, the embassy wrote explicitly that the application should remain secret from the Swedish press.
1:06 p.m .: Pope Francis called for an end to violence in Ukraine at Pentecost. “As the fury of destruction and dying runs rampant and antagonisms flare up and fuel an ever more dangerous escalation for all, I reiterate my appeal to the leaders of nations: Please do not plunge humanity into misery,” said the 85-year-old leader of the United Nations Catholic Church on Sunday after the Regina Coeli midday prayer in front of numerous believers in Rome.
The Pope called for concrete negotiations to begin for a ceasefire and a lasting solution. “Hear the desperate cry of the people who are suffering,” said the Argentine, demanding that the destruction of towns and villages be stopped.
The Holy Father did not address the war party Russia, and as before did not name them. Since the outbreak of war on February 24, the Vatican has been trying to mediate. In his own words, Pope Francis is also ready to travel to Ukraine – if the moment is right.
12:07 p.m .: Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened severe attacks on the country if western long-range missiles are delivered to Ukraine. “If they deliver, then we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our means of destruction, of which we have enough, to deal blows to those objects that we have not hitherto attacked,” Putin said in an interview published on Sunday State TV channel Rossiya 1. The aim of the western arms deliveries is to prolong the conflict in Ukraine as much as possible, he said.
However, the head of the Kremlin appeared relaxed in view of the delivery of state-of-the-art Himars multiple rocket launchers announced by the USA. For Ukraine, this will not change anything fundamental in the distribution of power. “There is nothing new here,” Putin said. The Ukrainian armed forces are already using such Russian-made systems, and the US deliveries would rather replace destroyed weapons.
Nevertheless, it is crucial here which missiles would be used. According to all that could be heard, the Americans wanted to deliver missiles with a range of between 45 and 70 kilometers. That is roughly what the previous Uragan, Smerch and Grad missiles did, Putin said. At the beginning of the war, which Putin only calls “special operations”, Ukraine had 515 such systems. The Kremlin chief assumes that Ukraine currently has 360 of them in service.
The picture is similar with the artillery ordered by Ukraine in the west. “Apparently, this is also about making up for what was lost, what was destroyed in the fighting,” said the Russian head of state. In addition, the Russian air defense has now destroyed most of the combat drones in Ukraine. “Our air defense systems crack them like nuts.”
8.45 a.m .: The Federal Employment Agency assumes that unemployment will increase and expects “410,000 Ukrainian employable beneficiaries” in the coming weeks. This emerges from a confidential paper, the so-called “Scenario calculation for the access of Ukrainian refugees to SGB II”, which is available to “Welt”. received.
Should the scenario materialize, the proportion of migrants among the unemployed will rise to over 50 percent. At the end of the year, the job center expects even higher numbers. The paper states that “746,000 employable Ukrainian beneficiaries are expected in the job centers by the end of the year”.
According to the Federal Agency, due to open borders, it is not possible to register entries and exits exactly. According to the paper, the “figures derived from this for Ukrainian employable beneficiaries” are “for guidance and must be interpreted accordingly”.
7.41 a.m .: In an interview, the former Health Minister Jens Spahn spoke, among other things, about the security of the energy supply in Germany. “The bitter truth is: the energy supply is not secure. Not now and especially not in winter,” the CDU politician complained in the “Bild am Sonntag”. “Then gas could become scarce. Because Putin can turn off the gas tap at any time, with fatal consequences for companies, employees and private households.”
In order to avert a gas crisis, Spahn calls for the shutdown of gas-fired power plants, the additional reserve of coal-fired power plants and the examination of a lifetime extension for the remaining nuclear power plants by a few years. “Nobody can tell me that the federal government and power plant operators are not able to get new fuel rods in a joint effort,” Spahn replied to concerns expressed by the Greens. “We have already lost three months in terms of security of supply by hesitating at the traffic lights. At some point we get to a point where it really is too late.”
Economics Minister Robert Habeck, who is responsible for this topic, is heavily criticized by Spahn. While the former health minister praises Habeck’s communication on social media as “impressively open”, he also accuses him of “being tight-lipped or quarreling when it gets concrete. I call on Robert Habeck to finally present a roadmap detailing how concretely he wants to become independent of Russian energy and by when, and to put the facts on the table for Parliament.”
As an example, he cited Habeck’s trip to Doha two months ago, during which he wanted to arrange LNG deliveries at short notice. “How much gas Germany gets from Qatar and other countries and above all when, we don’t know to this day,” criticizes Spahn and draws a comparison to the pandemic. “During the pandemic, the federal government regularly published how much vaccine was bought, delivered, vaccinated and where. I have absolutely no idea why that shouldn’t work with gas.”
You can read more news on the following pages
