“The most important sanctions are to close the borders, because the Russians are taking their land away from others,” Zelenskyy told the US newspaper “Washington Post” on Monday. Russians should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy”. He was reacting to the occupation authorities’ announcement in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia that they would hold a referendum on joining Russia. Similar plans exist for the occupied territory of Kherson.
Zelenskyj’s statements come up against a growing discussion in the EU to make it more difficult or to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians. Even if travel is made more difficult by the cut flight and rail connections, many Russians traveled to the EU in the summer despite the war. Russia’s neighbor Latvia in the Baltic States has already tightened visa regulations. Finland is considering this, but demands a solution for the whole Schengen area. It is not fair that Russia is waging a brutal war, but Russians can visit Europe as tourists as normal, said Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
To the knowledge of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS), no radioactive radiation has escaped or reached Germany in the course of the hostilities surrounding the Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Zaporizhia. “There is no evidence that radioactive substances could have been released in Ukraine,” the Federal Office told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday editions). According to the BfS, all available radiological readings were “in the normal range”.
“The BfS does not see any acute danger of a release of radioactive substances, but shares the concern for the long-term safe operation of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant,” the Federal Office said. In Germany, the authority routinely measures natural radiation exposure. “If the radioactivity level measured at two neighboring measuring points exceeded a certain threshold value, a message would be triggered automatically.”
In the event that radioactive substances reached Germany as a result of a release in a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, “the emergency measures would probably be limited to agriculture and the marketing of agricultural products,” the Federal Office said, according to the report. According to the calculations of the BfS, “it is not to be expected that further measures to protect the population would be necessary”. The weather conditions are decisive for the spread of radioactive substances. According to the BfS, “in the past, air masses only moved from the Ukraine to Germany on around 60 days a year – i.e. in 17 percent of the weather conditions”.
Some Ukrainian prisoners of war who defended the Azovtal steelworks in Mariupol are facing the death penalty. In the criminal proceedings before a court in the separatist region of Donetsk, which is controlled by Russia, the public prosecutor’s office had demanded the maximum sentence. As the official news agency of the Donetsk region reported, a judgment should be made on Wednesday. It is not known exactly how many Ukrainians have been charged. Russia classifies the Azov regiment as a terrorist organization. This makes it possible for the defense attorneys to be convicted under Russian law.
Several foreign ships with grain on board have been able to leave Ukrainian Black Sea ports in the past few days. However, the first freighter, named “Razoni”, was diverted from the destination port of Tripoli in Lebanon to Turkey and was anchored off the Turkish coast early Tuesday morning, according to the Marine Traffic information service. In Lebanon, the customer did not want to accept the corn freight that had been delayed since the outbreak of war, Ukrainian media reported, citing diplomats.
Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) warned against too much euphoria after the first transports. “Grain prices have fallen slightly, but are still at a high level,” she told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” and the Bonn “General-Anzeiger” (Tuesday). However, one cannot be sure whether Putin will “continue to use grain as a weapon”. The war had blocked Ukrainian ports since February. In July, the UN and Turkey brokered an agreement on safe exports of the important producer.
The European gas emergency plan to prepare for a possible stop in Russian natural gas supplies came into force this Tuesday. The plan calls for all EU countries to voluntarily reduce their gas consumption by 15 percent from early August to March next year, compared to the average consumption over the past five years. Against the background of the Ukraine war, Russia has already drastically reduced its deliveries to the EU.
The Russian army experiences a deadly inferno in Ukraine. According to two military researchers, Putin’s troops will have to deal with the aftermath for a long time. An example case illustrates what happened on the battlefield.
Russia is now taking a new measure to recruit more people for the army. According to a media report, male employees of state-owned companies are laid off if they can be dispensed with. However, they should not be used at the front.
The Russian company Gazprom apparently burns part of the gas that is actually supposed to go to Germany at the Nord Stream 1 compressor station near Saint Petersburg.
The losses on the Russian side have not been officially communicated, but observers assume around 15,000 casualties. In order to advance his “special operation”, Putin needs many new soldiers. And they come primarily from remote, poor provinces.
