Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula made strange statements about the Ukraine war at a press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. While France does not rule out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine, US President Biden puts a stop to this debate. what happened tonight
While Scholz stands by, Brazil’s president raves about Putin’s war of aggression
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a joint press conference in Brazil on Monday evening. At the same time, Lula refused to utter harsh words for the Russian war of aggression. He said: “I think Russia made the classic mistake of attacking another country’s territory. So Russia is wrong.” And then: “But I still think: if one doesn’t fight, two don’t fight. You must also want peace.” Neither side is interested in seeking a peaceful end to the war.
In the joint final declaration of Scholz’s visit to Brazil, it sounded somewhat different: the Russian violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the annexation of several regions was a “disgusting violation of international law,” both countries said there.
Scholz has been traveling through South America for days. He had previously met the heads of state of Argentina and Chile. Both had sharply condemned Putin’s war of aggression.
Lula wants to mediate with Xi in the Ukraine war
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has proposed a mediation initiative between Brazil and China to end the war in Ukraine. “It is necessary to form a group of countries that is strong enough and respected and sit down with the two at a negotiating table,” Lula said in a joint press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Brazilian capital Brasília on Monday (local time ). He has already spoken to Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron about the initiative.
The left-wing politician brought himself into play as a mediator to talk to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or Russian President Vladimir Putin – as well as China. “Our Chinese friends play a very important role in this,” he said. “It’s time for China to get involved.”
Ukrainian ambassador stresses importance of fighter jets
The Ukrainian ambassador in Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, meanwhile insisted on the delivery of combat aircraft to his country after the commitment to battle tanks. “We have not yet asked Germany about fighter jets,” Makeiev told DW. But they are important because they are needed to shoot down Russian missiles. “Russia fires many rockets at Ukrainian cities and infrastructure” – the fighter jets are part of the Ukrainian efforts to defend the airspace.
US President: US will not deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine
The United States will not deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, according to President Joe Biden. When asked by a reporter, “Will the US provide F-16s to Ukraine?” Biden said “no” in Washington Monday. So far, it has been said that the US government has not ruled out any particular weapon system and is aligning support with what Ukraine needs. It will be “discussed very carefully,” it said last Friday.
Macron does not fundamentally rule out the delivery of fighter jets
French President Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, does not fundamentally rule out the delivery of combat aircraft to Ukraine. “In principle, nothing is forbidden,” he said on Monday in The Hague when asked whether France might supply fighter jets to Ukraine.
However, Macron set some conditions against which Ukrainian requests would be examined on a case-by-case basis: First, Kyiv would have to make an “official request”. In addition, the weapons should not have an escalating effect and should not touch Russian soil, but should only be used for defense. Nor should the French army be weakened by arms deliveries.
Zelenskyj: Humanitarian aid is also very important
Barely a year after the start of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated the need for his country’s complete victory. “Russian terror must lose everywhere and in every respect: both on the battlefield and insofar as not a single ruin remains in our country,” Zelenskyy said in his evening video address on Monday. “So that we can rebuild everything and prove that freedom is stronger.”
In addition to security initiatives, humanitarian aid is also essential, stressed Selenskyj. In the southern city of Mykolaiv, for example, restoring the water supply destroyed by Russian troops was particularly important, said the Ukrainian head of state a few hours earlier, with a view to a visit there with Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen.
In Mykolaiv, which had around 470,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, Frederiksen and Selenskyj had visited a hospital and the seaport, among other things.
France and Australia are supplying Ukraine with artillery ammunition
France and Australia want to jointly supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition to ward off the Russian war of aggression. The French Foreign Ministry said the 155mm ammunition was urgently needed by Ukraine. The ammunition intended for artillery pieces can be used, among other things, to shell tanks. There are several thousand projectiles that the defense industries of both countries jointly manufactured.
Ukraine continues to press IOC for Russia’s Olympic ban
At the same time, Ukraine is continuing to put pressure on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) not to allow Russia and Belarus to compete in international competitions because of the war. “The IOC is a promoter of war, murder and destruction. The IOC happily watches the Russian Federation destroy and then offers it a platform to promote genocide and encourages it to keep killing,” wrote Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser in Ukraine’s presidential office, on Twitter.
Addressing IOC President Thomas Bach, he added: “Obviously Russian money buying Olympic hypocrisy doesn’t smell like Ukrainian blood. Right, Mr. Bach?” A short time later, an IOC spokesman “strongly rejected these and other defamatory statements”.
What will be important on Tuesday:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) presented its new forecast for global economic growth on Tuesday (2:30 a.m. CEST). Despite the consequences of the war in Ukraine and continued high inflation, she does not expect the global economy to slip into recession this year, said IMF director Kristalina Georgieva in advance.
Also Read:The Ukraine Update of January 30th.
