Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock regrets that the West cannot guarantee humanitarian corridors. Ukrainian President Selenskyj has dismissed the controversial Ambassador Andriy Melnyk. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.

9.05 a.m .: Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) regrets that the West cannot intervene militarily in the Ukraine war to protect civilians. “For example, I would have liked to promise that we would guarantee humanitarian corridors from the contested areas in Ukraine,” Baerbock told Der Spiegel. “But we can’t afford it. Such a promise would have to be backed up militarily.”

That’s why she had to “clearly say” that there would be no no-fly zones, added the Foreign Minister. “Good foreign policy also means keeping a cool head, even when your heart is burning,” says Baerbock in a joint “Spiegel” interview with her Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn. “To have to endure that there is nothing you can do – that is sometimes the brutality of foreign policy.”

Asselborn made a similar statement. “You have to acknowledge the reality of war, even if it’s barbaric,” he said.

Baerbock described the moment when she saw photos of shot children during her visit to Ukraine as one of the “worst moments” of her tenure so far. “That says everything about not being able to negotiate with this Putin at the moment,” she said of the Russian president. “It’s about destruction. Even from children.”

9:56 p.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj described the recall of Ambassador Andriy Melnyk from Germany as a normal process. “Today I signed decrees dismissing some ambassadors of Ukraine. This issue of rotation is a common part of diplomatic practice,” he said in a video message on Saturday, without naming any of the five ambassadors. “New representatives of Ukraine will be appointed for the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Norway and India,” Zelenskyy said. The candidates would be prepared by the State Department.

9:12 p.m .: In addition to the ambassadors in Germany, Hungary, Norway, the Czech Republic and India, Ukrainian President Selenskyj also dismissed the ambassadors in the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This emerges from another decree published by the Presidential Office in Kyiv. No reasons are given here either.

It is not the first time since the beginning of the war that Zelenskyy has made personnel changes at the Ukrainian ambassadors. In March he signed a decree dismissing the ambassadors to Morocco, Nigeria and Cameroon, and Georgia. At the time, Zelenskyj warned that civil servants should work for the benefit of the state and not just focus on their posts.

“There are those who work together with everyone to defend the state so that Ukraine can secure its future – we appreciate the work of each of these people. And there are those who waste time and only work to stay in office […] With all due respect: if there are no guns, no sanctions, no restrictions on Russian companies – please find another job”, said the head of state in March. Then, at the end of June, he signed decrees dismissing Ukrainian ambassadors in five countries at once: Georgia, Slovakia, Portugal, Iran and Lebanon.

7:23 p.m .: Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt paid tribute to Andriy Melnyk after his dismissal as Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany. “Andriy Melnyk did everything in his power for his country. He is an unmistakable and tireless voice for a free Ukraine,” said the Green politician on Saturday.

At the same time, Göring-Eckardt distanced himself from Melnyk’s statements about the Ukrainian nationalist and anti-Semite Stepan Bandera. In an interview, Melnyk denied that Bandera was a mass murderer of Jews and Poles. He was heavily criticized for this. “As far as Bandera is concerned, we don’t agree,” said Göring-Eckardt. “Regardless of that, I wish him all the best for himself personally, for his future service and above all for his country.”

6:24 p.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenksky has dismissed Andriy Melnyk as Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany. This emerged from a decree published by the President’s Office in Kyiv on Saturday. Several media had previously reported that Melnyk was to be recalled from Germany and move to the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv. Melnyk had been in office since 2015 and was particularly criticized for his provocative statements.

It was initially unclear whether Melnyk would be appointed ambassador to another high-ranking post in Kyiv or elsewhere after his dismissal. The Ukrainian embassy in Berlin declined to comment on the decree. A spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office said on request: “The Federal Foreign Office has not yet been notified of the ambassador’s dismissal.”

In addition to Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassadors to Norway, the Czech Republic, Hungary and India were also dismissed, according to the Presidential Office. Reasons or a future use of the diplomats were not initially mentioned.

Most recently, Melnyk came under pressure with controversial statements about the former nationalist leader Stepan Bandera (1909-1959). Melnyk defended Bandera in an interview and said: “Bandera was not a mass murderer of Jews and Poles.” Sharp criticism of the statements came from Poland and the Israeli embassy in Berlin, among others. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Melnyk had stated his personal position, which was not the ministry’s position.

After days of silence, Melnyk finally rejected the accusation that his statements played down the Holocaust. “Anyone who knows me knows: I have always condemned the Holocaust in the strongest possible terms,” ​​Melnyk wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. The allegations against him are “absurd”.

4:48 p.m .: The former Russian President and current Deputy Head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, sees the international importance of his country strengthened by the Ukraine war. The “military special operation” in Ukraine has already fulfilled a task, Medvedev wrote on Saturday in the Telegram news service. “We are now seriously counting on Russia. As with the Soviet Union. And in some respects even more serious, judging by the sanctions package.” Medvedev continued that this was different a while ago. Although Russia was a participant in the G8 meetings of the world’s largest industrialized countries, it was not invited to certain meetings of the other seven participants “when economic and defense policy issues of Western countries were discussed”.

3:39 p.m .: For weeks, the federal government has been looking for an ammunition manufacturer to deliver larger quantities of ammunition for the “Gepard” anti-aircraft tank to Ukraine. Because so far only 60,000 shots were available. Now the Chancellery has found a Norwegian manufacturer who can produce the 35mm bullets. The “Spiegel” reports, citing government circles. As a result, 30 tanks can be delivered to Ukraine, with the best-case scenario for the first to arrive this month. The ammunition is to be tested next week at a Bundeswehr firing range in Schleswig-Holstein. The manufacturer is already training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany with the tanks.

3:26 p.m .: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has again called on China to condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. After meeting his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali, Blinken said on Saturday that China claims to be neutral in the conflict. In fact, Beijing supports Moscow. “The People’s Republic of China remains with Russia.”

Blinken criticized China for repeating Russian propaganda, shielding Moscow in international organizations and taking part in joint maneuvers. He conveyed to Wang Yi that “this is truly a moment when we all need to stand up, as one G20 country after another has done, to condemn the aggression.”

1.45 p.m .: According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Germany is preparing for a crisis in the energy supply under high pressure. “We have now made many decisions that should help us prepare for shortages,” said Scholz in a video message published on Saturday. This applies in particular to the gas supply. “We build pipelines, liquid gas terminals,” said Scholz. “We ensure that gas is stored in our gas storage facilities. And we ensure that coal-fired power plants are now used so that we save gas.”

In the long term, Germany must make itself independent of importing fossil fuels. Scholz referred to the recently passed laws on the expansion of renewable energies. This is happening at a “speed that has never been seen in Germany before,” he said. “With this speed, we will also manage to be a climate-neutral, economically strong industrialized country.”

1:50 a.m .: According to his most important foreign policy adviser, Pope Francis could travel to Kyiv this summer. Curial Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the secretary for relations with states and thus something like the Vatican’s foreign minister, told the Italian broadcaster Rai1 on Friday evening. When asked if such a trip was possible in August, Gallagher replied: “It’s possible, I wouldn’t rule it out.”

However, the British archbishop restricted that everything was of course due to the condition and health of Francis. The Argentinian suffers from a knee injury and recently had to sit in a wheelchair most of the time.

He has been calling for peace in Ukraine for months and has always been open to a trip to Kyiv. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko had invited him. “The Pope is convinced that if he could make a visit, it would also have a positive effect,” Gallagher said. Francis is also ready to travel to Moscow.

Saturday, July 9, 1:05 a.m.: The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to continue to send messages to other countries in the Russian war of aggression against his country. “We work every day and under all circumstances as much as possible on the foreign policy front,” he said in a video message on Friday. His video address to the Slovenian parliament on Friday was the 24th speech to an EU member state parliament. Three speeches to the parliaments of the other 27 EU member states are still pending.

“I hope that the three other EU countries will also feel that these appeals are not about politics, but about protecting our common freedom, and that is why we will get to the point where one day I can say: All 27 parliaments of the European Union hear the freedom struggle better than any Russian manipulation,” stressed the President.

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