Time Magazine lists Selenskyi among the 100 most influential people. Habeck now sees an oil embargo against Russia as “within reach”. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
09:19: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj does not want to give up any Ukrainian territory in return for peace. “Ukraine will fight until it has its entire territory back,” Zelensky said at an event hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Davos on Wednesday. He was digitally connected to the discussion on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Zelenskyy also said he is ready for talks if Russia withdraws to the areas it was in before the war began in February. But he will only speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. “I can only speak to the president directly, no intermediaries, no intermediaries,” Zelensky said. For that, Putin has to leave his bubble. Russia is not currently negotiating seriously.
5:55 a.m .: During the Ukraine war, Russian oligarchs lost access to luxury yachts, real estate and other assets worth almost 10 billion euros. According to information from the German Press Agency, this is based on figures from the EU Commission. On April 8, the value was still 6.7 billion euros.
The EU Commission wants to present a legislative proposal this Wednesday that should make it possible to confiscate frozen Russian money. This money could then be used to rebuild Ukraine. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized on Tuesday: “We should turn every stone for this – if possible also Russian assets that we have frozen.”
Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the EU has put a number of Russian oligarchs on the sanctions list because they are accused of supporting the war. At the beginning of March, an EU special unit was set up to ensure better cooperation between EU countries and to track down the assets of the oligarchs.
A good month later, the first balance was drawn: the EU states had frozen assets of 29.5 billion euros by then – 6.7 billion euros came from the assets of oligarchs. Added to this were the frozen assets of the Russian central bank.
Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) said on Tuesday that Germany was open to a debate about using confiscated Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine. But you have to distinguish between state funds – such as the central bank – and private funds. “In our constitution there are guarantees for private assets,” said Lindner.
7.35 p.m .: Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared a state of emergency in the EU country because of the Ukraine war. As Orban announced in a video speech on Tuesday evening, the state of emergency that will apply from midnight is intended to protect the country from the economic effects of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. “The world is on the brink of an economic crisis. Hungary must stay out of this war and protect the financial security of its families,” Orbán said. The state of emergency gives the government “room for maneuver and the opportunity to react quickly”.
The newly formed government approved the state of emergency on Tuesday. The government plans to announce the first measures on Wednesday. Orban had already declared a state of emergency because of the corona pandemic, but this order expires next Tuesday.
3:25 p.m .: At the G7 meeting of finance ministers, there was a lot of discussion about the situation in Ukraine – and also how the reconstruction can be supported economically. A controversial idea also came to light at the end of the meeting: Russian oligarchs should be able to buy their way out of their sanctions with billions of euros. The money should then be used to rebuild Ukraine.
As the “Handelsblatt” reports, Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that she had received calls from several Russian oligarchs. The tenor is always the same: the oligarchs are unhappy that they are on the sanctions list.
That’s why a Russian oligarch made an offer to the Canadian finance minister: the group of oligarchs was prepared to give a considerable amount of their billion-dollar assets to the West. The money could then be used for reconstruction in Ukraine. For this, their names should disappear from the sanctions list.
The Canadian finance minister did not make an official proposal at the G7 meeting, but various G7 governments said the idea would now be “benevolently examined”.
1.45 p.m .: Poland’s President Andrzej Duda has accused Germany’s federal government of breaching its word. It is about an agreed ring exchange of tanks.
Germany’s government has promised Poland to replace the existing tanks that the country is supplying to Ukraine with Leopard tanks. “You haven’t kept that promise. And frankly, we’re very disappointed about it,” Duda told Welt.
Duda continued to criticize, saying that the federal government was doing too little to help Ukraine. That’s why Poland stepped in with tank deliveries. “First of all, it is Germany itself that should help Ukraine. Ukraine really needs this help very badly,” said the Polish President.
11:17 a.m .: Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is in Davos for the World Economic Forum. According to the Daily Mail, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has suggested that Ukraine should cede territories to Russia in order to stop the war. The 98-year-old also stated that the West should not contribute to Russia’s defeat. He warns of further Western intervention in the Ukraine war.
According to Kissinger, Ukraine should start negotiations before “upsets and tensions arise that are not easy to overcome.” Continuing the war from this point is no longer a fight for freedom, but a new war against Russia.
7:34 a.m .: Despite the fall of the port city of Mariupol, an adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Minister sees the main military objective there as having been achieved. “The main goal was achieved in Mariupol. It was to hold back the Russian groups (…) more than 20,000 Russian soldiers. And that was made possible thanks to the heroic deeds of the Mariupol defenders and the defenders who were later in Azovstal,” said Yuriy Sak on Tuesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. As a result, the Russian troops would not have been able to conquer other areas in eastern Ukraine.
Azovstal’s soldiers would have given Ukrainians time to regroup and receive more military aid from their international partners. “From this perspective, the goal was achieved,” says Sak. The last Ukrainian fighters at the Azov steelworks in Mariupol surrendered last week.
Ukraine will consider the war won if Russian troops withdraw to the borders that were in place before February 24, Sak said. “Of course, this war of aggression against Ukraine started in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula,” the adviser continued. A return of Crimea must therefore also be part of negotiations. The main goal, however, is to liberate the area. “The rest of the objectives can then be negotiated diplomatically.”
2:28 a.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been named one of the 100 most influential people of 2022 by Time Magazine. “In President Zelenskyy, the people of Ukraine have a leader worthy of their bravery and resilience, while citizens across the country…fight for their homes and freedom,” wrote US President Joe Biden. In the Russian war against his country, Zelenskyy “left his mark on history”. The supreme commander of the Ukrainian army, Valeriy Saluschnyj, also made it onto the list published on Monday.
Meanwhile, on the “Time” list of the most influential people of the year, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin can be found, on whom the imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny comments. “Perhaps Vladimir Putin’s true mission is to teach lessons. … In 2022 he was particularly good at it,” writes Navalny for the renowned magazine. “He reminded us once again that a path that starts with ‘just a little election rigging’ always ends in dictatorship. And dictatorship always leads to war. It’s a lesson we shouldn’t have forgotten.”
From Germany, “Time” also lists Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen among the 100 most influential people of the year. Time has published the list annually since 1999.
Tuesday, May 24, 00:26: According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the West’s “dictatorial position” towards Russia is accelerating the development of his country’s economic relations with China. Moscow will only rely on itself and on those states that “have proven their reliability,” Sergey Lavrov said, according to the state agencies Ria and Tass on Tuesday night.
According to Lavrov, the future lies in the Eurasia region. In addition to China, he also named India and Iran as important partners. In his opinion, Russia should no longer rely on Western supplies. Rather, Russia will “seriously consider” whether it needs to resume relations if the West offers something.
After the Russian attack on Ukraine began three months ago, the US, the EU and other Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia.
11:13 p.m .: 20 states have promised further arms deliveries to Ukraine. Including Denmark. According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Denmark plans to equip Ukraine with Harpoon anti-ship missiles and launchers. With this, the Ukrainian military is supposed to break the Russian blockades in the ports of the Black Sea.
11:01 p.m .: After three months of war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demanded modern anti-missile weapons and combat aircraft from the West against Russian attacks. Many people “would not have died if we had received all the weapons we ask for,” Zelenskyy said in a new video message on Monday evening. Since the war began on February 24, his country has been the target of 3,000 airstrikes and nearly 1,500 rocket attacks. The vast majority of attacks were aimed at civilian objects.
All of Ukraine’s partners agree that his country’s fight against Russia serves to “protect the common values of all countries in the free world,” Zelenskyy said. That is why his country has a right to arms assistance.
9.30 p.m .: Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck sees an oil embargo against Russia, in his own words, “within reach”. There are only a few states that are reporting problems – especially Hungary, said the Vice Chancellor on Monday in the ZDF “Heute Journal”. You can be considerate here. But then “something has to happen” in Hungary as well. Habeck added: “Well, I think within a few days we will also achieve the breakthrough.”
The EU Commission has proposed to end imports of Russian crude oil in six months because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. As a compromise, the Commission proposes giving Hungary more time. The proposal does not go far enough for the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
You can read more news on the following pages.
