The EU is developing an emergency plan for the gas supply stop. Putin paves the way for “special measures” for the army in Russia. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
7:03 p.m .: After the Russian rocket fire in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, the federal government has asked Moscow to stop attacks on civilian facilities immediately. The shelling of Vinnytsia was an “act of cruelty,” said Deputy Government Spokesman Wolfgang Büchner on Friday in Berlin. “The city of Vinnytsia is far from any front lines. The Russian attack hit the Ukrainian civilian population and shows once again that Russia is massively violating the rules of international law in this war.”
According to Ukrainian information, several civilian facilities in the central Ukrainian city were hit in the attack on Thursday. At least 23 people were killed and more than 100 others injured.
The federal government was “horrified” by the attack on Vinnytsia and condemned it “strongly,” said Büchner. “We call on Russia to refrain from any attacks against civilian targets.”
5:19 p.m .: Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian has assured Ukraine that it will not deliver drones to Russia. “The American claims in this regard were baseless and more of an act of propaganda ahead of US President (Joe) Biden’s (Israel) trip,” Amirabdollahian told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Friday. According to the IRNA news agency, the Iranian chief diplomat said his country had always advocated a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis.
Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said on Monday that there were indications that Iran wanted to support Russia in a war of aggression against Ukraine. In this context, according to Sullivan, Iran is also preparing to provide drones that can also transport weapons.
4:38 p.m .: According to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the European Union has not only shot itself in the knee with its Russia sanctions, “but in the lung”. In a radio address on Friday, the nationalist Prime Minister called on Brussels to change its policy towards Moscow.
“At first I thought we shot each other in the foot. But the European economy has shut itself into its lungs and is now struggling for air,” Orban said. “There are countries that are convinced of the sanctions policy, but Brussels has to admit that this was a mistake.” The sanctions did not have the desired success “and even triggered the opposite effect”.
Orban is above all a critic of the oil embargo against Russia. The EU decided this in June after weeks of resistance from Hungary. At Orban’s urging, an exception was made for oil delivered by pipeline.
4:10 p.m .: The US space agency Nasa wants to resume cooperation with Russia on flights to the International Space Station ISS despite the Ukraine war. For security reasons and to ensure “the US presence in space”, there will be joint flights by NASA astronauts with Russian cosmonauts in Russian Soyuz rockets again from September, Nasa announced on Friday. Russian astronauts should therefore use the SpaceX rockets flying on behalf of the USA for the first time.
2:33 p.m .: Germany has promised the Republic of Moldova against the background of the Ukraine war millions in aid. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced at an international donor conference in Bucharest on Friday that she would support the country with “up to 77 million euros”. 40 million euros of this are to be made available to cushion the high energy costs for particularly poor households in the Eastern European country.
The energy issue is “a key security issue,” said the Greens politician at a press conference with Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu, French State Secretary for Development Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, and Moldova’s Labor Minister Marcel Spatari. Before the conference, Baerbock had said that the federal government wanted to provide the 40 million euros as direct budget support, “because with this high inflation rate, the poorest in Moldova are really on the brink of existence”.
This applies in particular to energy prices. In relation to the number of inhabitants, Moldova “takes in the most refugees from Ukraine”. At the same time, the inflation rate in the country is 29 percent.
Germany is also helping Moldova secure its border and providing the country with drones, night vision goggles and vehicles, the minister added. The Budget Committee of the Bundestag still has to approve the financial aid.
2:01 p.m .: Russian President Vladimir Putin has fired the head of the Roskosmos space agency, Dmitry Rogozin. A corresponding decree was published on the Kremlin’s website on Friday. The new head of Roskosmos will be Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.
As Deputy Prime Minister, Borisov was responsible for the military-industrial complex. In Russia, this also includes space travel.
1:00 p.m .: The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lviv, Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, shows no understanding for a possible trip by the Pope to Moscow. “It would be a disaster if the Holy Father visited Russia first and then Ukraine. It is quite possible that the borders of Ukraine would be closed to him if he came from Russia,” the archbishop told the weekly newspaper “Die Tagespost” in an interview. “Our believers say that one must first turn to the victim of the accident, to the one who suffers, and only then to the one who caused the accident.”
One is very grateful to the Pope “that he was close to the Ukrainian people from the beginning with his prayers and many appeals,” said Mokrzycki. The Ukrainian people are less satisfied that Francis first visited the Russian ambassador in Rome and never clearly stated that Russia was invading Ukraine.
Mokrzycki, who served as secretary to John Paul II and Benedict XVI from 1996 to 2005. who worked at the Vatican, told the newspaper verbatim: “Not only the Greek Catholic believers, we too do not agree with all the Holy Father’s gestures towards Russia; but maybe we don’t understand his intentions and his politics very well.” And further: “Let’s hope that the Pope has good intentions and that his way of acting will soon bring peace to Ukraine.”
According to the Archbishop for Latin Rite Catholics in Western Ukraine, “it is almost official that the Holy Father – once he returns from Canada – will decide when to come to Kyiv: possibly in August or September”.
11:58 a.m .: According to Business Insider, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is examining the delivery of 70mm rocket launchers to Ukraine that can be attached to pickups. There are believed to be around 20 Fletcher-type systems, confirm multiple government sources. Regardless of this, the federal government has already announced that it will deliver around 80 pickups.
It is unclear when the systems can be used in Ukraine. Time is of the essence. Because the Ukrainian military is coming under increasing pressure in the east and south. Modern western weapons including ammunition are needed more and more urgently.
Friday, July 15, 8:17 a.m.: The Deutsche Bahn subsidiary DB Cargo helps with the export of grain from Ukraine. “We assume that we will be able to ramp up the system extremely over the next few weeks, so that we will be able to get the maximum rail capacity out of Ukraine,” said DB Cargo boss Sigrdi Nikutta Friday on ZDF. Grain is brought from Ukraine to ports in Poland, the Netherlands and Germany. Around 20 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukraine because of the ongoing war.
2:51 p.m .: Almost five months after the attack on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin cleared the way for the Russian economy to be more closely aligned with the needs of the army. The Kremlin chief signed a law on Thursday allowing the government “special measures” for military operations abroad. This means that individual sectors can be obliged to supply the armed forces. In addition, workers in these companies can be forced to work nights, weekends and public holidays and not to take vacation days.
When asked under what circumstances the government was planning to implement such measures, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov simply replied, according to the Interfax agency: “To the extent that the government deems it reasonable, it has the right to take them (the measures) to apply.” Parliament passed the law last week. Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov justified it, among other things, with the Western sanctions against Russia and the Western arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Russia has been at war with the neighboring country since the end of February. Since then, Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that everything is going “according to plan” in the “special military operation” – as the war is officially called. International military experts, on the other hand, point out that Russia may have lost significantly more soldiers and equipment than officially stated.
1:06 p.m .: According to Moscow, the restart of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline after the current maintenance work is primarily the responsibility of the West. “As for the operation of the gas pipeline in the future, much will depend on our partners – both in terms of demand for gas and in terms of preventing the negative impact of illegal restrictive measures,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said , according to the Interfax agency on Thursday.
Zakharova specifically referred to the case of a turbine that was overhauled in Canada but then not returned to Russia due to Western sanctions. In the meantime, however, Canada has decided to hand over the turbine to Germany. Russia had significantly throttled gas deliveries to Germany in June, citing the missing part as the reason.
9.32 a.m .: The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, Michael Roth, calls for further arms deliveries from Germany to Ukraine. “The delivery of modern Western equipment, also from Germany, makes a big difference,” said the SPD politician in an interview with the news portal ntv.de. “That’s why these arms deliveries must be continued consistently and comprehensively.” The war in Ukraine is changing. “In the coming months, Ukraine will increasingly focus on regaining territories conquered by Russia,” said Roth. The federal government has also promised arms deliveries for this phase. “We must not let up in the coming weeks and months.”
Unlike other public voices, Roth did not insist on a quick ceasefire: “A ceasefire without troop withdrawals would only give Putin a welcome respite to bring even more soldiers and military equipment to the front,” Roth said. Vladimir Putin is only pretending to be interested in negotiations. “Russia wants to destroy Ukraine. There is absolutely no doubt about that.”
With a view to Russian gas supplies, which may soon be completely eliminated, Roth said: “It is technically impossible for Russia to simply reduce domestic gas production to zero. That does not work. Then Putin would have to flare off the gas. He can certainly turn the gas tap on and off at times, but he cannot bring gas production to zero or divert the gas to other countries via other pipelines because they do not exist.” Roth urged more self-confidence in the showdown with the Kremlin. “Russia is a tired, sick colossus that rests one-sidedly on finite raw materials and military power. He has faltered quite a bit, ”said the foreign expert. “It is kept alive by nationalism and colonialism, a violent dictator and anti-social turbo-capitalism.”
Roth reported that there are still many “Putin understanders who attack me every day” in Germany. However, their number has recently decreased. “At least a lot of people just shut up now,” he said. Roth paid tribute to the outgoing Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk despite all the differences: “Of course he polarized people, he also hurt people and certainly made mistakes,” said Roth. But: “Melnyk represents a country that is fighting for its existence and for its survival. He wanted to do something so that we do not turn a blind eye to this misery. He succeeded.”
5:35 a.m .: In view of the impending gas crisis, significant energy saving measures could come to the economy and consumers. A draft for an emergency plan by the European Commission provides that public buildings, offices and commercial buildings should be heated to a maximum of 19 degrees from autumn. “Acting now can reduce the effects of a sudden supply interruption by a third,” says the text, which is available to the German Press Agency. There is now a “considerable risk” that Russia will stop gas supplies to Europe this year.
Companies that can replace gas should reduce their consumption, they say. The aim is to protect industries that are particularly important for supply chains and competitiveness. Households are also encouraged to voluntarily consume less. “Anyone can save gas, now,” writes the commission.
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