The first multiple rocket launchers have arrived in Ukraine. EU candidate status for Ukraine is the main topic of Thursday’s EU summit. And: The Kremlin calls Germany’s accusation in the dispute over gas supplies “strange”. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
Monday, June 27, 6:20 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin has already exchanged several generals and officers. Either because he is dissatisfied with the sluggish advance in Ukraine or because they were killed or injured in combat.
Now he is apparently bringing General Pawel back from retirement. The 67-year-old is set to take command of the armed forces in Ukraine after his predecessor is said to have been seriously injured in an artillery attack. This is reported by the British “Daily Mail”. Pavel was therefore a member of the Russian special forces and was deployed in the war in Afghanistan, among other things.
A senior intelligence official told the Daily Star Sunday: “Putin is about to break the camel’s back. Most of his best and battle-hardened commanders-in-chief were killed or injured in the fighting in Ukraine, so he resorts to second-rate officers who don’t stay on the front lines for long.” .
Despite the capture of the key city of Severodonetsk, Putin is said to have fired the commander-in-chief of the overall operation in Ukraine, General Alexander Dvornikov. According to media reports, Dwornikov does not enjoy the confidence of his troops. A drinking problem was also reported.
His dismissal would be another major upheaval in Putin’s command structure and an expression of his dissatisfaction with the state of the war. According to several experts, Putin assumed that he would be able to take Ukraine in a few days. Instead, the war has already dragged on for four months.
Monday, June 26, 4:01 a.m.: Schloss Elmau (AFP) – The heads of state and government from seven major industrialized countries (G7) continue their summit on Monday (10:00 a.m.). The second of three summit days at Schloss Elmau will begin with a session on the Ukraine war. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who was connected via video, also takes part in it. An assessment of the effectiveness of the G7 sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war was already on the agenda on Sunday.
On Monday afternoon, it will continue with consultations on climate, energy and health policy. The heads of state and government from the five guest countries Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa are taking part. In the afternoon there will be another working session on food safety and gender equality, to which UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also been invited. The summit ends on Tuesday afternoon.
9:57 p.m .: Canada sent two warships to the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic on Sunday. According to the Canadian Navy, HMCS Kingston and HMCS Summerside joined two frigates that are already in the region to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank. The four-month deployment is part of the “deterrent measures in Central and Eastern Europe” that were initiated in 2014 after the Russian annexation of Crimea.
The Canadian ships were reportedly placed on “high alert” in order to be able to “quickly and effectively” support all NATO operations. They should therefore take part in mine clearance exercises by October.
8:05 p.m .: The heads of state and government from seven major industrialized countries (G7) continue their summit on Monday (10 a.m.). The second of three summit days at Schloss Elmau will begin with a session on the Ukraine war. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who was connected via video, also takes part in it. An assessment of the effectiveness of the sanctions of the G7 countries against Russia because of the Ukraine war was already on the agenda on Sunday.
On Monday afternoon, it will continue with consultations on climate, energy and health policy. The heads of state and government from the five guest countries Argentina, India, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa are taking part. In the afternoon there will be another working session on food safety and gender equality, to which UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also been invited. The summit ends on Tuesday afternoon.
7 p.m.: On his first trip abroad since the beginning of the war in Ukraine around four months ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly wants to visit Central Asia in the next few days. First, the head of state will fly to Tajikistan and hold talks with President Emomali Rahmon, Russian state television reported on Sunday. An exact day was not initially mentioned. The ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan is one of Russia’s military allies.
After that, according to the report, Putin wants to travel to Turkmenistan and attend a summit of the countries bordering the Caspian Sea. According to the state agency TASS, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that was planned for Wednesday.
Putin’s last known trip abroad was to China in early February, where he took part in the opening of the Winter Olympics. At the end of February, Russia began attacking neighboring Ukraine.
The G7 summit in Bavaria continues until Tuesday. Russia was expelled from what was then the Group of Eight (G8) after capturing Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
Sunday, June 26, 2022, 12:48 p.m.: According to a Downing Street spokesman, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the G7 summit: “Ukraine is on a knife edge and we must turn the tide of the war in their favor.”
11:15 p.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to recapture the cities occupied by Russia. He said so in his evening video address on Saturday. He referred to Sievjerodonetsk, Donetsk and Lugansk. Melitopol and Mariupol have not been forgotten either. “All other cities in Ukraine that are temporarily occupied will be Ukrainian.” Russia had announced the capture of Sievjerodonetsk in the evening.
According to Zelenskyy, his country was hit by 45 Russian missiles within half a day on Saturday. “They are further confirmation of our position that sanctions against Russia are not enough.” His country needs more military aid.
Ukraine is in a morally and emotionally difficult phase of the war. “We understand that we can still protect the state,” said the head of state. However, he does not know how great the losses and efforts will be until victory appears on the horizon.
7:42 p.m .: According to President Vladimir Putin, Russia will soon deliver nuclear-capable missiles to Belarus. As Putin announced on Saturday at a meeting with Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko, Russia will deliver the Iskander-M missile system to Belarus “in the coming months”, which can also be equipped with nuclear warheads.
Lukashenko had already announced the planned purchase of Iskander missiles and S-400 air defense systems from Russia in May. Putin has now also promised Lukashenko to help upgrade Belarusian warplanes so that they can also transport nuclear weapons in the future.
The Belarusian army has many Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jets, which could be “improved” accordingly, Putin said at a meeting with Lukashenko in St. Petersburg. The modernization has to be carried out in aircraft factories in Russia, and staff training can begin at the same time.
The rearmament plans in the midst of the Ukraine conflict are likely to cause new tensions between Moscow and the West. Belarus borders Ukraine and several NATO countries, but is a close ally of Russia. The Russian military offensive in Ukraine has repeatedly provided diplomatic and logistical support to Belarus, and attacks on Ukraine have also been launched from Belarus.
Since the military operation began in late February, Putin has spoken publicly about nuclear weapons several times, which is seen as a warning to the West not to intervene in the Ukraine conflict.
6:53 a.m .: The wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj compared the Russian troops in her country with the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) and accused them of sex crimes. Olena Selenska referred in the “Welt am Sonntag” to the Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, who had been enslaved by the IS and said: “It’s terrible to say that, but many Ukrainian women experience the same thing under the occupation.” Selenska added: “Because the Russian occupiers are no better than IS terrorists.” Ukrainian women are experiencing the horror right now.
Murad survived crimes by the terrorist organization Islamic State against Yazidis in Iraq. She has been the UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Human Trafficking Survivors since 2016. In 2018 she received the Nobel Prize together with the Congolese doctor and human rights activist Denis Mukwege.
Olena Selenska thanked Germany for granting asylum to many of her compatriots. “I am very grateful to Germany and the German people for taking in our refugees – I only feel gratitude here, gratitude from the bottom of my heart,” said Selenska. As First Lady, she is not responsible for armament issues. “But if someone can also help Ukraine at the front – and not just with humanitarian issues – then of course it’s Germany.”
She appealed to her fellow countrymen who had fled to return to the country when it became safe again to help with reconstruction. “Ukrainians who have had to seek refuge around the world should know: they are waiting for them in Ukraine, their country needs them.” More than 1,600 schools, 600 hospitals and countless apartments have already been ruined. “But we are already starting to rebuild so that at least some of the hospitals and schools can be used again by autumn.”
3:20 a.m .: Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) sees the distribution and reception of war refugees from Ukraine in Germany as largely positive. “We have made sure that refugees with us have good medical care, social security and direct access to jobs. The best way to do this is through the job centers, which have prepared intensively to support many refugees,” said Faeser of the “Rheinische Post” (Saturday).
Nevertheless, this remains a great effort. The same applies to the schools and day-care centers that have taken in refugee children. “In large cities, we also need additional accommodation to relieve private landlords,” emphasized the SPD politician. The federal government continues to support the municipalities and states in this task.
Faeser gave four reasons why it was possible to take in and care for so many people quickly and well.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, more than 850,000 people have come to Germany and been recorded here. “We assume that many of them have already returned to Ukraine,” said Faeser. Almost 40 percent of those who have fled to Germany are children, most of them of primary school age. Almost 80 percent of adults are women. The war continues to cause “unbelievable suffering,” added the politician.
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