Lambrecht states that the Arrow 3 air defense system cannot be put into operation before 2025 at the earliest. The Russian pop diva Alla Pugacheva has used sharp words against Putin and his warmongering. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war in the ticker here.
10:42 p.m .: Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder has again commented on the Ukraine war and criticized the European heads of state. “I would have expected that, in the tradition of the European policy of detente, at least an attempt would be made to end the war,” Schröder told the news portal “The Pioneer”.
Schröder made it clear that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was wrong. “Starting the war is a mistake by the Russians. I’ve always said that.” There are never reasons for a war, but there are “geopolitical explanations”.
However, when asked about his cautious criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war of aggression against a sovereign country, Schröder told the portal: “You can’t play a role in possible negotiations if you first go full distance and slam the door loudly.”
6:07 p.m .: Kyiv has ruled out negotiations and a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at this point in time. “In short, the negotiation process itself and a face-to-face meeting between the presidents doesn’t make sense right now,” external adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podoliak, said on Sunday, according to Ukrainian media.
Podoljak gave three reasons why talks are pointless at this stage. First, Russia will try to record and legitimize land gains. Second, maintaining the status quo is only serving Russia as a breathing space so that it can then continue the attacks on the new line. And third, Russia must be held accountable for crimes committed on Ukrainian territory. Negotiations are therefore only possible once the Russian troops have withdrawn from Ukrainian territory. Then the level of reparation payments and the handing over of war criminals could be negotiated, Podoljak said.
5:18 p.m .: The well-known Russian pop singer Alla Pugacheva has sharply criticized Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Since the Justice Department has blacklisted her husband Maxim Galkin as a “foreign agent,” they are asking to be included among the foreign agents, the 73-year-old wrote on her Instagram account on Sunday. “Because I am in solidarity with my husband, an honest, decent and sincere man, a real and irreplaceable patriot of Russia, who wishes his homeland prosperity, a peaceful life, freedom of speech and an end to our boys dying for illusory purposes that make our country a… pariah and make life difficult for our citizens.”
Pugacheva is considered a superstar in her homeland. She has shaped rock and pop music in Russia since the 1970s. Her success has survived the fall of the Soviet Union – with her constant TV presence she was one of the most dazzling show greats in Russia and her marriage to the 27-year-old presenter and comedian Maxim Galkin was a constant topic for the tabloid media. After the start of the war against Ukraine, the couple left Russia for Israel. In contrast to Galkin, who criticized the Russian leadership in Israel, Pugacheva has so far held back with political statements.
All the greater is the echo that could now follow their harsh criticism of the war. The political scientist Abbas Galliamov, once speechwriter for President Vladimir Putin, spoke of a “strong slap” for the Kremlin. “If there are still important people in the country about whom there is a consensus, then of course it is Pugacheva,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. You have always left politics outside. “Their sudden politicization can create in society that feeling, which is so dangerous for the authorities, ‘that’s enough’,” he said.
11:26 a.m .: Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht assumes that the Arrow 3 air defense system for Germany could be put into operation in 2025 at the earliest. “Should we decide in favor of the system and sign contracts immediately and should the industry be able to deliver immediately, then ideally we could start training next year,” said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group. According to this, the system could “under optimal conditions be put into operation in 2025 at the earliest”.
During a visit to Prague at the end of August, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) suggested building a new air defense system together with European neighbors. The project is seen as a response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the resulting change in the security situation in Europe.
Lambrecht admitted in the conversation that there were “gaps” in air defense that needed to be closed. “The Israeli air defense system Arrow 3 is an option,” said Lambrecht.
07:44: The West must not allow itself to be blackmailed by Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons. This is what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys is demanding, reports the Kyiv Independent. Talking with Russia out of fear of using nuclear weapons would only lead to bad results and embolden the aggressor, Zelenskyy said. The newspaper quotes the President as saying that this could lead to World War III. “I can’t even understand how the world’s security and intelligence agencies can allow Russia to even think about [using nuclear weapons],” the Ukrainian president said.
7:41 a.m .: The chairman of the NATO military committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, sees Western military aid and the warfare of the Ukrainian military as decisive factors for Kiev’s recent successes. “The ammunition, equipment and training that the allies and other nations provide make a real difference on the battlefield,” said the Dutchman on Saturday in Estonia’s capital Tallinn, where the committee, which includes the chiefs of staff from the 30 member states, met.
The Ukrainian army had recently recaptured territory occupied by Russian forces in a counter-offensive in the east of the country. According to Bauer, the chiefs of staff discussed at their two-day conference how to “maintain and expand” allied support for Ukraine. “NATO will support Ukraine for as long as necessary. Winter is coming, but support should remain steadfast,” he said.
The NATO Military Committee advises the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s highest political body, on military issues. One focus of the conference in Tallinn was the implementation of the resolutions of the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June. The defense chiefs of Finland and Sweden attended the conference as guests for the first time. The two Nordic EU countries had applied to be included in the defense alliance after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
7:34 a.m .: In his video, Zelenskyi announced that, in addition to the investigative work to solve Russian crimes in the Kharkiv region, normal life should return. People should get food, medicine, electricity and their pensions. Public transport should also be restored. Zelenskyy admitted that there are currently no “significant changes in the situation” at the front. At the same time, however, he emphasized that all occupied territories would be liberated – and that Russia had no chance.
The Cherson, Luhansk, Donetsk areas, including the city of Mariupol there, but also Bedyansk in the Zaporizhia region and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia had annexed in 2014, were to be liberated. Zelenskyy emphasized that the Ukrainian flag will be flying everywhere again. “But we still need time for that.” Above all, Ukraine is relying on heavy weapons from the West to force the Russian occupiers out of the country.
7.30 a.m .: According to Selenskyj, people were tortured with wires and electric shocks. For example, a torture room with electric torture tools was discovered at a train station in Kosatscha Lopan. New evidence of torture was also found in the bodies found in a forest near the city of Izyum. The exhumation of the dead at the “mass grave site” continued on Saturday, Zelenskyy said.
7:23 a.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy compared the actions of the Russian occupiers in his country with the Nazi atrocities in World War II. There is cruel torture, deportations, burned cities, bottomless hatred and nothing alive anymore under Russian occupation, said Selenskyj in a video message distributed in Kyiv on Saturday. Unlike the Nazis, the Russians wouldn’t make soap from the killed Ukrainians – and they wouldn’t make lampshades from their skin. “But the principle is the same,” said the head of state after more than six months of war.
Zelenskyy called the occupiers who fled the Kharkov region a week ago “racists” and said that the “Nazis” behaved in the same way. “Racism” combines the words Russia and fascism and is used by many Ukrainians as a term for “Russian fascism”. Like the “Nazis,” the “racists” would be held accountable for their actions on the battlefield and in court, Zelenskyy said.
“We will determine the identities of everyone who tortured and mistreated those who brought these atrocities from Russia here to Ukrainian territory,” emphasized the 44-year-old. When they fled, the occupiers left torture devices behind. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities have released photos purporting to show torture chambers and equipment. More than ten torture chambers have now been discovered in different cities of the Kharkiv Liberated Region, he said. “Torture was a widespread practice in the occupied territory.”
7:17 a.m .: Despite increasingly loud demands from their own coalition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht do not want to leave any Western-style battle tanks in Ukraine. “We will not go it alone in everything we do,” said Scholz on Deutschlandfunk. The SPD politician emphasized the support already provided. It was precisely the weapons that Germany had made available that “made the difference and also made the current successes that Ukraine has achieved possible,” said Scholz. That’s why it “makes sense that we continue there”.
Lambrecht also reiterated German support for Ukraine. “We make everything possible that we can: We deliver weapons from the stocks of the Bundeswehr, from industry and via the ring exchange,” said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Regarding Ukraine’s demands to also deliver Western-style main battle tanks such as the Leopard 2, Lambrecht said: “We don’t want a German going it alone and we will always make such decisions in consultation with our partners.” Western-style main battle tanks delivered. It is important that the Ukrainian troops can “fight quickly and without long training” with the delivered equipment. “That’s why we’re doing the ring exchange with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and now also with Greece.”
Meanwhile, it became known on Saturday that the federal government of Ukraine approved the purchase of German-made howitzers. A government spokesman said when asked: “We can confirm that a license has been granted to export 18 RCH-155 howitzers.” The “Welt am Sonntag” had previously reported on this, citing documents available to it. Accordingly, it is about a planned order from Kiev with the armaments group Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) worth 216 million euros. However, the howitzers could be delivered in two and a half years at the earliest.
Sunday, September 18, 7 a.m.: After hundreds of bodies were found in the Ukrainian city of Izyum, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht called for investigations into possible war crimes. “These terrible crimes must be cleared up – preferably by the United Nations,” said the SPD politician to the newspapers of the Funke media group. The UN should be given access as soon as possible so that evidence could be secured. “Those responsible for war crimes must be brought to justice,” Lambrecht demanded.
More than 440 graves with bodies have been found in Izyum in the now liberated Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine. According to initial findings, people are said to have died when Russia fired heavily on the city at the end of March. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accuses Russia of torture. According to him, people were tortured with wires and electric shocks.
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