According to a media report, many Russian refugees initially end up in custody in the United States. According to a secret service report, Russia is to change its military tactics. US announces $323 million missile sale to Finland All current voices and developments on the Ukraine war can be found in the ticker.
More on the course of the war in Ukraine.
11:14 p.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reiterated his call for a special tribunal because of Russia’s war of aggression against his country. Ukraine is already working with many countries and organizations such as the International Criminal Court “so that every Russian murderer receives the punishment he deserves,” he said in his daily video address on Tuesday evening. “But unfortunately the available international legal instruments for justice are not sufficient.”
“Even before the International Criminal Court it is still impossible to try the highest political and military leadership of Russia for the crime of aggression against our state – for the main crime,” Zelenskyy said. Therefore, in addition to the International Criminal Court, a special tribunal is needed. “And we are doing everything we can to create such a tribunal.” The Ukrainian head of state had already campaigned for a special tribunal before the UN General Assembly in September.
9:27 p.m .: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has renewed the offer to station German Patriot air defense systems in Poland. “Our offer to the Polish government to protect our own country is still not off the table,” Scholz said in Berlin on Tuesday. Ukraine promised Scholz further support of a different kind to ward off air attacks. “We’ve just launched new delivery options for Gepard,” he said, without giving details. Germany has already made 30 Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles available to Ukraine.
After a missile hit Polish territory in mid-November, the German government offered the NATO partner Patriot anti-aircraft batteries to secure its airspace. However, Warsaw believes it makes more sense to station it on Ukrainian soil. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Bucharest: “Patriots and transformers are what Ukraine needs most.”
8:35 p.m .: Foreign Minister Baerbock was shocked by the Russian strategy on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO ministers. “I could never have imagined that this brutal break in civilization would be led in this way in recent years,” said the minister. “If infrastructure is bombed in a targeted manner, then you wantonly accept that children, the elderly, families will freeze to death, that they will die of thirst, that they will starve.” Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin uses “cold as a weapon of war”.
The term “rupture of civilization” is often used to describe the Holocaust, the term used almost worldwide for the genocide of Europe’s Jewish population by the Nazis, which killed around six million people.
8:01 p.m .: According to the government, Germany has so far supported Ukraine with around 56 million euros in repairing the energy infrastructure destroyed in the Russian war of aggression. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke on Tuesday in a telephone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj about the situation in the country, as government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced in the evening. Selenskyj informed about the effects of the Russian air raids on civil infrastructure, water and power supply. “The Chancellor condemned the ongoing shelling and assured Ukraine of further short-term support.”
So far, the federal government has provided short-term financial aid for the repair of the energy infrastructure in the amount of around 56 million euros, Hebestreit explained. Germany also provides more than 350 generators.
“The Chancellor reiterated Germany’s continued support to Ukraine, including in the area of air defense and long-term reconstruction,” the spokesman added.
The Ukrainian side had previously stated that the phone call was about, among other things, strengthening Ukraine’s missile defense system. Zelenskyj reported on Twitter that the implementation of an initiative to supply Ukrainian grain to poor countries was also discussed. In addition, the “Ukrainian peace formula” was discussed. This means a complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory within the 1991 borders.
4:57 p.m .: On the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Bucharest, the USA pledged further aid for Ukraine in the amount of 53 million dollars (a good 51 million euros). With this, the United States wants to “provide important equipment for the power grid”, as Foreign Minister Antony Blinken explained in the Romanian capital. The Ukrainian energy infrastructure has been massively disrupted by Russian attacks.
The US package includes, but is not limited to, transformers, circuit breakers, vehicles and other equipment. Washington wants to deliver them to Ukraine as emergency aid. The US had previously promised $55 million for generators, among other things.
Blinken made the renewed commitment at a meeting of the seven major industrialized countries (G7) with up to 20 partner countries on the sidelines of the NATO conference in Bucharest. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) organized the G7 debate. Germany also wanted to announce additional funds in Bucharest to buy more generators, fuel and ambulances and to support demining projects.
NATO has promised Ukraine further support in repelling Russian war of aggression. A joint statement from the 30 allies said: “Building on the support provided so far, we will now help Ukraine to build resilience, protect its people and confront Russia’s disinformation campaigns and lies.” It is also about recovery the energy infrastructure and protecting the population from rocket attacks.The support will be provided “for as long as necessary”.
With a view to Ukraine’s desire to join NATO, however, the ministers made it clear that there will be no accelerated procedure for the time being. Reference was again made to the resolutions of a NATO summit in 2008. At that time, the alliance states had agreed to accept Ukraine and Georgia – but at the same time stipulated that they first had to go through programs for NATO candidates. Such programs have not even started yet.
2:22 p.m .: Ex-boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko has asked Germany for further help in defending against the Russian attack on Ukraine. “The crime, the war crime, that is taking place in Ukraine must come to an end. The suffering must come to an end,” said the brother of Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Tuesday in Berlin at a meeting with FDP politicians.
Germany has already done a lot, but he is coming and asking for further support, also with a view to the winter. Klitschko: “It can’t be that there’s a war in Ukraine and you look the other way and think there won’t be a knock on my door. It will be.” In the Bundestag, he met the chairwoman of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes-Strack-Zimmermann, and the FDP parliamentary group vice-president and foreign politician, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff.
12.40 p.m .: Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has called for increased winter aid for Ukraine. “Millions of people in Ukraine, including children and the elderly, are facing dramatic weeks,” said Steinmeier on Tuesday during a visit to the German Red Cross logistics center in Berlin-Schoenefeld. The Russian attacks on energy infrastructure and water supply are hitting the people with all their might.
According to Steinmeier, donations are needed for food and protective goods such as generators and heaters for the winter. The Federal President visited the logistics center together with the Ambassador of Ukraine, Oleksiy Makeyev. Both spoke to helpers there.
The people in Ukraine are now facing a “winter of great need, darkness and cold,” said Steinmeier. Germany stands by Ukraine. “In Germany, people are mobilizing at all levels to provide winter aid now,” he said. Cities and municipalities played a very special role in this. He called on them to form partnerships with Ukrainian cities.
10.25 a.m .: The economically liberal politician Alexej Kudrin resigns as head of the Russian Court of Accounts. He submitted his resignation to President Vladimir Putin, Kudrin wrote on his Telegram blog on Tuesday. After 25 years in government service, he wants to focus on projects in the private sector.
Kudrin (62) has been a companion of Putin since their time together in the St. Petersburg city government in the 1990s. From 2000 to 2011, as finance minister, he helped stabilize Russia’s state finances and build up foreign exchange reserves. Kudrin was considered an advocate of liberal economic and political ideas in Putin’s environment, but without being able to assert himself against the influence of the secret service and other security authorities.
8:37 a.m .: After heavy defeats in the war against Ukraine, Russia has moved away from its basic military and tactical concept, according to British estimates. In the past three months, the Russian forces in Ukraine have for the most part no longer acted as tactical battalion groups (BTG), the Ministry of Defense announced in London on Tuesday, citing intelligence findings.
The high-intensity fighting over a wide area would have revealed several errors in the concept. “The relatively small allocation of infantry to the BTG has often proved insufficient.” In addition, the decentralized distribution of artillery did not allow Russia to exploit its quantitative advantage with this important weapon. Only a few commanders have permission to use the model flexibly, it said in London.
The BTG concept is a central pillar of Russian military doctrine in recent years. Each tactical unit is equipped with infantry, anti-aircraft, artillery, logistics and reconnaissance units. This should enable the units to fight independently with several types of weapons.
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