Both diplomatically and militarily, Ukraine is entering a crucial week. At least that’s how President Volodymyr Zelenskyj sees it, because his country could be classified as an EU accession candidate. At the EU summit, Russia will “demonstratively step up” its attacks. Russian troops are concentrating their advances on key cities such as Sloviansk and Sievjerodonetsk, especially in Donbass in eastern Ukraine. The night of the war at a glance.
Zelenskyj speaks of the upcoming “historic week”
Ukrainian President Zelenskyj sees his country facing the historic possibility of becoming a candidate for EU membership, but at the same time warns of serious fighting. “Tomorrow will be a truly historic week when we will hear the European Union’s response on Ukraine’s candidate status,” said Zelenskyy in his video address. However, he warned that a targeted intensification of Russian aggression is to be expected for this reason.
Russia will demonstratively intensify its “hostile actions this week, not only towards us, but also towards other European countries,” Zelensky said. Ukraine is prepared and is warning its partners. On Friday, the EU Commission recommended granting Ukraine candidate status. However, all 27 member states still have to agree to this. The final decision is to be made at the EU summit on 23/24. June fall.
Von der Leyen is firmly counting on EU candidate status for Ukraine
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is convinced that Ukraine will receive candidate status. “I firmly assume that we will get a positive decision, get support, the course has now been set,” said von der Leyen on the ARD talk show “Anne Will”. “Of course, this is a historic decision that the European Council must now make, but the preparations are good,” she said, adding: “I’m confident.”
Von der Leyen emphasized that her authority’s decision on Ukraine’s candidate status was based on the data, facts and preparatory work that the country had done over the past eight years. “Ukraine has made enormous strides forward in recent years.” However: “We want to see more reforms.”
Russian troops “storm” in the direction of Orikhowe
The fighting, meanwhile, continues with full intensity, especially in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass. According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army, Russia is preparing an offensive against the city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region. Villages around the embattled city of Sieverodonetsk continue to be under intense Russian fire. Ukrainian forces said they had pushed back the Russians around Sieverodonetsk. In a post on the online network Facebook, the Ukrainian army referred to a success in the Toshkivka area. However, according to Kyiv, Russian forces are “storming” in the direction of the village of Orikhove.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had launched rocket attacks at a meeting of senior Ukrainian military officials, killing “more than 50 generals and officers”. In addition, a building in which weapons supplied by the West were stored, including ten howitzers and around 20 armored vehicles, was destroyed by Russian shelling in the city of Mikolajiv.
Australia begins delivering promised combat vehicles
Australia has sent the first four of the 14 pledged M113AS4 armored personnel carriers to Ukraine, according to the Defense Ministry. They were loaded onto a Ukrainian plane in Queensland last week, Defense Secretary Richard Marles said. “Australia stands with Ukraine and once again calls on Russia to end its unprovoked, unjust and illegal invasion of Ukraine.” The combat vehicles are part of the more than 285 million Australian dollars in aid.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister: “We will fight with shovels”
Even in the event of an end to Western arms supplies, Ukraine would continue to fight against Russia. “If we don’t get weapons, fine, then we will fight with shovels, but we will defend ourselves because this war is a war for our existence,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in English on the ARD talk show “Anne Will “. “So the sooner we get guns, the sooner they are sent, the greater the help for us. If guns are sent later, we will still say ‘thank you’, but then a lot will be wasted, many people will have died .”
Significantly more assets of Russian oligarchs frozen in EU
In the EU and especially in Germany, significantly more assets of Russian oligarchs have been confiscated in recent months due to the sanctions imposed due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. The value of frozen assets has “almost doubled from 6.7 billion euros in April to currently just over 12.5 billion euros,” a spokesman for the EU Commission told the newspaper “Welt”.
Accordingly, it is said in circles of the EU Commission that the steep increase in frozen assets is “mainly” due to numerous assets that were located and blocked in Germany. The assets of “more than 1,100 people and institutions are currently frozen,” said the spokesman for the EU Commission.
Schulze: “Famine will challenge us for years”
According to Development Minister Svenja Schulze, the global effects of the war will be felt for years to come. Individual countries have so far relied heavily on individual suppliers and have placed little emphasis on diversity in addition to corn, wheat and rice. “It’s taking revenge now,” she told the “world”. “In the past, local crops such as sorghum, which are well adapted to the soil and climate, were grown more in Africa.”
In view of the impending hunger crisis in parts of the world, she is in favor of strengthening local agriculture in the affected regions. First of all, quick help is needed for the countries that are already suffering from the consequences of a lack of grain deliveries from Russia and Ukraine, said the SPD politician. “In the long run, however, it only helps if the affected countries are once again able to produce more themselves, in a way that is climate-friendly and sustainable,” the minister made clear.
RWE boss expects high gas and electricity prices for years to come
Lasting effects will also affect German citizens in the next few years. The CEO of the Essen-based energy group RWE, Markus Krebber, expects high gas and electricity prices for years to come. “It will probably take three to five years,” said the manager of the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” about the energy bottlenecks in Germany. “Because it takes time before new capacities are created and other countries can supply additional energy.”
Krebber welcomed Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck’s plans to restart coal-fired power plants in order to save natural gas. “Everywhere where you can switch to other energy sources, this should happen.” The throttling of gas supplies from Russia is already having an effect. “We also get significantly less than the agreed amounts,” says the RWE boss. The group, which operates gas and coal-fired power plants in Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands, must now “buy the fuel at significantly higher and further increasing prices”.
Krebber ruled out continued operation of the last nuclear power plants in Germany beyond the end of 2022. However, as planned, RWE is banking on the expansion of the Garzweiler II opencast lignite mine in the Rhineland. “Planned open pit mine progress is important – especially as we prepare for gas-saving scenarios.”
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