01/27/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 00:13 Air Force Twitter account hacked +++
The Air Force’s Twitter account has been hacked. In the meantime, you had “no access” to the profile, says a spokeswoman. However, access was restored a short time later. The incident had previously been reported on the Bundeswehr’s Twitter profile. “From now on, possible tweets, direct messages and reactions are not from the Luftwaffe,” it says. A good hour later, the Air Force gave the all-clear in a tweet: “We’re back online… Thanks to our IT specialists, it’s working again… Puuhhhhh”. The tweet was mistakenly added with the addition # Keinmachtdenhackern.
+++ 23:19 Moscow bans internet portal Meduza +++
Russia classifies the popular and government-critical news portal Meduza as an “undesirable organization”, which is effectively tantamount to a ban. This is reported by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. The independent media, which reports in detail on Russia’s war against Ukraine, had already been branded a “foreign agent” by the authorities in 2021. Shortly after Putin ordered the invasion of the neighboring country eleven months ago, the website was also blocked. Since then, Russian readers have only been able to access it via a VPN tunnel. The classification as an “undesirable organization” can now have serious consequences for readers, as the editorial team, who fled to Latvia, reports. Specifically, there is a risk of criminal prosecution for sharing Meduza articles on social networks, for donations and for reader comments under texts. Meduza journalists who remain in Russia are also in danger.
+++ 22:17 Sweden believes there will be a turnaround in the dispute with Turkey: NATO membership is still possible +++
Despite the dispute with Turkey about joining NATO, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is optimistic. “There is a chance, without a doubt,” Kristersson said after a report by the TT news agency. He doesn’t dare to create a schedule. “But I hope it happens as soon as possible.” Sweden, along with Finland, wants to become a member of the western military alliance as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. NATO member Turkey has so far refused to agree to admission. Earlier this week President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sweden could not count on his country’s support for accession after an Islamophobic politician burned a Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu now says that tripartite meetings make no sense in such a climate. Before that, Sweden must take the necessary steps. However, Turkey has never explicitly said that the door is completely closed to Sweden, according to Kristersson.
+++ 21:59 conflict researcher considers tank deliveries to be a turning point in the war +++
The conflict researcher Hein Goemans classifies the tank deliveries from Germany and the USA to the Ukraine as a turning point in the war. “With this decision, the West seems to have crossed the Rubicon,” says the professor of international politics at the University of Rochester in the US state of New York. “The West is no longer taking the line that Ukraine must not lose. It is now pursuing the goal that Ukraine must win.” Goemans said that the determined and coordinated action of the USA, Germany and other western countries was definitely the right course of action. Article 51 of the United Nations Charter grants every UN member the right to self-defense. “Those who warn against an ‘escalation’ and therefore did not want to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine seem to want to limit this right. That would be an extremely dangerous precedent. It would confirm the aggressor – Russia -.”
+++ 21:45 Poland would also deliver fighter jets to Ukraine – NATO as a whole decides +++
Poland’s government says it would support NATO if it decides to supply fighter jets to Ukraine. “I think we, NATO, have to be braver,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told French broadcaster LCI. One should not be afraid to supply Ukraine with missile and anti-aircraft batteries for deployment throughout its territory and not just in the west, in the capital Kyiv and on the front lines. If a delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine is also considered, according to Morawiecki, Poland would vote in favor of it. But of course it can only be a decision of NATO as a whole, said the head of government.
+++ 21:32 Council of Europe unanimously calls for the establishment of a special tribunal for Russian leaders +++
In view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the Council of Europe is unanimously calling for the establishment of an international special tribunal. The representatives of the 46 member states pass a resolution with 100 votes in favor and one abstention. She demands that the government and military leaders in Russia and Belarus, who “planned, prepared, initiated or carried out” the aggression against Ukraine, be held accountable. “Without their decision to wage this war of aggression against Ukraine, the resulting attacks, destruction, deaths and damage would not have occurred,” said the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The resolution also stressed that some of the acts committed by Russia in Ukraine against civilians, including killings and forced displacement of children for the purpose of Russification, “could fall” under the definition of “genocide” under the 1948 international convention.
+++ 21:15 tank deliveries: Poland wants to continue to put pressure on Germany +++
Even after the German government’s decision to deliver 14 Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, Poland wants to keep putting pressure on Berlin. “Poland was, is and will continue to be the engine of support for Ukraine, while Germany is the brake, and maybe that brake was released yesterday,” Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told public radio station Jedynka. “We will continue to put this pressure on the Germans.” Before that, Blaszczak phoned Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
+++ 20:58 Italy and France probably want to send Ukraine Mamba air defense system +++
According to diplomatic sources, France and Italy are about to finalize the technical details for the delivery of a SAMP/T air defense system to Ukraine. In November, Kyiv requested additional air defense systems from its western allies, specifically requesting the SAMP/T, also known as Mamba. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu will travel to Italy on Friday to meet his Italian counterpart Guido Crosetto. Both sides apparently want to advance the SAMP/T talks. “We’re in the process of concluding talks with the Italians. It’s not far off,” says a French diplomatic source. Russia fired on Ukrainian civilians again this Thursday during rush hour.
+++ 20:33 CSU politician Hahn wants to put the Wagner group on the EU terror list +++
The CSU defense politician Florian Hahn calls for the Russian mercenary group Wagner to be put on the EU terror list. “The Wagner troops stand out because of their particular atrocities and terror,” Hahn told the broadcasters RTL and ntv. Therefore such a listing would be “only logical”. The federal government should therefore work on this at EU level, Hahn continues. “The Wagner group has long been more than a private military service provider,” argues the member of the Bundestag. “It is a terrorist instrument of the Putin regime.” His demand is supported by the military expert Walther Michl from the Bundeswehr University in Munich. “The identification as a terrorist organization by being included on the terror list would have a high symbolic value,” said Michl, also RTL and ntv.
+++ 20:09 Ukrainians are preparing for street fights in Bakhmut +++
Slowly but surely the Russian troops are advancing on Bakhmut, and now dare repeated infantry advances. The Ukrainian armed forces, for their part, are preparing for street fighting with trenches. One tries to hold positions – “to the last”.
You can read earlier developments in the Ukraine war here.