07/22/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 00:24 Habeck: “Putin will use the throttle again and again” +++
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck warns against taking the resumption of Russian gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline as a sign of reliability. Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly uses the availability of gas strategically to divide Germany and Europe, the Greens politician says on ZDF. “We have to accept that Putin is using this gas lever against us,” warns Habeck. Germany must therefore find alternatives and be frugal. Putting the finished Nord Stream 2 pipeline into operation is out of the question.
+++ 00:07 Moscow: EU sanctions exacerbate food crisis +++
The Russian Foreign Ministry describes the new EU sanctions as pointless, but at the same time as illegal and dangerous for the entire global economy. The EU sanctions against Russia are one reason for the worsening of the global food crisis, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova criticizes the package. The European Union is trying to cut Russia’s foreign trade relations and is also taking action against the agricultural sector. The top executives of Russian fertilizer producers have ended up on the sanctions list, and the Rosselkhosbank bank, which is responsible for financing agriculture, has been shut down by the Swift system, Zakharova complains. She considers the exemptions for the agricultural sector contained in the sanctions package to be irrelevant: “Unfortunately, we know that there is a huge distance between the declarations of intent and real steps in the EU,” she says.
+++ 23:08 Belarusian opposition activist Tichanovskaya: Lukashenko’s threats are “loud rhetoric” +++
The Belarusian opposition politician Svetlana Tichanovskaya criticizes the continued operation of the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 1. “We are absolutely certain that there should be no deals with dictators,” she says on ZDF’s “heute journal”. She understands the individual national interests, but in order to stop tyranny and terror, it is time to act decisively and stop gas deals with Russia. Warnings by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of a “nuclear war” should not be taken seriously, Tichanovskaya continued. The ruler only wants to weaken solidarity with Ukraine. “It is high time that democratic countries showed their teeth and showed that they are not afraid of such loud rhetoric,” says the opposition figure.
+++ 22:13 Ukraine devalues the national currency hryvnia by 25 percent +++
The central bank of Ukraine has devalued the national currency hryvnia by 25 percent to protect its foreign exchange reserves. The official exchange rate has been lowered from 29.25 hryvnia per dollar to 36.57 hryvnia per dollar, the National Bank said in a statement. This should increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian products and promote the country’s economic stability during the war.
+++ 21:43 Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of dangerous actions at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant +++
Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of dangerous actions at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian soldiers. Ukraine recently accused Russia of storing heavy weapons and ammunition in the engine room of a reactor in Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Russia had recently accused Ukraine of two drone attacks on the nuclear power plant in the past week. The projectiles landed just a few dozen meters from a tank of reactor coolant.
+++ 21:19 According to Turkey, the signing of grain agreements is imminent +++
In the conflict over the blockade of grain exports from Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and representatives from Russia and Ukraine want to sign an agreement tomorrow, Friday, in Istanbul. This was announced by the Turkish Presidential Office. Negotiated to the last.
+++ 21:00 Kremlin wants to ban Jewish Agency in Russia +++
Amid tensions with Israel over the Ukraine offensive, the Kremlin wants the Jewish Agency, which handles the immigration of Jews from all over the world to Israel, to be banned from working in Russia. The Ministry of Justice has requested the dissolution of the organization, a court spokeswoman said, according to Russian news agencies in Moscow. The ministry cited “violations of the law” as justification. The court spokeswoman does not say exactly what violations of the law the Israeli organization is accused of.
You can read earlier developments of the Ukraine war here.