11.06.2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 00:37 Rheinmetall and Ukraine open tank repair facility +++
The German arms company Rheinmetall and Ukraine are opening their first joint tank repair shop and production facility. According to the Ukrainian Ministry for Strategic Industries, the keys to the workshop for the repair and maintenance of the Marder infantry fighting vehicle have been handed over. The first joint service center will enable German equipment to be repaired and maintained quickly directly in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Defense in Kiev. This should significantly increase the efficiency of the armed forces. Ukrainian specialists work in the joint production facility, while Rheinmetall representatives take over technical supervision.
+++ 23:46 Selenskyj has arrived in Berlin +++
Ukrainian President Zelenskyj has landed in Berlin. He announced this late in the evening on XIn the German capital, he is taking part in the reconstruction conference for his country. “Chancellor Scholz and I will talk about further defense aid, the expansion of the Ukrainian air defense system and joint arms production,” said Zelensky. He will give a speech in the Bundestag on Tuesday afternoon.
+++ 22:15 Russia expels ORF journalist +++
The Russian Foreign Ministry has withdrawn the accreditation of an Austrian journalist and ordered her to leave the country. This is a reaction to the withdrawal of the permanent accreditation of a Russian correspondent for the state agency Tass in Austria, the ministry announced. In return, the ORF correspondent must now leave the country. The Tass employee’s accreditation was withdrawn on April 30, which is why he had to leave Vienna on June 7, the ministry in Moscow announced. The Austrian side has not yet explained its discriminatory decision, it said.
+++ 21:44 Poland sets up buffer zone on border with Belarus +++
Poland has decided to set up a buffer zone in the border area with Belarus. At a meeting in Bialystok in the east of the country, Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s cabinet instructed the Interior Ministry to issue a corresponding regulation. The aim is to make it more difficult to smuggle migrants across the Polish-Belarusian border and to improve working conditions for border guards, the army and the police. The exclusion zone is to be 200 metres deep, but in a few places up to two kilometres deep. EU and NATO member Poland has a border with Belarus that is around 400 kilometres long. Poland and the EU accuse Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko of bringing migrants from crisis regions to the EU’s external border in an organised manner in order to put pressure on the West.
+++ 21:14 DIHK: Guarantees important for engagement of German companies in Ukraine +++
To rebuild Ukraine, the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) is calling for the expansion of certain insurance mechanisms. “We support the fact that the federal government has kept important instruments of German foreign trade promotion open for Ukraine despite the war,” says DIHK General Manager Martin Wansleben. The expansion of the coverage practice of German investment guarantees was therefore helpful. Wansleben is calling for the reconstruction conference to be held in Berlin to lay the foundations for using reinsurance mechanisms to cushion high costs and risk assessments and thus facilitate financing. An overview of internationally available instruments for investments, export insurance and other insurance solutions would also be important for German companies in their commitment. The German economy is continuing its cooperation. According to the DIHK, German investment guarantees were provided for over 40 projects in 2022 and 2023.
+++ 20:41 Ukraine: 32 men flee by truck across green border to Hungary +++
According to Ukrainian sources, 32 Ukrainians fled to Hungary in a truck across the green border in western Ukraine. “The neighboring side reported that it had discovered a vehicle and arrested 32 Ukrainian citizens,” said Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian border guard, to the news portal Ukrajinska Pravda. Men of military age between 18 and 60 are only allowed to leave the country with a few exceptions. Many are therefore trying to flee across the green border to neighboring EU states or to Moldova. Bodies of men who have fled are also repeatedly found in the border river Tyssa (Tisza) and in the Carpathians.
+++ 20:09 Germany and EU increase Ukraine support fund +++
At the international reconstruction conference in Berlin, Germany and the EU want to increase the funding for a project by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) to support Ukraine by 30 million to a total of 75 million euros. Germany will increase its contribution from the current 27 million by 12 million euros, and the EU Commission will increase its support by 18 million to 36 million euros, a spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin said. The project is therefore part of the Foreign Office’s stabilization platform. It is intended to provide concrete support to strengthen state and civil society actors in the regions particularly affected by the war.
You can read all previous developments here.