06/16/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 02:52 Selenskyj sees foreign policy successes in Ukraine +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sees progress in international support for his country attacked by Russia. In his latest video message, he lists all international contacts for the day: phone calls with US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a meeting with Albanian and Montenegrin leaders Edi Rama and Dritan Abazovic. “In all international contacts, I hear admiration for the actions of our defenders,” says the President. But Russia would not be Russia if it were to sit back and watch Ukraine’s foreign policy successes, Zelensky said. He referred to Moscow cutting gas supplies to the EU and Wednesday’s rocket attacks in the Mykolayiv and Kharkiv oblasts.
+++ 01:48 Two US citizens missing in eastern Ukraine +++
Two US citizens fighting on the side of Ukraine have been missing for a week. Both last had contact with their families on June 8 and did not return from a mission in the Kharkiv region, the relatives said. Reports that the two men were taken prisoner by Russia have not yet been confirmed, the US State Department said. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. If held in Russian captivity, they would be the first confirmed US citizens taken as prisoners of war in the conflict. Last week, two Britons and a Moroccan who had fought on the side of Ukraine were captured and sentenced to death by a court in the pro-Russian separatist region of Donetsk.
+++ 00:16 report: 4.3 billion dollars damage in the Ukrainian agricultural sector +++
According to calculations by Kiev calculations, Ukraine’s agriculture has suffered damage of 4.3 billion US dollars (4.1 billion euros) as a result of the Russian war of aggression. According to a report by researchers commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, large areas have been damaged or contaminated by mines. So a harvest worth 1.43 billion US dollars could not be brought in. The cost of the necessary mine survey and clearance is estimated at US$436 million. In addition, agricultural technology was destroyed for 926 million US dollars. Irrigation systems worth US$ 225 million were damaged in the Russian-occupied areas of southern Ukraine. The damage to grain silos was estimated at 272 million euros. In addition, Russia had transported grain worth 613 million US dollars from the occupied territories. Livestock production losses are estimated at $136 million.
+++ 00:24 Habeck calls for energy saving after renewed gas throttling +++
After the Russian Gazprom group cut gas supply volumes, Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck once again called for energy saving. “Every kilowatt hour helps in this situation,” says the Green politician in a video on Twitter. The situation is serious, but it does not endanger the security of supply in Germany. “We have to be vigilant,” warns Habeck. It is treacherous to forget the war in Ukraine and assume that everything can go on like this. “We must continue to work in a concentrated manner. Above all, we must not allow ourselves to be divided. Because that is what Putin intends to do.”
+++ 23:11 Germans less often see responsibility for war in Russia than Finns or British +++
In Germany, a smaller proportion of the population blames Russia for the war of aggression in Ukraine than in other European countries. This is the result of a representative Yougov survey commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) think tank. According to this, around two thirds of the people in Germany see the main responsibility in Russia. In Finland, on the other hand, it is 90 percent, in Great Britain, Poland and Sweden 83 percent each.
+++ 22:25 USA blame China’s partisanship for Putin +++
The US has criticized China for announcing increased cooperation with Russia. “China claims to be neutral, but its behavior makes it clear that it still invests in close ties with Russia,” a US State Department spokesman said. “Nations that side with Russian President Vladimir Putin will inevitably find themselves on the wrong side of history.” More than three months since Russia’s invasion, “China still stands with Russia,” the US State Department spokesman said. “It still spreads Russia’s propaganda around the world. It still protects Russia in international organizations and shirks its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. And it still denies Russian atrocities in Ukraine, suggesting they were staged .”
+++ 22:03 Selenskyj comes to the NATO and G7 summit +++
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy accepted invitations to G7 and NATO summits. Selenskyj writes this on Twitter. The group of seven leading industrial nations (G7) will meet in Bavaria at the end of June, followed immediately by NATO in Madrid. Chancellor Olaf Scholz invited him to the group of the seven leading Western industrial nations. The invitation to join NATO came from Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Selenskyj does not say whether he will leave his capital Kyiv or how to connect to other conferences via video link.
+++ 21:34 More than a tripwire: Latvia’s President praises NATO’s eastern flank protection +++
Latvia’s President Egils Levits praised the Canadian-led NATO battalion’s protection of NATO’s eastern flank in his country. “This is not just a training mission, it’s an operational deterrent,” Levits said at a ceremony marking the multinational battlegroup’s five-year anniversary at Latvia’s Adazi military base. The NATO unit demonstrates the Allies’ determination to defend each and every member of the Alliance. In view of the Russian war in Ukraine, Levits is pushing for a further strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank. The previous NATO tripwire logic for the defense of the Baltic States is no longer sufficient.
You can read earlier developments of the Ukraine war here.