06/26/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 03:11 EPP chief urges the G7 to stay patient +++
Before the G7 summit in Elmau, Bavaria, the head of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, called for long-term support for Ukraine. What is needed is “the message to the warmonger Putin that he will not win this war,” Weber told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “There must be no doubt that Western democracies have staying power and are ready to help Ukraine in the long term.” At the same time, Weber called on the G7 to find new partners in Asia, Africa and South America. It must be possible to “build a kind of free trade zone in the free world, in which people support each other,” demanded the EPP boss. China should not be the beneficiary of new conflicts and “Western naivety”.
+++ 01:38 Nouripour warns of “war fatigue” +++
Ahead of their meeting in Elmau, Bavaria, Green Party co-chairman Omid Nouripour called on the G7 to give Ukraine and the countries of the Global South more support. “It is the task of the economically strongest democratic industrial nations to work together and in a coordinated manner to protect freedom, democracy and human rights,” Nouripour told the newspapers of the Funke media group. “A strong signal of support must go out from the G7 summit, both for Ukraine and for the countries of the Global South.” “War fatigue” should not set in. “Military and financial support for Ukraine must continue in the next phase of the conflict. In addition, further financial aid is needed for the countries of the Global South, which have been hard hit by the consequences of the war.” The G7 countries would have to agree on how the consequences of the war on the world food situation could be mitigated.
+++ 00:57 Great Britain accepts further loan guarantees +++
Britain is ready to guarantee another $525 million in World Bank loans to Ukraine later this year. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said before the G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria, that this year’s financial support would total $1.5 billion. “Ukraine can win and they will win, but they need our support to do so,” said Johnson. “Now is not the time to give up on Ukraine.”
+++ 23:29 Ischinger sees West on the defensive +++
The longstanding chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, sees the West on the defensive ahead of the G7 summit in Elmau. “I see the real purpose of this summit in reaffirming Western determination to defend a rules-based international order against massive breaches of international law like that of Putin,” said the former top diplomat to the Tagesspiegel newspaper. “It’s a defensive meeting to defend our values and rules. ” The Iraq war and the Afghanistan war had shaken the West’s credibility, said the current head of the Foundation Council of the Security Conference. “That’s why the West doesn’t have a particularly good hand in the struggle with Russia and China,” he said. “We’re in a very unfavorable starting position there.”
You can read earlier developments of the Ukraine war here.