September 13, 2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 03:40 Kim praises the “strategic importance” of the relationship with the Kremlin +++
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un describes his visit to Russia as a clear sign of the “strategic importance” of relations between the two countries. This is reported by the state news agency KCNA. During his visit to Russia, Kim wants to meet with Kremlin leader Putin, who was most recently in the eastern Pacific port city of Vladivostok. Both the place and time of the conversation remain unclear.
+++ 02:18 Berlin’s culture senator skips Netrebko’s appearance +++
Berlin’s Senator for Culture Joe Chialo wants to boycott the performances of the controversial Austrian-Russian singer Anna Netrebko at the Unter den Linden State Opera. “I decided not to attend any of the performances,” says the CDU politician. Chialo will look at the photo exhibition “Russian War Crimes” on Friday together with Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev. The soprano Netrebko is criticized for her closeness to Russian President Putin.
+++ 01:15 Putin’s girlfriend Kneissl gets a military plane for pony transport +++
Austria’s former foreign minister and Putin confidante Karin Kneissl apparently also took two ponies with her when she moved to St. Petersburg. The Russian investigative platform The Insiders reports with reference to military bloggers that a military aircraft was used to transport the animals. Instead of heroes and soldiers, they are now promoting pissing ponies, the medium quotes the blogger as saying. The Russian state news agency Tass previously reported that Kneissl would head a state-affiliated academic center in St. Petersburg.
+++ 00:17 Pope demands “boldness of peace” +++
Pope Francis calls for more efforts for peace in Ukraine and other regions of the world. “Realism is not enough, political considerations are not enough, the strategic measures implemented so far are not enough,” explains the Pope in a greeting to the International Peace Meeting in Berlin. “What we need is the ‘boldness of peace’ – now, because too many conflicts have lasted far too long, some seem endless, and in a world that is getting faster and faster – only the end of wars seems slow. ” The head of the Catholic Church emphasizes that it takes courage to turn in a different direction, despite all the obstacles.
+++ 23:13 Zelenskyj demands disclosure of assets from civil servants +++
Under pressure from civil society, Ukrainian President Zelensky is sticking to a key tool in the fight against corruption in his country. He announced in Kiev that evening that government employees’ digital declarations about their financial circumstances should be public again. Zelensky is thus vetoing a parliamentary law that provided for another year of secrecy for this information. “This is not just about the political responsibility of Parliament, but also about our accession negotiations with the EU,” he said in his evening video speech. Parliament should correct its decision in September.
+++ 22:17 Ukraine reports “partial successes” on the front +++
The Ukrainian army says it is advancing further on two long-contested sectors of the front. The General Staff said there had been “partial success” in the town of Klishchiyivka, south of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which has been occupied by Russia since May. The Kiev General Staff reported further partial successes in the Robotyne area in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south. The Ukrainian army has been slowly working its way through heavily mined Russian defense lines there for weeks. The Ukrainian army reported Russian artillery fire and air strikes from all sectors of the front.
You can read more about the events of the previous day here.