25.06.2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 04:38 Orban on Kyiv’s EU accession: “Hungary does not agree” +++
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has expressed criticism of the accession talks between the European Union and Ukraine, which will begin this Tuesday in Luxembourg. Orban told the newspapers of the Funke Media Group: “Hungary does not agree with this accession process, but we are not blocking it and we support the start of negotiations.” The talks are “a purely politically motivated process.” It is not about yes or no to EU membership. “But we would first have to examine what the consequences would be if we accepted a country at war whose borders are not clear in practice,” said Orban, whose country will take over the EU Council Presidency on July 1.
+++ 03:36 EU begins accession talks with Ukraine +++
The EU will begin accession talks with Ukraine on Tuesday. “The path to full membership, which Ukraine deserves, is irreversible,” said Ihor Zhovka, foreign policy adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an interview in Kiev. For now, the ceremony in Luxembourg is more about symbolism than the finer points of the negotiations. These will begin once the EU has assessed the numerous reforms Ukraine needs to make to meet EU standards.
+++ 02:35 USA: Russian Atacms launch killed civilians in Crimea +++
According to the US, Ukraine did not target civilians in its attack on Crimea at the weekend. Russia apparently intercepted an Atacms missile that was intended to disable a missile launch pad, a US official said. Debris from the missile fell on a beach. According to Russian sources, at least four people were killed in the Ukrainian attack with Atacms missiles at the weekend, including two children. 151 people were injured. Russia holds the US partly responsible for the attack. The US government said that Ukraine makes its own decisions about targets and military operations.
+++ 01:35 USA wants to supply Kiev with more ammunition +++
According to government sources, the USA wants to supply Ukraine with additional ammunition worth 150 million dollars. According to two US government officials who wished to remain anonymous, the decision is expected to be officially announced today, Tuesday. The upcoming delivery is also expected to include ammunition for the Himars multiple rocket launchers provided by the USA, which can also fire Atacms missiles. After Ukrainian Atamcs attacks on Crimea, Moscow declared that the USA was now a party to the war.
+++ 00:36 Moscow calls EU sanctions “ineffective” +++
Moscow dismisses the new punitive measures in the EU’s 14th sanctions package against Russia as ineffective. The EU is actually harming itself, says the Foreign Ministry in Moscow. The West is not looking at the consequences for its own economy or for the prosperity of the people in the EU, says Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko in Moscow. Russia expects economic growth of over three percent this year, more than ten times as high as in Germany, for example. “The purpose of the sanctions was to strangle the Russian economy, to destroy the cohesion of society. The EU has achieved the opposite,” says Grushko.
+++ 23:28 Deporting unemployed Ukrainians: Schwesig contradicts Dobrindt +++
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig criticizes the initiative by CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt to send war refugees back to certain areas of Ukraine if they do not accept work in Germany. “There are no safe areas because Russia is attacking the whole of Ukraine,” said the SPD politician in the ZDF “heute journal update”. The statement was “very populist” at the expense of the many refugees, including many women with children. She accuses Dobrindt of following critical voices in the population.
+++ 22:29 Ukrainian General Staff: Almost 130 battles at the front with Russian troops +++
According to Ukrainian sources, there have been 128 skirmishes with Russian troops on the front since daybreak. As the Ukrainian General Staff announced in its situation report on Facebook, the Russian troops are currently concentrating on the area around Pokrovsk. According to the report, this area accounted for a third of the Russian attacks today. According to the report, the Ukrainian defense forces managed to repel the attacks and hold the front lines.
+++ 21:57 “Shameless violation” – Hungary criticizes EU decision on Russian assets for Ukraine +++
The Hungarian government is reacting with displeasure to the decision of other EU states to use the profits from frozen Russian funds for Ukraine. There has never been such a “shameless violation of common European rules,” said Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Facebook. Now they are examining how Hungary can get its rights through legal means. The government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will take over the EU presidency in a week. Orbán continues to maintain good relations with the government in Moscow.
+++ 21:38 Ukrainian Navy: 120 Russian drones destroyed in attack in Krasnodar Oblast +++
According to the Ukrainian Navy, 120 drones were destroyed in an attack on the Russian region of Krasnodar. The attack on June 21 was carried out by the Ukrainian Navy and the Security Service SBU, according to the Navy’s Facebook page. This was reported by the Ukrainian news agency UkrinformThe Ukrainian armed forces reportedly hit objects at a military training area of the 726th training center of the Russian air defense in Yeisk. According to the report, drone pilots are trained there.
You can read all previous developments here.