18.06.2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 04:50 Arrested US soldier makes partial confession +++
US soldier Gordon Black, who was arrested in Russia on suspicion of theft, among other things, has pleaded partially guilty. As the Russian news agency Interfax reports, he said in court in Vladivostok that he was “partially guilty of theft” but that he did not commit it intentionally. He denies the accusation that he threatened his girlfriend with death. Several other US citizens are already imprisoned in Russia, including journalist Evan Gershkovich and former soldier Paul Whelan. Both are accused of espionage.
+++ 03:50 Incorrect values for Nord Stream 2: Network Agency imposes fine +++
The Federal Network Agency has imposed a fine of 75,000 euros on the pipeline operator Gascade in connection with the controversial German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 2. According to the Bonn-based authority, Gascade published incorrect values in 2021 following IT problems that suggested that Nord Stream 2 would be put into operation. The market reacted to the false report and assumed that the pipeline would be put into operation shortly. This resulted in significantly lower prices.
+++ 02:58 Putin thanks North Korea for arms aid in Ukraine +++
Ahead of his visit to North Korea, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Pyongyang for supporting the Russian offensive in Ukraine. “We greatly appreciate the resolute support of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) for the special military operation in Ukraine,” Putin wrote on Tuesday in an article published by North Korea’s state news agency KCNA. It added that both countries were “actively developing the multifaceted partnership.”
+++ 01:57 Russia reports heavy Ukrainian attacks in Kharkiv +++
According to Russian sources, heavy fighting has broken out in parts of the north-eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. “The enemy is sending reserves and trying to launch a counterattack, but is encountering fierce resistance from our forces,” said Vitali Ganchev, the Russian-appointed governor of the Moscow-controlled areas of the Kharkiv region. Russian forces have repelled recent Ukrainian counterattacks near Vovchansk, five kilometers across the border. Russian troops entered parts of the Kharkiv region last month and, according to official sources, captured around a dozen villages. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kiev’s armed forces are gradually driving Russian troops out of the disputed area.
+++ 00:55 DIW boss: Reduction of citizen’s allowance for Ukrainians is populist +++
Economist Marcel Fratzscher criticizes calls for a restriction of the citizen’s allowance for Ukrainian refugees as “pure populism.” “Nobody will be better off, nobody will have a single euro more if Germany treats refugees worse and cuts their benefits,” says the president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). “The German state must not spend less money on refugees, but make more efforts to integrate refugees more quickly and better into the labor market and society,” demands Fratzscher.
+++ 23:55 Ukrainians see Selenskyj as legitimate president +++
A large majority of Ukrainians continue to regard head of state Volodymyr Zelensky as the legitimate president, despite his extended term of office during the war. According to a survey conducted by the International Sociological Institute in Kiev, 70 percent of the 2011 Ukrainians surveyed believe that Zelensky should remain in office until the end of the war. Only 22 percent are against this. Ukrainians thus contradict the view held by Moscow that Zelensky’s term of office has long since expired and that he is no longer the legitimate president of Ukraine.
+++ 22:55 Council of Europe concerned about Finland’s deportation plans +++
The Council of Europe has expressed concern about the Finnish government’s plan to repatriate migrants from Russia, who, according to Helsinki, are deliberately being sent across the common border by Moscow. The draft law must be rejected, demands the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Michael O’Flaherty, in a letter to Finland’s parliamentary speaker Jussi Halla-aho. The Finnish centre-right government, which has been in office since last year, wants to significantly tighten migration law. Among other things, it presented a draft law at the end of May that would allow its border guards to turn back refugees.
+++ 22:15 Peskov: Results of the peace conference “strive towards zero” +++
The Kremlin continues to denigrate the results of the Swiss peace conference for Ukraine. Without Russian participation, the summit could not have produced any results, said Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow. “When you talk about the results of this meeting, they are of course tending towards zero,” he said. The fact that a number of pro-Russian states such as Serbia, Turkey and Hungary supported the final declaration does not bother Moscow. “We will of course take into account the position these countries have taken. That is important for us. We will continue to explain our arguments to them,” said Peskov. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow described the conference as a “complete fiasco,” as the state agency Tass quoted a statement by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
You can read all previous developments here.