17.06.2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 05:00 Peace researchers: Number of operational nuclear weapons is increasing +++
The number of nuclear weapons ready for use rose again last year. Warheads are being decommissioned and the number of nuclear weapons worldwide has been falling for decades, writes the Stockholm Peace Research Institute Sipri in its annual report. At the same time, however, more and more warheads are being kept ready for use. After the start of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, Russia and the USA have become less transparent about nuclear weapons. “We have not seen nuclear weapons play such a prominent role in international relations since the Cold War,” says Wilfred Wan, head of the Sipri Weapons of Mass Destruction program.
+++ 03:08 FDP: Newly arriving Ukrainians should no longer receive citizen’s allowance +++
Following a move by the Union, the FDP is also calling for the abolition of the citizen’s allowance for refugees from Ukraine. “Newly arrived war refugees from Ukraine should no longer receive citizen’s allowance in the future, but should be subject to the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act,” said FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai to the “Bild” newspaper. This should create an incentive for people to look for work. Brandenburg’s Interior Minister Michael Stübgen and Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann had previously spoken out against the payment of citizen’s allowance, especially to Ukrainians of military age who have fled to Germany.
+++ 01:20 Glide bomb hits Kharkiv +++
According to Mayor Ihor Terekhov, Kharkiv was bombarded with a KAB glide bomb late in the evening. A children’s recreation center was reportedly hit and a building was destroyed. There is no information about possible injuries.
+++ 00:09 Baerbock: Support for Ukraine also keeps war away from NATO +++
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warns of serious consequences for Germany and NATO if Ukraine is not supported. “If we do not continue to support Ukraine, we run the risk of Putin’s troops being on the border with Poland. The war will quickly reach EU and NATO territory,” the Green politician told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. New refugee movements are also the result. “If Ukraine can no longer defend itself – and I am saying this to those who refuse to support it – then millions more people will have to flee. Because who would voluntarily live under torture and occupation?”
+++ 22:20 Ukrainians have to make do with even less electricity +++
Due to the systematic Russian bombardment of their energy plants, Ukrainians must prepare for even greater problems with their electricity supply in the coming weeks. “In the next and subsequent weeks, the situation will be much more difficult than today,” warns Volodymyr Kudryzky, head of the energy supplier Ukrenerho, on Ukrainian television. There will be an increasing number of scheduled shutdowns and power cuts by the end of July. The situation will not change until the urgent repairs to two nuclear reactors are completed, says Kudryzky. People already have to live with power cuts again and again.
+++ 21:55 Kharkiv region: Pregnant woman among those injured in airstrike +++
According to authorities, three people were injured in Russian air strikes in the Kharkiv region. A pregnant woman, a man and a 13-year-old boy were taken to hospital, writes the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office. Russian troops attacked the village of Pisky-Radkivski in the afternoon. More than ten houses and an ambulance were damaged.
+++ 21:14 Yellen rejects Putin’s “theft” accusation +++
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen contradicts Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who on Friday described the freezing of Russian assets abroad and their use to support Ukraine as “theft”. The frozen Russian assets will remain where they are, says Yellen on ABC’s “This Week”Russia has no claim to the income generated by the frozen assets, Yellen continued. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the US and its partners decided to freeze Russian state funds in their jurisdiction, she explained. This amounts to around 280 billion dollars. “And the largest part of that, around 200 billion dollars, is in a Belgian financial institution, where they generate income that does not belong to Russia and that has flowed to that institution.” An agreement was reached with the G7 group to grant Ukraine a loan of 50 billion dollars, which will be paid from the interest earned on the frozen funds.
+++ 20:40 Russians are said to have intensified attacks +++
Against the backdrop of the peace conference in Switzerland, Russia is stepping up its attacks on Ukraine, according to information from Kiev. “Over the course of the day, the enemy has increased the pace of its attacks and assaults and is looking for ways to either drive a wedge into our defenses or drive the Ukrainian units out of their positions,” the Ukrainian General Staff announced. The number of battles has risen to 88. The Russian military is trying to advance further, particularly in the Pokrovsk area in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. Most of the fighting took place there – 36 in total. 25 of these were repelled, but 11 attacks are still ongoing. This cannot be independently verified.
+++ 20:07 Ukrainian Navy relies on new surface drone “Stalker 5.0” +++
In the fight against the Russian invasion, Ukraine is also relying on surface drones. They now have the new surface drone “Stalker 5.0”, The Ukrainian armed forces share on social mediaThe drone was presented in Odessa. The combat boat can travel at speeds of up to 75 kilometers per hour and carry up to 150 kilograms of explosives or other loads. The range is about 600 kilometers. The value is said to be 60,000 euros.
+++ 19:36 Russian journalist killed by drone attack according to media +++
According to Russian sources, a Russian journalist was killed in a drone attack in eastern Ukraine. “Our correspondent Nikita Zizagi was killed in an attack by drones of the Ukrainian army,” writes the website News.Ru on Telegram. According to the report, the attack took place near a monastery near the town of Vugledar, which was recently the scene of heavy fighting. On Thursday, a journalist from Russian state television was killed and another was injured in a Ukrainian drone attack in Golmiwsky, a Russian-controlled village near the front line in the Donetsk region. The Russian Foreign Ministry accuses Ukraine of deliberately targeting the journalists.
You can read all previous developments here.