09/27/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 06:00 Moldova wants to pay Gazprom an advance +++
The Republic of Moldova wants to pay the Russian energy company Gazprom an advance for the month of September. According to Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Spinu, all fears that the Russian gas giant could reduce or stop supplies from October 1 should be allayed. “In the next few days, Moldovagaz will pay Gazprom an advance of $33.89 million for the month of September,” Spinu said in a statement broadcast on Pro TV Chisinau. Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, is heavily dependent on Russian gas and has suffered massively from the rise in gas prices since the Ukraine war.
+++ 05:30 Donetsk has top priority for Zelenskyj +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describes the military situation in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk as “particularly serious”. In his nightly video speech, he explains that the region is Ukraine’s top priority: “Because the Donbas is still the No. 1 target for the occupiers.”
+++ 04:29 Heusgen approves of main battle tank deliveries +++
The chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, advocates the delivery of the Leopard main battle tank to Ukraine. “The Ukrainians want these heavy weapons,” says the former foreign policy adviser to the Rheinische Post. Although he can understand that the federal government is opposed to going it alone on this issue, he suggests that Germany should bring together all states that have such a tank in a consortium. “Then these countries could deliver Leopard tanks, train Ukrainian soldiers in them and jointly ensure the maintenance of military equipment.”
+++ 03:28 USA warns Moscow of “real” consequences of nuclear use +++
The US government again warns Russia in no uncertain terms against the use of nuclear weapons. The consequences would be “extraordinary” and “real,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price told CNN. This was also made very clear to Moscow. “We didn’t leave the Russians with a shadow of a doubt,” says Price. The US government means business. Price declined to say exactly what those consequences would be. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had already spoken of “catastrophic” consequences at the weekend.
+++ 02:39 number of dead after rampage increases according to Tass to 17 +++
After a rampage at a school in Izhevsk, western Russia, the death toll has risen to 17. This is reported by the Russian news agency Tass. “According to the Russian investigative body, 17 people died, including 11 children and six adults,” the agency said. The department of the Interior Ministry of the Udmurt Republic also assumes that more than 20 people were injured. According to the police, the shooter took his own life after his crime. According to the investigating authorities, he was wearing a balaclava and a black T-shirt with Nazi symbols. His identity has not yet been established and the exact motive for the crime is also unclear.
+++ 01:14 Selenskyj: Russia wants to delay the moment of defeat +++
With the ongoing partial mobilization of the armed forces, Russia only wants to delay the moment of its own defeat, according to statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “They felt that they were going to lose. And they’re just trying to delay this moment in order to at least have some activity at the front,” says Zelenskyj in his video speech. “Unfortunately, the Russian people are not yet aware of the full brutality of the Russian government towards their own people.” The Kremlin had ordered the mobilization of reservists. Since then, there has been horror in many places in Russia. There are protests across the country.
+++ 00:15 polling stations open: last day of “referendums” in Russian-controlled areas +++
In four Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine, the so-called referendums on annexation by Russia ended on Tuesday. On the last day of voting in the separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass and in the southern Ukrainian regions of Cherson and Zaporizhia, the polling stations are to be opened. So far, pro-Russian officials have gone from door to door to collect votes. The votes, which Kyiv and its western allies criticized as sham referendums, began on Friday.
+++ 23:49 “Gymnasiums are not an alternative”: Günter promises more money for taking in refugees +++
The state government is providing cities and municipalities in Schleswig-Holstein with more money to take in refugees from the Ukraine. “We want to do it well, gyms are not an alternative,” said Prime Minister Daniel Günther after a meeting with the municipal umbrella organizations. Finance Minister Monika Heinold puts the total volume at around 95 million euros. Among other things, the state wants to bear most of the costs incurred for accommodation over the 17 million euros provided by the federal government. The municipalities have to make their own contribution to this. The number of war refugees in the northernmost federal state has now risen to almost 43,000.
+++ 23:16 Hungary and Cyprus against price caps for Russian oil +++
Negotiations on the EU’s planned tightening of sanctions against Russia are proving difficult: During initial talks between the EU Commission and the member states over the weekend, Hungary and Cyprus expressed their opposition to a price cap for Russian oil, according to sources in Brussels on Monday. The foreign ministers of the EU and the seven important industrialized countries (G7) announced further sanctions against Moscow last week because of the partial Russian mobilization and the nuclear weapons threats from Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. An official proposal from the EU Commission to the member states is expected this Wednesday.
+++ 22:24 Another drop in pressure: two pipelines from Nord Stream 1 fail +++
Two strings of Nord Stream 1 are down for a month due to pressure drop. The company announced that it was the connection lines Opal and Nel. The disruption at the Greifswald natural gas transfer station is expected to last from September 26th to October 26th. Such a pressure drop had already been detected in the Nord Stream 2 sister pipeline on Monday night. No Russian natural gas has flowed through Nord Stream 1 to Germany for some time. The Russian state-owned company Gazprom justifies this with technical problems that allegedly cannot be solved due to Western sanctions. The Federal Government considers this justification to be a pretense. Read more about this here.
You can read earlier developments relating to the Ukraine war here.