06.10.2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 06:24 Ischinger: Use of nuclear weapons by Russia would be embarrassing for China +++
The longtime head of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, assumes that Russia will hesitate for a long time before using nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war. This is also due to the friendship with China. “It can only be detrimental to this friendship, which Russia needs, if Russia is the first country to detonate a nuclear weapon since 1945,” Ischinger said in an interview with ntv. That would be embarrassing for China, which presents itself as the champion of the Global South, Ischinger continued. But “of course it would be frivolous if we dismissed this possibility of escalation,” Ischinger continued. However, Russia still has many options for action below this escalation threshold.
+++ 05:55 fires and injuries in the battle for Zaporizhia +++
Fighting in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia continues overnight. “As a result of enemy attacks, fires broke out in the city, there may be injuries. Rescuers are already rescuing people from the rubble,” says the governor of the region, Oleksandr Starukh, on Telegram. Several houses were damaged or destroyed by the shelling.
+++ 04:54 After a seven-month break: Russian tourist plane landed in Cuba +++
Russians drawn to the warmth can travel to Cuba again. Despite the sanctions against Russia, tourist flights are again operating between the countries. For the first time in seven months, a Russian Nordwind Airlines aircraft has landed in the holiday resort of Varadero. It is not known how many tourists were on board. Nordwind Airlines had been working for months on a route that would avoid US and European airspace. This is closed to Russian airlines.
+++ 03:00 EPP boss Weber concerned about Erdogan’s closeness to Putin +++
Ahead of today’s founding summit of the European Political Community in Prague, the chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, warns that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is close to Russia’s head of state Vladimir Putin. “Putin must not come back to the European table through the back door,” the CSU politician told the “Bild” newspaper, referring to Erdogan, who has been invited to the summit. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron should not allow “ambiguities regarding support for Ukraine and the future of the EU” at the meeting, Weber said. It was not until mid-September that the Turkish head of state “was happy to present himself with Putin and some of his accomplices such as the Belarusian dictator Lukashenko” at a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
+++ 01:49 Ukraine reports recapture of three other places +++
Ukraine has recaptured three more settlements in the southern Kherson region in the past 24 hours, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The places are all northeast of the city of the same name. A Russian statement is not available. Selenskyj had already spoken of “dozens” of recaptured towns in the Cherson region on Tuesday evening. The government in Kyiv had previously announced that the entire north-eastern region of Kharkiv is already under Ukrainian control.
+++ 01:01 AfD wants to warn MPs about a trip to Russia +++
The AfD federal executive warns three members of the state parliament for their trip to Russia. A party spokesman confirms this. The exact justification is still being worked out. The three politicians are Christian Blex from North Rhine-Westphalia and Hans-Thomas Tillschneider and Daniel Wald from Saxony-Anhalt. The three politicians traveled to Russia in September, but canceled the trip after severe criticism. Representatives of other parties accused the AfD of siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
+++ 23:55 Alleged gold teeth apparently do not come from torture victims +++
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has apparently issued false information: an image that is circulating on social media shows, according to information from the “Bild” newspaper not gold teeth from torture victims or those killed, as stated. Local reporters said it was the collection of a local dentist whose home was ransacked by Russian soldiers. The dental crowns are made of steel and were apparently used by the Russian occupiers to intimidate the population.
+++ 22:59 Selenskyj announces application for the 2030 World Cup +++
There were reports yesterday, now the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj confirmed it in his evening video speech: Ukraine wants to bring the World Cup to the country. “Together with our friends – Spain and Portugal – we are applying to host the FIFA World Cup 2030,” Zelenskyy said. He is optimistic about the chances of success. “It will be very symbolic if three European Union countries – Spain, Portugal and Ukraine – can host the World Cup together.” Only a few months ago, Ukraine received the status of an EU accession candidate.
+++ 22:02 Drive up with a tank: Video apparently shows surrendering Russian soldiers +++
A video is making the rounds on the Internet that apparently shows the surrender of three Russian soldiers. The film shows how the soldiers drive on a tank covered with white cloths to a position of Ukrainian soldiers, who then arrest them. The former head of the Böll Foundation in Kyiv, Sergei Sumlenny, writes: “Some Russian tankers decided on ‘Khochu Zhit’ (I want to live). That’s the name of the Ukrainian program that allows Russian soldiers to arrange their surrender in advance and to avoid misunderstandings in the surrender. This is how Ukraine helps the Russians survive in this war.”
+++ 21:40 researchers: Less methane than feared released from Nord Stream pipelines +++
According to French researchers, the leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines have released less climate-damaging methane into the atmosphere than feared. Data from monitoring stations across Europe led them to conclude that 70,000 tons of methane had been released, scientists at France’s Atomic and Alternative Energy Commission (CEA) said. Other estimates would have been a multiple of this amount, at up to 300,000 tons. The estimated amount released is equivalent to 2 percent of France’s carbon emissions, or Paris’s emissions for a full year, according to the researchers.
You can read earlier developments relating to the Ukraine war here.