Ukraine war in the live ticker: +++ 07:58 Henkel is considering more home office to save gas +++

The consumer goods manufacturer Henkel is considering temporarily reintroducing more home office to save gas. “We could then lower the temperature in the offices significantly, while our employees could heat at home to the normal extent,” said Henkel boss Carsten Knobel of the “Rheinische Post”. In addition, the group can use more coal and oil in its company-owned power plant in Düsseldorf, which is currently mainly operated with gas. “Compared to today’s operation, we could save almost a third of the gas,” said the manager.

+++ 07:34 Habeck: LNG terminals can be put into operation at the turn of the year +++
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck assumes that the first two temporary LNG terminals in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel will be put into operation at the turn of the year 2022/2023. The federal government has rented four floating liquid gas terminals, the Greens politician told the “Welt”. “Two ships are already available this year and are to be used in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel at the turn of the year 2022/23.” His ministry is therefore working in close cooperation with the federal states.

+++ 07:06 Hamburg wants to restrict hot water supply in the event of a gas emergency +++
The Hamburg Senator for the Environment, Jens Kerstan, has announced that the amount of hot water for private households will be limited in the event of a gas emergency. “In an acute gas shortage, warm water could only be made available at certain times of the day in an emergency,” said the Green politician of the “Welt”. A reduction in the maximum room temperature in the district heating network could also be considered. For technical reasons, it will not be possible everywhere in Hamburg to distinguish between commercial and private customers in the event of a gas shortage, said Kerstan. According to Kerstan, a possible provisional LNG terminal for liquid gas in the port of Hamburg will not be operational until the middle of next year at the earliest.

+++ 06:39 Russia threatens teachers in occupied territories – change of curriculum required +++
Moscow has asked Ukrainian teachers in the occupied territories to sign a document within weeks declaring their willingness to switch to the Russian curriculum, like the “Guardians” reported. Teachers were told by newly appointed local authorities in mid-June that they had until July 21 to either sign a document agreeing to follow the Russian curriculum or to resign, with many saying they threatened to evict their homes.

+++ 06:08 Nouripour: further relief necessary due to rising heating costs +++
Greens leader Omid Nouripour assumes that the federal government must absorb the rising prices with further relief measures for the citizens. “Especially in autumn and winter, heating costs are expected to rise sharply. And then we will also talk about relief,” says Nouripour of the editorial network Germany.

+++ 05:49 explosions in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv +++
In the early morning, detonations were heard in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv. “There are strong explosions in the city! Stay in the shelters!” Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich writes on Telegram. The cause of the explosions is not yet known.

+++ 05:20 Argentina advocates diplomacy +++
Argentina is increasingly relying on diplomacy to end the Russian war of aggression. “I had a phone conversation with (Ukrainian President) Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which I expressed my support for all negotiations to end hostilities and achieve a final peace,” President Alberto Fernández wrote on Twitter. “Latin America rejects the use of force and encourages dialogue to resolve conflicts.” Argentina currently holds the Presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). In early February, Fernández visited Moscow and offered Russian President Vladimir Putin to deepen relations. Argentina could help Russia enter the Latin American market, Fernández said in the Kremlin at the time. He also thanked Putin for the delivery of corona vaccines. Argentina condemned the attack on Ukraine.

+++ 04:13 Kyiv plans to return to schools +++
With the start of the new school year in September, children and young people in Kyiv should be able to return to their schools. After the current summer holidays, there will be face-to-face classes again, according to the education department of the Ukrainian capital. Since the Russian invasion, there had only been online classes – if at all. The most important thing when starting face-to-face classes is safety, explains the head of the education department, Olena Fidanjan. The grounds of the schools will be checked for explosive devices until then. In addition, there is special training for all students and teachers on how to behave in the event of a bomb alarm.

+++ 03:10 Municipal companies warn of turbulence in public utilities +++
In view of the turbulence at the largest German gas supplier Uniper, the Association of Municipal Companies (VKU) warns of a chain reaction that could also affect the municipal utilities. VKU General Manager Ingbert Liebing advises against allowing the increased procurement costs to be passed on directly to customers. Many customers would not be able to pay the higher prices. “That, in turn, would also bring many of our actually very healthy municipal utilities into liquidity problems and, in the worst case, to the brink of insolvency.”

+++ 02:10 USA: Snake Island deduction sign of Ukraine’s strength +++
The US government sees the recapture of Snake Island as a success for the Ukrainian military. Russia’s claim that the withdrawal was a goodwill gesture lacks credibility, a senior US Defense Department official said. “The Ukrainians have made it very difficult for the Russians to maintain their operations there,” he said, according to the Pentagon. That is the reason why the Russians left the island.

+++ 01:12 Federal Network Agency fears total failure of Russian gas supplies +++
The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, fears a total failure of Russian gas supplies – and appeals to the population to save energy. The question is whether the upcoming regular maintenance of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline “will become a longer-lasting political maintenance,” said Müller to the newspapers of the Funke media group. If the gas flow from Russia “is motivated to be lowered for a longer period of time, we have to talk more seriously about savings”. The twelve weeks before the start of the heating season must be used to make preparations, he said.

Read more about this here.

+++ 00:19 Selenskyj: Rocket attack on residential building targeted terror +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the rocket attack on a residential building in the southern Ukrainian region of Odessa as “deliberate, targeted Russian terror”. “It was a simple house with about 160 people. Ordinary people lived in it, civilians,” he said in a video message. So far, 21 dead and around 40 injured have been counted. “Unfortunately, the death toll is increasing.” Neither weapons nor military equipment were hidden in the building – “as Russian propagandists and officials always tell about such attacks”. The impact of the three rockets was neither a mistake nor an oversight.

+++ 23:14 Ukraine: Connection to Zaporizhia nuclear plant is up again +++
The state operator of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, Energoatom, announced that the connection to the monitoring systems of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, has been restored. The power plant is located in an area that Russian troops have conquered. According to Energoatom, the data flow was restored “by its own efforts”. Remote monitoring of the reactors was interrupted after Russian troops shut down cell phone networks that were transmitting the data.

+++ 22:20 Selenskyj: Odessa shelling was intentional +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian rocket hit a residential building in the southern Ukrainian region of Odessa as not accidental. “This is a targeted rocket attack by Russia, Russia’s terror against our towns and villages, against our people, adults and children,” said Zelenskyj, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, after a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in Kyiv. The missile used was actually designed to combat aircraft carriers and other warships. Three Russian rockets near the port city of Odessa killed at least 21 people.

+++ 21:45 Pentagon announces 820 million weapons package +++
The US government has pledged millions in additional military aid to Ukraine for defense in the Russian war of aggression. A US$820 million package aims to provide the country with additional munitions for the Himars missile launcher system, two surface-to-air missile defense systems dubbed Nasams, artillery munitions and anti-artillery radars, such as the Pentagon announces in the evening. A large part does not come from US stocks, but from an agreement with the industry. Since the beginning of the war, the United States has pledged or delivered arms worth almost $7 billion to Ukraine. US President Joe Biden had already promised the new aid at the NATO summit in Madrid.

Read more about this here.

+++ 21:15 “Playing down the Holocaust”: Israel outraged by Melnyk +++
Israel has also criticized statements made by the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, about the controversial Ukrainian politician and partisan leader Stepan Bandera in World War II. These are “a distortion of historical facts, a trivialization of the Holocaust and an insult to those who were murdered by Bandera and his people,” writes the Israeli embassy in Germany on Twitter. They also undermine “the courageous struggle of the Ukrainian people to live according to democratic values ​​and in peace”.

+++ 20:45 Ukraine: Russia attacks Snake Island with phosphorus bombs +++
Ukraine has accused the Russian army of attacking Snake Island in the Black Sea with phosphorus bombs. In the evening, Moscow’s troops “twice carried out an air raid with phosphorus bombs,” writes the Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zalushny on Telegram. Only on Thursday did the Russian army announce its withdrawal from the Ukrainian island, which it had previously occupied for four months.

You can read earlier developments of the Ukraine war here.

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