March 18, 2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 23:40 Truce at the Olympics: Putin says he is ready to talk – but not with Zelensky +++
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Russian President Putin says he is open to talks about a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympic Games. Putin said in a speech after his re-election that he was open to the idea expressed by France. However, the interests of the Russian military at the front would have to be taken into account. The Olympic Games will take place in Paris from July 26th to August 11th. If there were to be talks about a possible peace with Ukraine, he would have to think about who he could discuss it with, Putin continues. He makes it clear that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is out of the question.
+++ 22:56 Putin: Navalny’s death “sad incident” – prisoner exchange allegedly planned +++
For the first time in years, the re-elected Kremlin leader Putin publicly mentioned the name of his late opponent Alexei Navalny. “As for Mr. Navalny. Yes, he died. This is a sad incident,” Putin said at a press conference at his campaign headquarters, broadcast by state television. He further claims that there was the idea of exchanging Navalny for people imprisoned in the West. He, Putin, agreed to such an exchange. And he said that Navalny should never return to Russia. The 47-year-old Navalny was sentenced to decades in prison in Russia and died in a prison camp in unclear circumstances in northern Russia in mid-February.
+++ 22:39 Putin thanks the Russian citizens and especially the soldiers +++
After the publication of the partial results of the presidential election, Russian head of state Putin thanked his compatriots for taking part. “We are a united team, all Russian citizens who came to the polling stations and voted,” Putin said in a speech to his campaign team that was broadcast on state television. The election results showed Russians’ “confidence” in his leadership. In the speech, Putin also addressed “special words of gratitude to our soldiers” who are “performing the most important task of protecting our people” in Ukraine.
+++ 22:14 Nouripour sees a need for discussion in the SPD about its stance in the Ukraine war +++
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour sees a need for discussion within the SPD after the controversial statements by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich about freezing the war in Ukraine. The SPD party conference resolution on this issue in December was completely different from what Mützenich recently said, said Nouripour in the ARD program “Report from Berlin”. “The Social Democrats, especially Lars Klingbeil, the party leader, have done a lot in the last two years to collect and update the wrong Russia policy of the last few years.”
+++ 9:50 p.m. Warsaw: Presidential election in Russia “not legal” +++
After the first partial results of the presidential election in Russia were announced, Poland criticized the vote as “not legal”. “Russia’s presidential election is not legal, free and fair,” said the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw. The election was held “under severe repression” and in occupied parts of Ukraine in violation of international law.
+++ 21:02 Danger of war: Spain’s defense minister with a wake-up call to Spaniards +++
Spain’s Defense Minister Margarita Robles has issued a wake-up call to her country’s population in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons. “The threat is real and absolute. I believe that Putin’s statements in recent weeks have made it clear that he could be ready to use nuclear weapons at any moment,” Robles said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia published on Sunday. “I think that in Spain we are not always sufficiently aware of the risk we are in, (…) while there are people who, like Putin, are causing real carnage in a country like Ukraine,” said the socialist , who has been in office for more than five years. Ukraine is currently going through a very difficult time. Spain will continue to do everything it can to help the country, Robles said.
+++ 20:15 US government on beleaguered Ukrainian defense lines +++
The US government has once again denounced the lack of supplies of military equipment and weapons to Ukraine and warned of the consequences. Russian forces pushed against the Ukrainians’ first line of defense and tried to reach the second, National Security Council communications director John Kirby told US broadcaster Fox News. They were taking over small towns, villages and farmland, not so much because it was strategically valuable, but because they wanted to show that they were making profits, especially because of the elections in Russia. They are on the rise, albeit slowly. The Ukrainians would not have the ammunition and other military capabilities they need to push back the Russians and retake the territories. That’s why it’s so important that they receive supplies now.
You can read all previous developments here.