live blog
Status: 05/01/2022 04:49 a.m
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According to Ukrainian troops, they shot down two Russian warplanes and several drones. 213,000 households in Ukraine are apparently currently without gas and heat. The developments in the live blog.
7:34 a.m
Kuleba asks China for security guarantees
In an interview published yesterday in the Chinese state media, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked China for protection guarantees and sharply criticized Russia. “Ukraine is currently exploring the possibility of receiving security guarantees from permanent members of the UN Security Council, including China, and other major powers,” Kuleba told Xinhua News Agency. “This is a sign of our respect and trust in the People’s Republic of China.”
Beijing had already pledged to assist Ukraine in 2013 if it was attacked or threatened with nuclear weapons. Since Russia’s invasion, however, the Chinese leadership has been evasive on the issue.
The government in Beijing has not officially condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine, instead repeatedly accusing the US and NATO of provoking Russia and fueling the conflict by supplying arms to Ukraine. So far, Chinese state media have largely followed Moscow’s line, hardly reporting on civilian victims of Russian attacks. The interview with Kuleba now contained unusually open criticism of Russia.
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06:54 a.m
Dead and injured in attacks on villages in Kherson
According to Russian sources, Ukrainian forces have shelled villages in the Kherson region. Civilians were killed and injured, the Russian news agency RIA reports with reference to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The ministry said Ukrainian forces shelled a school, a kindergarten and a cemetery in the villages of Kyselivka and Shyroka Balka. It gave no indication of the time of the attack or the number of dead and injured. Ukraine has not yet responded to the report. The information cannot be independently verified.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
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06:49 a.m
Million tons of grain blocked in Ukraine
Millions of tons of urgently needed food in Ukraine cannot be used at the moment. “Currently almost 4.5 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukrainian ports and on ships and cannot be used,” said the director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Germany, Martin Frick, the dpa news agency.
There are currently problems with the export of food, among other things, because ports and sea routes are blocked in the course of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Until the beginning of the war, Ukraine was one of the world’s most important producers of wheat and a major producer of corn. According to UN figures, for example, a good 30 million tons of maize and almost 25 million tons of wheat were harvested in the country in 2020. Many countries, for example in North Africa, are dependent on cheap wheat from Ukraine. The grain is also crucial for global food aid.
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4:49 a.m
Federal government supports plans for oil embargo
According to information from the dpa news agency, the federal government is supporting European plans for an import ban on Russian oil. In the most recent preliminary talks on a sixth sanctions package, Berlin had clearly spoken out in favor of introducing an embargo, the dpa learned from EU diplomats in Brussels.
A corresponding decision by the European Union has thus become much more likely. Only Hungary, Austria and Slovakia as well as Spain, Italy and Greece are considered to be the brakes on the oil embargo. According to diplomats, countries such as Slovakia and Hungary have so far been against a rapid import ban, mainly because of their great dependence on Russian oil supplies.
In the southern European countries, meanwhile, the expected increase in energy prices after an embargo is viewed with great concern by consumers.
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4:02 a.m
Ukraine reports shooting down of Russian warplanes
According to Ukrainian troops, they shot down two Russian warplanes and several drones. The Su-25 aircraft and four of the seven downed drones were hit in eastern Ukraine, the Air Force and Army said on Facebook.
In addition, three anti-aircraft tanks, the Strela-10 anti-aircraft system and a radio vehicle were destroyed on the Russian-controlled island of Snakes in the Black Sea, the South commando said on Facebook.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
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3:47 a.m
Baerbock insists on Russia’s withdrawal
For the German Foreign Minister, the withdrawal of all Russian soldiers from Ukraine is a prerequisite for lasting peace in Europe and an end to sanctions against Russia.
“It’s clear to us that the sanctions can only be lifted if Russia withdraws its troops. A peace on the terms that Russia dictated would not bring the security we longed for in Ukraine or for us in Europe,” said Baerbock of the “Bild am Sunday” according to a preliminary report. At worst, this would be an invitation to the next war – even closer to the German borders.
You have to help that Ukraine is strong enough to decide for itself: “It is the Ukrainians who are dying in this war and who are threatened with oppression and tyranny under Russian occupation.”
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3:32 a.m
US military coordinates arms shipments
According to Ukrainian sources, the Ukrainian and US military have again agreed on the delivery of weapons, ammunition and other equipment. The process is constantly strictly controlled, according to a phone call between the Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valeriy Saluschnyj and US chief of staff Mark Milley on Saluschnyj’s Facebook page.
Accordingly, the difficult situation in eastern Ukraine was also discussed. Zalushnyj emphasized that the Ukrainian army must switch from Soviet equipment to NATO models. “And the sooner we start this process, the sooner we will complete it,” it said.
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2:25 a.m
Zelenskyy: Russia is gathering additional forces for attacks in the east
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia is strengthening its armed forces in the east of the country. “Russia is gathering additional forces for new attacks against our military in the east of the country,” Zelenskyy said in his late-night video address.
Russia is trying to increase military pressure in the Donbass. Ukrainian authorities report more Russian missile attacks on targets in southern and eastern Ukraine.
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2:12 a.m
Zelenskyj speaks of 23,000 Russian soldiers killed
According to Ukrainian figures, 23,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. In addition, more than a thousand Russian tanks and almost 2,500 other military vehicles have already been destroyed, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a speech.
Actual military casualties are difficult to estimate. Moscow has so far admitted more than a thousand of its own casualties and puts the number of Ukrainian fighters killed at more than 23,000.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
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1:17 am
Loud heckling at Baerbock’s performance in Ahrensburg
During an election campaign in Ahrensburg near Hamburg, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock once again defended her support for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine. “We want to help the people in Ukraine so that they can defend themselves against Putin’s war of aggression, which violates international law,” said the Green politician on Saturday in front of an audience of around 1,000.
“But what would it mean if we didn’t do anything? Would that mean one less bomb would fall? No,” she said. With her appearance, Baerbock provided campaign assistance for Monika Heinold, the Greens’ top candidate for the state elections in Schleswig-Holstein. A new state parliament will be elected there on May 8th.
According to the police, around 150 people tried to disrupt the event on the town hall square. They received Baerbock and Heinold with piercing sirens and shouts like “warmonger” and “liar”. According to the police, however, there were no incidents.
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1:16 am
Chancellor Scholz defends his course
Chancellor Olaf Scholz defends his Ukraine policy against accusations that he is acting too hesitantly and fearfully in the face of Russian aggression. “I make my decisions quickly – and in coordination with our allies. I am suspicious of hasty action and German going it alone,” said the SPD politician to “Bild am Sonntag”.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz accused the chancellor of being anxious and procrastinating about German arms deliveries to Kyiv this week. The Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk also called Scholz’s policy sluggish. “Olaf Scholz is probably doing it like Angela Merkel: just wait, watch and decide later – or not. What’s missing is imagination and courage,” he told “Bild am Sonntag” with a view to the German reaction to the invasion of the Russian army.
After the report, Scholz made it clear that he wanted to stick to his course. “I’m not scared enough to be impressed by such allegations,” he said. At the same time, he emphasized that harsh criticism of his decisions was legitimate. “In a democracy, it’s part of the opposition being tough on you. That’s what they’re there for.”
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12:50 a.m
Melnyk calls for more arms deliveries to Ukraine
According to the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, the German government’s promise to deliver Gepard tanks to his home country does not go far enough. “The direction is right, but of course that won’t be enough,” says Melnyk of the “Bild am Sonntag”.
The Gepard tanks are 40 years old, “to defeat Russia, we need the most modern German weapons.” That’s why Ukraine wants “the speedy export of 88 Leopard tanks, 100 Marder tanks, self-propelled howitzers and much more,” said Melnyk.
“But a rethinking of people’s minds is crucial. We are experiencing the biggest war in Europe for 80 years. You can’t win it with 30 or 100 tanks anymore. It would be important to have a German Lend-Lease law like in the USA and a long-term alliance against Russia.”
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12:20 a.m
Naftogaz: 213,000 Ukrainian households currently without gas and heat
The CEO of the largest Ukrainian energy supplier, Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, complains of massive damage to his country’s gas pipeline network by Russian troops. “Bombardments destroy the infrastructure every day, and we are constantly trying to repair it,” Vitrenko said in an interview with the “Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland” (RND), adding: “213,000 Ukrainian households are currently without gas.”
There is massive damage to the gas network in large cities such as Mariupol or Kharkiv, but also many destroyed lines in the smaller towns and villages in eastern Ukraine. “People need the gas for heating, for cooking and for hot water,” said Vitrenko.
War against Ukraine: second largest city Kharkiv under massive Russian shelling
Birgit Virnich, ARD Warsaw, daily topics 11:30 p.m., May 1, 2022
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1:11 am
The live blog from Saturday to read
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