Ukraine War: Germany supplies anti-tank weapons and missiles to Ukraine

Pope Francis also spoke to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on the phone. The head of the Catholic Church expressed his sorrow at the tragic events following the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Embassy of Ukraine to the Holy See said in a tweet.

https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/1497576300575395847

YouTube has noticeably restricted several Russian state media on the video platform. “We are pausing monetization of a number of channels on YouTube, including several Russian channels related to recent sanctions,” says a YouTube spokesman.

The restrictions primarily affect the Russian foreign television program RT, which was called “Russia Today” until 2009 and classified in the West as a Russian government propaganda channel. RT is accused, among other things, of targeted disinformation such as the dissemination of conspiracy theories and justifying the war of aggression against Ukraine.

For the first time since the outbreak of war, UN chief António Guterres has spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “The Secretary-General conveyed to the President the United Nations’ determination to increase humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine,” the UN said.

According to a senior US Department of Defense official Russia has so far fired more than 250 missiles at targets in Ukrainemost of them short-range missiles.
Contrary to Russian claims, the projectiles hit “without a doubt” also “civilian infrastructure and residential areas”, he says, according to a Pentagon transcript. It is unclear whether this is intentional or accidental.

meanwhile be Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers invaded Ukraine. The Russians now have “more than 50 percent” of their combined combat troops on Ukrainian territory.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Selenskyj contacted Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Twitter for the planned arms delivery thanks:

Germany has just announced the delivery of anti-tank grenade launchers and Stinger missiles to Ukraine. Keep it up, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz! Anti-War Coalition in Action!

https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1497639060063469571

The Russian Biathlon Union RBU has a decision of the world association IBU sharply criticized, according to which athletes from Russia and Belarus may only compete under a neutral flag at the last three World Cups this winter. The RBU considers the move “illegal, unreasonable and categorically unacceptable,” it said in a statement on its own website on Saturday night. “In order not to expose the Russian athletes to the risk of humiliation” and to ensure their safety, they have now decided not to compete in the upcoming World Cups or in the second-rate IBU Cup.

The Union is increasing the pressure on the federal government to force the exit from the Swift payment system. The Union faction asked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to agree to an immediate exclusion of Russia from the banking communication network. So far, the government has only talked about checking whether a “targeted and functional” restriction is possible.

Loud Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonite an agreement on tougher sanctions against Russia is emerging.

“From what I’ve carefully heard, there don’t seem to be any strong objections anymore,” she says of Russia’s immediate ban from the Swift banking communications system.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda is also common because of the requirement with the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to a short-term announced Meeting with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz met in Berlin:
https://twitter.com/GitanasNauseda/status/1497571714762428419

Even Chancellor Olaf Scholz has now commented on the delivery of weapons from Bundeswehr stocks:
https://twitter.com/Bundeskanzler/status/1497632817450266632

Germany is now also supplying weapons from the stocks of the Bundeswehr to Ukraine. According to government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit, the Ukrainian armed forces are being supported with 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 “Stinger” surface-to-air missiles.

German weapons are now also to reach Ukraine via Estonia. As the German Press Agency learned from government circles, the Federal Government has ordered several deliveries to Estonia Artillery pieces from GDR old stock approved to Ukraine.
The howitzers reached Estonia via Finland, where the Bundeswehr first delivered them under certain conditions in the 1990s. The treaty between Finland and Estonia stipulates that Germany must agree to a transfer.
Specifically, it is about the D-30 model howitzers with a caliber of 122 millimeters, which were developed in the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s. The howitzers, which weigh more than three tons and have a barrel almost five meters long, can be used to shell enemy troops or tanks at a distance of up to around 15 kilometers.

Russia has denied accusations of firing at civilian targets. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that residential areas were being shelled by the Ukrainian side in order to blame the Russian armed forces for the destruction. “I emphasize once again that the Russian armed forces do not carry out any strikes on residential areas of Ukrainian cities,” said Major General Igor Konashenkov. These are provocations from the Ukrainian side, like those used by terrorists.

The International Auschwitz Committee has condemned Russia’s attack on Ukraine and in particular the choice of words used to justify the invasion. Holocaust survivors and former prisoners of German concentration and extermination camps around the world would follow “Putin’s invasion of Ukraine with horror and great pain,” according to Christoph Heubner, executive vice president of the committee.

They would never have thought that after the experiences of Auschwitz and the suffering of World War II, a Russian statesman would drive Europe back into the darkness of war.

– Christoph Heubner, Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee

The federal government has approved Estonia for the delivery of several artillery pieces from old GDR stocks to the Ukraine. The German press agency learned this from government circles.