Situation in Mariupol “total catastrophe” +++ Federal cabinet begins closed conference +++ All developments on the war in Ukraine in star-Ticker.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to continue to support Ukraine militarily and economically in its defensive struggle against Russia, but he is currently refusing to visit Kyiv. The goal of his policy is: “Russia must not win and Ukraine must not lose,” said the SPD politician on Monday evening on the ZDF program “What Now?”. The fact that the government in Kyiv had uninvited Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in mid-April was unacceptable.
Regarding the situation in the fighting on the ground in eastern Ukraine, the US Department of Defense said the Russian military was making only minimal progress. “Troops still suffer from poor leadership and control, morale in many units is low, logistics are suboptimal,” a Pentagon official said. For example, the Ukrainian military was able to push the Russians back further from Kharkiv.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Nazi comparison continues to cause international outrage.
News of the war in Ukraine on Monday, May 3:
6:59 a.m .: Selenskyj calls Lavrov’s Hitler comparison anti-Semitic
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s comparison with Hitler in connection with the Ukraine war has sparked international outrage. Zelenskyy himself called Lavrov’s remarks “anti-Semitic” and said they show that Russia had “forgotten all the lessons of World War II”. It is “no coincidence” that Russia is waging a “so-called total war” to “destroy all living things”. Only the “burnt ruins of entire towns and villages remained,” he added.
4.56 a.m .: According to the Pentagon, Russian troops are making little progress
Regarding the situation in the fighting on the ground in eastern Ukraine, the US Department of Defense reports that the Russian military is making only minimal progress. “Troops still suffer from poor leadership and control, morale in many units is low, logistics are suboptimal,” a Pentagon official said. For example, the Ukrainian military was able to push the Russians back further from Kharkiv.
4.02 a.m .: Federal government begins closed conference
At 9:30 a.m., the Federal Cabinet begins a two-day retreat on the Ukraine policy course. According to the federal government, “all topics relating to the Russian war of aggression should be discussed” at the meeting at Schloss Meseberg. The Prime Ministers of Sweden and Finland, Magdalena Andersson and Sanna Marin, are expected as guests. The two countries are discussing joining NATO in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine.
According to the federal government, another topic of the closed session is “the German economic model with regard to the challenges of the global economy”. The cabinet has invited the directors of the Institute of German Economics and the Institute for Macroeconomics and Business Cycle Research, Michael Hüther and Sebastian Dullien, as guests. At the end of the exam on Wednesday there will be a press conference with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) and Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP).
4.01 a.m .: Kretschmer contradicts CDU boss Merz when delivering heavy weapons
Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has spoken out against the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine – in contrast to CDU party leader Friedrich Merz. According to the “Bild” (Tuesday edition), Kretschmer said in a joint presidium meeting of the CDU and CSU that the Union had to “take this position into account”. It does not represent “the majority of the published opinion”, but the “majority opinion of society – including mine”.
The “image” relied on information from participants and a spokesman for the Prime Minister. Kretschmer went on to say that there was every reason to help Ukraine, if necessary with weapons. “But it’s about enforcing a ceasefire. Russia will also be a reality after that.” In addition, Kretschmer warned of the effects of tough sanctions. These “meet us for the most part ourselves.” According to the newspaper, Merz replied: “There are different opinions, I have a different one.”
4 a.m.: Germany supplies weapons and equipment for more than 190 million euros
In the first eight weeks of the war, the federal government delivered weapons and other armaments worth at least 191.9 million euros to Ukraine. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection to a request from Left Party MP Sevim Dagdelen. From the first day of the war, February 24, to April 19, the government then gave the go-ahead for the delivery of war weapons worth 120.5 million euros and other armaments worth 71.4 million euros.
For comparison: since the beginning of the war, the United States has promised or has already delivered arms and ammunition worth more than 3.7 billion US dollars (around 3.5 billion euros) to Ukraine. According to the government, little Estonia has so far provided military aid worth more than 220 million euros to Ukraine. Among the weapons supplied were US-made anti-tank mines and Javelin anti-tank missiles. Estonia has 1.3 million inhabitants, Germany 83 million.
3:56 a.m.: 200,000 Ukrainian children brought to Russia, according to the military
According to Moscow military figures, almost 1.1 million people have already been brought to Russia from the contested areas of Ukraine. Almost 200,000 of them are children, said Colonel General Mikhail Mizinzew in Moscow. On Monday alone, 11,500 people, including 1,850 children, were brought to Russia, he was quoted as saying by the Interfax agency.
According to the Russian account, these people from Ukraine are being brought to safety from the fighting and alleged violence by the Kiev leadership. Alleged refugees from the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine were brought to Russia even before the Russian attack on February 24. Ukraine sees this as a deportation of its citizens from the currently Russian-occupied areas in the east and south.
3:00 a.m .: Ambassador Melnyk accuses Scholz of playing “offended liverwurst”.
The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk has sharply criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s provisional no to a trip to Kyiv. “Playing an offended liverwurst doesn’t sound very statesmanlike,” Melnyk told the German Press Agency. “It’s about the most brutal war of annihilation since the Nazi attack on Ukraine, it’s not a kindergarten.”
Scholz had said on ZDF on Monday evening that Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s unloading through Ukraine would stand in the way of his trip. Melnyk said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would still be happy to receive Scholz in Kyiv. But he added: “What Ukraine would look forward to much more than any symbolic visits is that the traffic light government will swiftly implement the Bundestag’s proposal for the delivery of heavy weapons and fulfill the promises made so far.”
2:00 a.m .: “Merz takes over the Chancellor’s job with a trip to Kyiv”
With his planned trip to Kyiv, CDU leader Friedrich Merz is taking on the Chancellor’s task of showing solidarity with Ukraine, according to the chairman of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban. “Scholz and his ministers could have gone to Kyiv for weeks and sent a sign of solidarity. Now Merz has to do it,” said Kuban of the “Rheinische Post” (Tuesday). Merz said on Monday that he was going to Kyiv at the invitation of the Ukrainian parliament. Conversely, the CDU chairman was accused of wanting to use the trip for party political purposes.
After Merz’s announcement on ZDF, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) said that he did not want to travel to the capital Kyiv for the time being because the Ukrainian side had uninvited President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “That gets in the way.”
1.47 a.m .: Great Britain announces further military aid
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to announce a further £300 million (€358 million) in military aid to Ukraine in a video address to the Ukrainian parliament today. His office said on Monday that the latest support package would include electronic warfare equipment, anti-artillery radar, GPS jamming equipment and night vision goggles.
The head of government also wants to tell MPs that Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invaders is “Ukraine’s best hour, which will be remembered for generations to come.” With this, Johnson is alluding to the British struggle against Nazi Germany in World War II, which in Britain is also referred to as the “best hour” – a moment of “unity and determination” in the face of “greatest danger”. The British are among the largest suppliers of armaments to Kyiv in Europe.
1.10 a.m .: Doctors without borders call situation in Mariupol “total disaster”
According to the aid organization Doctors Without Borders, the humanitarian situation in the embattled Ukrainian port of Mariupol is disastrous. “Based on the information we have so far, it can be said with certainty: It’s a total catastrophe,” said the organization’s emergency coordinator for Ukraine, Anja Wolz, to the newspapers of the Funke media group (Tuesday). The true extent of human suffering in the besieged metropolis will only become fully apparent in the future. “I don’t think we have any idea what we’ll see there. Butscha, Irpin and Hostomel are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Wolz.
Hundreds of bodies were found in the cities of Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka and Hostomel after Russian troops withdrew. Russian troops had besieged Mariupol on February 24, shortly after the war began. In the meantime they have largely taken over the strategically important city.
1:00 a.m.: FDP Secretary General calls for sanctions against Gerhard Schröder to be examined
FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai has spoken out in favor of considering sanctions against former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder because of his connections to Russia. “Anyone who talks about personal sanctions must also talk about Gerhard Schröder,” Djir-Sarai told the news portal “t-online”. “We want to meet those groups that are profiting from the Putin system. And that’s why it’s only logical to examine how important Schroeder is for this system.” You then have to draw the conclusions from that.
Schröder has been heavily criticized for not giving up his posts for Russian energy companies despite the Russian attack on Ukraine. In his first interview in the New York Times since the beginning of the war, he called the war a mistake, but did not distance himself from Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has been friends for years.
12:39 a.m .: Ukrainian Security Council expects Moscow to capitulate
In view of the partly successful resistance of the Ukrainian army against Russian troops, the National Security Council in Kyiv is spreading certainty of victory. Council secretary Oleksiy Danilov expressed his conviction that the war would not end with a peace agreement, but with the capitulation of the aggressor. “With Russia we can only sign its surrender,” Danilov said on Ukrainian television.
He also does not count on security guarantees from international partners for Ukraine. In the negotiations with Moscow about an end to the war, the Kiev leadership brought up guarantees from states such as the USA, Great Britain and Poland. The best guarantee for Ukraine is the power of its people, Danilov now said.
Source: Stern
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