Ukraine and Russia exchange more bodies +++ Poland’s President criticizes Scholz and Macron for talks with Putin +++ Heavy fighting for Sievjerodonetsk +++ The news about the war in Ukraine in star-Ticker.
Day 106 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: Russian troops may be on the verge of taking control of the Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine. This is an important war aim of President Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls the bitter battle for Sievjerodonetsk one of the most difficult battles in the war with Russia. After more than three months of fighting, taking the strategically important city could mean a preliminary decision in the struggle for the Donbass region. Russia attacked the neighboring country on February 24.
11:21 a.m .: Governor – Ukraine could quickly end fighting in Sieverodonetsk with new weapons
According to the regional governor, Ukraine could quickly regain control of the embattled city of Sievjerodonetsk in the east of the country with Western weapon systems. Once the Ukrainian army has long-range artillery “to be able to duel with Russian artillery, our special forces can clear the city in two to three days,” Luhansk governor Serhiy Gajdaj said in a published interview. The United States and Britain recently announced the delivery of multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine, capable of attacking targets up to 80 kilometers away. The Ukrainian armed forces in Sievjerodonetsk are still “highly motivated” and the units are “all holding their positions,” said Gajdaj. Russia is constantly attacking the areas controlled by Ukrainian troops with artillery.
10:35 a.m.: Russian army shells chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk
According to Ukrainian sources, Russian troops in eastern Ukraine are continuing their attacks on residential and industrial areas in the heavily contested city of Sieverodonetsk. Four people were killed as a result of the shelling of the Azot chemical plant, wrote the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, on the social network Telegram. According to Ukrainian sources, the facility is used by hundreds of civilians as an air raid shelter. However, there is currently no threat of a comparable encirclement by Russian troops as was the case until recently in the port city of Mariupol. The accusation that the Ukrainians lured the civilians into the Azot cellars and then mined the area is repeatedly voiced by the Russian and pro-Russian side. There is no evidence for this. Russia already occupies more than 90 percent of the Luhansk Oblast, in which Sieverodonetsk is located. The information provided by the warring parties often cannot be independently verified.
9.01 a.m .: NATO Secretary General cancels visit to Berlin at short notice
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has canceled his planned visit to Berlin today at short notice. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Defense. A NATO spokesman in Brussels said when asked that Stoltenberg was ill and would make the planned visit to Germany “not personally, but from afar”. In conversation is a video conference. The Federal Press Office canceled a planned press conference by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Stoltenberg before the originally planned meeting at noon in Berlin. In the afternoon, Stoltenberg should have met with Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. According to the NATO spokesman, Stoltenberg suffers from shingles, which can occur after contracting Covid 19. Stoltenberg therefore works from home. Shingles is a contagious viral disease that causes a rash. Stoltenberg was infected with Corona in mid-May.
8.45 a.m .: Lauterbach wants to help the seriously injured in Ukraine
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to offer German help in treating the injured during a visit to Ukraine today. The SPD politician announced this on Deutschlandfunk. On the one hand, this involves treatment in Germany, but also the care of the injured in the war-torn country itself. Lauterbach specifically mentioned help for people with severe burns and for people who lost limbs in the war. The trip is taking place at the invitation of the Ukrainian Minister of Health.
At the beginning of the war, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), Development Minister Swenja Schulze (SPD) and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) also visited.
7.40 a.m .: Scholz and Lambrecht receive NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg in Berlin
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) receives NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Federal Chancellery today (12.00 p.m.). The meeting will focus on preparing for the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of June. According to the German government, the effects of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine on Euro-Atlantic security will also be discussed. A joint press statement is planned at the beginning of the meeting.
In the afternoon (3 p.m.) Stoltenberg meets Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD). According to her ministry, the talks will deal with a variety of current topics, including the planned reinforcement of NATO’s eastern flank, NATO’s new strategic concept and Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership. A press statement is also planned before the start of the interview.
6.35 a.m .: Military experts – Russia is surprisingly bad at cyber warfare
So far, Russia has had far less success with methods of digital warfare in Ukraine than many expected. Cybersecurity experts expected devastating, large-scale cyberattacks on Ukraine, says General Karol Molenda, head of Poland’s National Cybersecurity Center. But Ukraine was prepared and “withstood the attacks of Russia”.
Lithuania’s chief of cybersecurity, Colonel Romualdas Petkevicius, told AFP news agency that Russia appears incapable of “waging a coordinated cyber and kinetic war”. There is cyber activity all over Ukraine right now, “but I don’t think it’s very well planned.”
5:10 a.m.: Governor of Luhansk – Russia controls most of the city
After heavy fighting, the Russian army controls most of Sieverodonetsk. This was announced by the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, in his Telegram channel. “As for the industrial zone (of Sieverodonetsk), our defenders are holding there. But the fighting continues not only in the industrial zone – the fighting is taking place in the city.” However, the situation in the industrial zone is not like in the city of Mariupol, where the fighting took place right at the Azovstal plant. “As of today, there is no danger of encirclement,” said Hajdaj. More than 90 percent of the Luhansk region is occupied by Russia.
4.20 a.m .: Zelenskyy – Sieverodonetsk decides on the Donbass
President Zelenskyj describes the battle for Sievjerodonetsk as trend-setting for the struggle in the east of the country. “Syeverodonetsk remains the epicenter of the clashes in Donbass,” he says in a video message. The Ukrainian military is inflicting noticeable losses on the enemy there. “This is a very brutal and difficult battle. Perhaps one of the most difficult of this war (…) In many ways the fate of our Donbass will be decided there.”
3.05 a.m .: Poland’s President criticizes Scholz and Macron for talks with Putin
Polish President Duda criticizes Chancellor Scholz and French President Macron for continuing talks with Putin. “These talks are useless,” explains Duda in a “Bild” interview. The situation is similar to that of Adolf Hitler in World War II. “And did anyone talk to Adolf Hitler like that during World War II?” Duda asks. “Did someone say that he has to save face? That one has to do it in such a way that it is not humiliating for Adolf Hitler?” He doesn’t know such voices.
2.15am: Arctic Council – Russia remains isolated
Because of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia remains isolated in the Arctic Council. “We intend a limited resumption of our work in the Arctic Council on projects that do not involve the participation of the Russian Federation,” say the remaining members Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Canada, Norway and the USA.
At the beginning of March, the governments of the countries announced that they were suspending their participation in Council activities. Russia currently chairs the Arctic Council. The body is considered the most important forum for cooperation in the region around the North Pole. Germany has observer status. “Decisions made on behalf of the Arctic Council that are adopted without our country are illegitimate and violate the consensus principle,” criticized Russia’s Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov.
1.50 a.m .: Envoy Zelenskyjs expects EU candidate status for Ukraine
After talks in Berlin, Zelenskyy’s special envoy for the prospect of EU membership is confident that his country will receive candidate status for the European Union. If the EU Commission makes a corresponding recommendation in the coming week, he assumes that the 27 member states will agree at their summit meeting on June 23rd and 24th in Brussels, says Regional Development Minister Oleksiy Tschernyschow, the dpa. He also expects approval from Germany. The federal government has so far been reluctant. It usually takes many years from candidate status to EU membership.
1:08 a.m.: Reports of dead and injured in Russian attacks
According to the authorities, several civilians were killed or wounded in attacks on Ukrainian locations. Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko blames Russia for four dead and five injured in the government-held part of the region in the east of the country. “The situation remains difficult. The front line is under constant fire,” said Kyrylenko. The Ukrainian army speaks of seven repulsed Russian attacks in the Donbass. 31 fighters were killed and several armored vehicles were destroyed. The Russian military destroyed about 20 houses as well as two schools and a train station when shelling Ukrainian locations. The information is not independently verifiable.
12:30 a.m.: Ukraine and Russia exchange more bodies
According to authorities in Kyiv, Ukraine and Russia handed over the bodies of 50 soldiers to the other side. According to the Ukrainian Ministry for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories in Kyiv, 37 “heroes” who took part in the defense of the Azovstal plant were among the Ukrainians killed. The fighters held the fort at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol until Kyiv gave up the city in May. According to Ukrainian sources, the exchange took place along the front line in the Zaporizhia region in the south of the country.
Source: Stern
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