Threatened gas shortage: Cities association recommends energy-saving plans +++ British Chief of Staff: “Russia is failing” +++ The news about Russia’s war in Ukraine in the star-Ticker.
Day 114 of the Ukraine War: The fighting continues. The visit of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz together with French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Johannis to Kyiv is having a lasting effect. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj spoke of a historic day, as his country had never come so close to the EU since independence. Meanwhile, there are indications that the early status promised by Scholz and Macron as an EU accession candidate will meet with reservations in the Union’s bodies. Meanwhile, fighting continues, especially in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine. The successes of the Russian army are so minimal that it is becoming clear that Russia has already strategically lost the war, the British chief of staff judged.
10:20 a.m .: France no longer receives Russian gas via pipelines – Italy expects significant restrictions
France no longer receives Russian gas through pipelines. As reported by the French network operator GRTgaz, this has been the case since Wednesday and is also due to the “interruption of the gas flow between France and Germany”. The Russian Gazprom group had throttled its deliveries to a number of EU countries in the past few days. According to the AFP news agency, the Italian energy group Eni also reports that Gazprom will cut gas supplies by 50 percent during the day. The reports come one day after French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi traveled together with Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Kyiv.
9.44 a.m .: Two-thirds of Germans do not believe in Ukraine’s victory
According to a new survey, more than half of the German citizens who are eligible to vote are in favor of Ukraine joining the European Union within the next few years. In the ZDF “political barometer” 60 percent of those questioned are in favor of it. Almost a third (31 percent) reject bringing the country attacked by Russia into the EU in the next few years.
According to the survey, 43 percent rate German support for Ukraine as just right. For 33 percent, the federal government is doing too little, for 16 percent too much. After almost four months of war, only 26 percent expect Ukraine to win against Russia. Almost two thirds (64 percent) do not believe in it, despite Western support.
9.23 a.m .: According to British findings, Russia continues to work on the encirclement of Sievjerodonetsk
According to British intelligence experts, Russian troops in Ukraine have continued their efforts to close the ring around the city of Sieverodonetsk from the south. “In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have probably continued to try to gain the upper hand on the Popasna axis, from which they intend to encircle the Sievarodonetsk pocket from the south,” reads the website’s daily update on the Ukraine war of the British Ministry of Defence.
8:53 a.m.: Chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk practically destroyed – All residential areas under Russian control
According to Ukrainian sources, the Azot chemical plant in the heavily contested administrative center of Sievjerodonetsk was almost completely destroyed by Russian artillery and rocket fire. Most recently, a building and the gatehouse were destroyed by the shelling. “There are no surviving administrative buildings on the territory of the chemical giant,” writes the military governor of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajday, on his Telegram channel. But the fighting for the city would continue.
The general staff made similar statements in its situation report: “The fighting for complete control of Sievjerodonetsk is continuing,” it says. The enemy is moving more rocket artillery into the area. The general staff and Hajdaj unanimously report repelling a ground attack on the Sievarodonetsk suburb of Zolote. The Russian troops have now taken all residential areas in Sieverodonetsk, and the Ukrainian defenders have entrenched themselves in the industrial zone around the chemical plant. Attempts to evacuate civilians, who are also said to be staying in the facility, have so far failed.
8.48 a.m .: Röttgen calls support for Ukraine insufficient – the country needs weapons to survive
The CDU foreign affairs expert Norbert Röttgen considers the backing for Ukraine’s EU accession to be insufficient in view of a Russian “war of destruction”. According to Röttgen in the ZDF morning magazine, Ukraine needs weapons to survive. “And Germany is refusing them. That is the policy of the federal government.” During the visit of Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj described German arms deliveries as very helpful.
8.36 a.m .: Scholz back in Poland after visiting Ukraine
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s stay in Ukraine has come to an end. Scholz took a train back to Przemysl in Poland and has now arrived there. He left Poland on Wednesday evening to visit Kyiv. He was accompanied by French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. In Kyiv, they met with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alongside the Romanian head of state Klaus Iohannis.
6.26 a.m .: British Chief of Staff says “Russia is about to fail”
According to British Chief of Staff Tony Radakin, Russia has already “strategically lost” the war against Ukraine. The attack on the neighboring country was a “horrific mistake by Russia,” Radakin said in an interview with the Press Association (PA) news agency. With his war against the Ukraine has strengthened Russia’s NATO and persuaded Finland and Sweden to apply for membership in the military alliance. It is possible that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin will achieve “tactical successes” in Ukraine in the coming weeks, says Radakin. However, Putin sacrificed a quarter of his army’s strength for “tiny” gains in territory. “The Russian machinery is being worn down and it’s gaining a few – two, three, five – kilometers a day.” 50,000 Russian soldiers were killed or injured. “Russia is about to fail.”
5.48 a.m .: The association of cities and municipalities calls for a reduction in the temperature guarantee for apartments
The German Association of Towns and Municipalities is calling for changes to the legal framework in order to make it easier to save energy as a result of reduced Russian gas supplies. General manager Gerd Landsberg points out in the “Rheinische Post” that landlords are obliged to ensure a temperature of 20 to 24 degrees. “That has to change. Even an apartment with 18 or 19 degrees can still be lived in well and everyone should be able to support this comparatively small sacrifice,” says Landsberg. If the situation worsens, which cannot be ruled out, “concrete savings plans” should be developed in the municipalities, Landsberg demands. Specifically, he mentions the lowering of temperatures in the administration buildings, the reduction of the temperature in swimming pools, possibly also the temporary closure of individual facilities. Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) spoke out against lowering the minimum temperature below 20 degrees.
5.30 a.m .: Putin blames the West for the economic crisis
Despite unprecedented Western sanctions against Russia, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin sees the resource superpower on the road to success. The 1920s were to be a time of “consolidation of economic sovereignty for Russia,” writes Putin in a welcoming address to participants at the 25th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. This Friday, the Russian President wants to explain there how things should continue in view of the sanctions that the West has imposed because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Years of economic policy mistakes by Western countries and illegal sanctions have led to a wave of global inflation, the destruction of traditional supply and production chains, and a sharp increase in poverty and a food deficit,” Putin said despite his attack on Ukraine the buck to the western states.
5.17 a.m .: The EU Commission comments on Ukraine’s accession candidacy
In the afternoon, the EU Commission will publish its statement on the EU’s candidacy for membership Ukraine. In Brussels, a conditional candidate status is expected. A positive signal could also be sent to neighboring Moldova. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy applied for his country’s EU membership a few days after Russia’s war of aggression began at the end of February. The Commission’s recommendation is the basis for the deliberations of the European heads of state and government at the EU summit in Brussels next week. Poland and other Eastern European countries are pushing for Ukraine to join as soon as possible. During his trip to Kyiv, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke out in favor of “a positive decision in favor of Ukraine”.
3.30 a.m .: Minister of Construction Geywitz: “Legally prescribed freezing” nonsensical
In the debate about possible gas bottlenecks in Germany, Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz (SPD) spoke out against lower minimum temperatures for apartments. “I think legally prescribed freezing is nonsensical,” Geywitz told the German Press Agency. In order to save as much gas as possible against the background of the Russian war in Ukraine, the President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, also proposed lowering the requirements for heating. Landlords should no longer have to turn up the heating system to at least 20 to 22 degrees during the heating period, but the specifications could drop at times, according to Müller’s suggestion. Geywitz replies: “The case law stipulates a minimum of 20 degrees.” Anything below that could even be a health hazard and was also not thought of enough in terms of building technology.
12:00 a.m.: Ukraine threatens to destroy the Crimean bridge
In its defensive struggle against Russia, Ukraine also sees the important Russian bridge to the Crimean Peninsula as a military target. As a kind of threatening gesture, the Ukrainian military intelligence service has published an allegedly official Russian specification of the bridge with details of the construction. The authenticity of the almost 300-page document cannot be verified immediately. The day before, the Ukrainian General Dmytro Marchenko had already said that if Ukraine were to receive the necessary weapons, the destruction of the bridge would be “Objective No. 1”. Finally, the Russian supplies roll over the bridge to Crimea and from there to southern Ukraine. The 18-kilometer bridge across the Kerch Strait, which was built at a cost of billions, has been connecting mainland Russia and the peninsula annexed four years earlier since 2018.
Source: Stern
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