Ukraine-News: According to Zelenskyj, Ukraine is no buffer between the West and Russia

Ukraine-News: According to Zelenskyj, Ukraine is no buffer between the West and Russia

Withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Sievjerodonetsk ordered +++ Ukrainian politician warns refugees against hasty return +++ USA promises further arms deliveries of 450 million dollars +++ The news about Russia’s war in Ukraine in star-Ticker.

Day 121 of the Ukraine War: As a new candidate for EU membership, Ukraine can hope for a future in a common Europe. At the same time, however, the military situation in the eastern Luhansk region is becoming increasingly precarious for the Ukrainian army. Russian troops are fighting and trying to encircle the strategically important city of Lyssychansk. Additional important weapons such as multiple rocket launcher artillery systems and patrol boats come from the USA.

The most important developments in star-Ticker.

1:38 p.m .: Kremlin: Ukraine’s EU accession must not be at the expense of Russia

The Kremlin makes a condition for a possible EU accession of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova that their relations with Russia do not deteriorate any further. According to the Interfax news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the granting of candidate status to the two ex-Soviet republics was initially an “internal European matter”. “It is very important for us that these processes do not create any more problems for us or for relations with the countries mentioned.”

In addition, it must be ensured that relations between Russia and the European Union do not deteriorate further as Ukraine and Moldova approach the EU, says Peskov. “They’re pretty spoiled already.”

1:36 p.m .: Selenskyj: Ukraine no buffer between the West and Russia

After receiving EU candidate status, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of a turning point for his country. “Ukraine is not a bridge, not a cushion between the West and Russia, not a buffer between Europe and Asia, not a sphere of influence, not a gray zone, not a transit country,” said the 44-year-old head of state in a recently released video speech. Ukraine is a “future equal partner for at least 27 EU countries.” Ukraine is no longer a “third country” but will become a member of the European Union.

In the same video, the head of parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, says that this decision will change history. The 46-year-old says: “We cannot change the geography. Russia will remain our neighbor.” But in this case history conquered geography.

12:51 p.m .: Russia announces response to US “hostile actions”.

Russia has accused the US of “hostile actions” and announced countermeasures. The United States has always emphasized its interest in maintaining diplomatic relations, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Moscow. “On the other hand, one cannot help noticing that such statements are being thwarted by increasingly hostile actions on the American side.”

Zakharova claims that the transit restrictions imposed by EU country Lithuania on Russia’s Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad – to Moscow’s annoyance – were enacted at “obvious prompting and direction” from the United States. She again points out that a plane with proven Russian diplomats in Washington is being refused permission to take off. The US State Department had already rejected this account.

12:21 p.m .: Russian troops conquer Ukrainian settlements near Lysychansk

According to their own statements, Russian and pro-Russian fighters have conquered several settlements in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. Ten towns have been “liberated” in the past few days, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in Moscow. At the same time, the Luhansk separatists showed the hoisting of a Soviet flag on the building of the city administration of Zolote, which is located south of the embattled city of Lysychansk. According to them, the Ukrainian troops who were in the Hirske-Solote pocket were “liquidated”. Initially, there was no confirmation from the Ukrainian side.

10.53 a.m .: Baerbock – Russia uses hunger as a weapon and “takes the whole world hostage”

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Russia of “deliberately using hunger in the world as a weapon of war”. Russia “takes the whole world hostage,” said Baerbock before the start of an international nutrition conference in Berlin. 345 million people worldwide are currently threatened by food shortages, the hunger crisis is building “like a life-threatening wave before us”. But it was Russia’s war that “made a tsunami out of this wave.”

Baerbock criticized that Russia was trying “to put the blame for the exploding food prices on others”, but that was “fake news”. Russia blockade ports and shell granaries; there are also no sanctions against Russian grain exports. The conference in Berlin is about showing solidarity with Ukraine and with the people in the Global South who are suffering from the Russian war, Baerbock said.

10:24 am: Resistance to Russian occupation – man killed in southern Ukraine

An employee of the Russian occupation administration was killed in an attack in the southern Ukrainian region of Cherson. According to Russian media reports, a bomb detonated in the man’s car. Details were not initially known. In the past few days, there have been several attacks on Ukrainian defectors in the occupied area. According to the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, MP Oleksiy Kovalev was the target of an attack on Wednesday. The 33-year-old was expelled from the parliamentary group of the Ukrainian presidential party at the end of April on suspicion of cooperation with the Russian occupiers. Nothing was known about his whereabouts.

10.09 a.m .: Gas problems in Germany would affect the whole EU

Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander de Croo has warned of EU-wide repercussions should Germany experience difficulties with gas supplies. “If Germany gets into trouble, it also has an enormous impact on all other European countries, including our country,” he said on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels. With a view to the fact that Russia is actually also in an economic war with Europe, we have to stand together.

“There is no better argument for the fact that we have to do this together than to look at the consequences that Germany is potentially suffering,” said the head of government. You might experience a difficult winter. With a view to possible difficulties with the gas supply, he spoke out in favor of price caps and joint purchases of the raw material.

9.36 a.m .: London – Russian Air Force is likely to have a shortage of personnel

According to British intelligence experts, the Russian air force is likely to be suffering from a shortage of personnel. This was suggested by statements by a recently captured Russian fighter jet pilot who said he was in the service of the Wagner mercenary force, according to a statement on the Ministry of Defense website in London.

“The deployment of retired close air support personnel now under contract to Wagner demonstrates that the Russian Air Force is likely to have difficulty supporting the invasion of Ukraine with sufficient aircrew,” the statement said.

8.49 a.m .: The head of the Federal Network Agency expects “huge price jumps” in the gas price

The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, expects “huge price jumps” in gas prices in Germany. “Depending on the building, it can double or triple,” said Müller on Friday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. The gas price increases from last fall and thus from the time before Russia attacked Ukraine are currently being passed on, which means price increases for customers by 30, 50 or 80 percent in some cases. Müller said his authority is currently drawing up scenarios for the further development of natural gas deliveries to Germany. “Most scenarios are not nice,” said Müller.

Müller told the broadcasters RTL/ntv that the price level had risen by 50 percent since the throttling of Russian gas deliveries last week. “We know that a maintenance window is imminent on July 11,” he said. Then the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will be shut down completely “and we don’t know what will happen afterwards”.

He will “do everything to ensure that we avoid freezing in private households,” said the head of the authority. However, he has “great concern that we can maintain industrial production in this way”. Therefore, above all, gas must be saved and stored.

7:45 a.m.: Ukrainian troops ordered to withdraw from Sievjerodonetsk

After weeks of bitter resistance against the Russian attackers, the Ukrainian army has to withdraw from the strategically important city of Sievjerodonetsk in the east of the country. The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops has been ordered, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajdaj, said in the online service Telegram. The Russian units had recently taken over the city almost completely.

The city is practically “in ruins” because of the constant bombardment by Russian troops, the governor explained. “There’s just no point in staying in positions that have been under constant fire for months.” The entire strategic infrastructure of the industrial city was destroyed. “90 percent of the city is damaged, 80 percent of the houses will have to be demolished.”

The capture of Sieverodonetsk in the Luhansk region is a strategically important goal for Russia. The declared goal of the Russian armed forces is to take over the entire Donbass region, which also includes the Donetsk region. Parts of the economically important area in eastern Ukraine have been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.

4.31 a.m .: Ukrainian politician warns refugees against hasty return

Warnings are coming from the Ukraine against a hasty return of the approximately five million war refugees who have been taken in by Europe. “There are two essential prerequisites: We have to find ways and means to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure, at least partially. And where they are going, there needs to be a functioning anti-missile defense system – as it more or less exists for Kyiv now,” said Olena Sotnyk , advisor to Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanischyna, after talks in Berlin.

Olena Haluschka, board member of the Ukrainian organization Anticorruption Action Center, named the clearing of mines and hidden booby traps in areas that the Ukrainian side had recaptured from the Russian army as a further prerequisite. At their meetings with German politicians, the two women reported that the main thing they had urged was a rapid delivery of more weapons. They described the fact that the tank howitzers promised by Germany had now arrived at the front as a “turning point”. The two meetings with members of the Bundestag and representatives of the Bertelsmann Foundation made positive comments about Berlin’s support for Ukraine’s status as a candidate for EU membership.

12:31 a.m .: USA promises Ukraine further arms deliveries of 450 million dollars

The United States has pledged a further $450 million in weapons supplies to Ukraine. “This package contains weapons and equipment,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Thursday. Among other things, Himars multiple rocket launchers, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition and patrol boats would be delivered. The latest package brings US arms sales to Ukraine to $6.1 billion since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against the country, according to Kirby.

Source: Stern

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