After uncertainties that Russia could turn off the gas tap again, the message came early in the morning today: The gas flow through Nord Stream 1 will continue. Nevertheless, the government, business and experts are preparing for an intensification of the crisis. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
Friday, July 22, 6:15 a.m.: According to network data, gas has been flowing continuously through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline since the maintenance work was completed Almost 29.3 gigawatt hours per hour were constantly delivered from Thursday to Friday and early Friday morning. This corresponds to a delivery of around 700 gigawatt hours per day and around 40 percent of the theoretically possible utilization. The gas flow is thus still at the level before the start of the ten-day maintenance work on July 11th.
With the start of operations of the Baltic Sea pipeline on Thursday, fears that Moscow could leave the tap permanently turned off were initially unfounded. Nevertheless, the government, business and experts are preparing for a continuation or even a possible worsening of the gas crisis. Economics Minister Robert Habeck announced an energy security package on Thursday. It was often said that there was still no reason to give the all-clear.
9:23 p.m .: In the conflict over the blockade of grain exports from Ukraine, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and representatives from Russia and Ukraine want to sign an agreement on Friday in Istanbul. This was announced by the Turkish Presidential Office on Thursday.
A UN spokesman in New York had previously announced that Guterres wanted to travel to Istanbul on Thursday. An agreement on an agreement with Moscow and Ukraine to export millions of tons of Ukrainian grain has not yet been fully negotiated, the spokesman said.
7:32 p.m .: According to the British foreign intelligence service, the Russian military will probably take a kind of break in Ukraine in the coming weeks. That gives Kyiv an opportunity to counterattack, intelligence chief Richard Moore said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. “I think they’re about to run out of breath. Our assessment is that it will become increasingly difficult for the Russians to rally forces over the next few weeks,” said Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6.
3.10 p.m .: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has warned of a nuclear escalation with regard to the Ukraine conflict. In an exclusive interview with the AFP news agency on Thursday, Lukashenko called on the West, Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict in order to avert an impending “nuclear war”. Lukashenko called on the Ukrainian government to resume negotiations with Russia.
2:51 p.m .: Five months after the start of the war, the Ukrainian central bank devalued the national currency hryvnia by 25 percent compared to the US dollar. The central bank justified the move on Thursday with a view to the changed economic situation in times of war and the stronger US dollar. However, there will be no course release. This should keep inflation under control and ensure the stability of the financial system.
“This is a key condition for the stable functioning of the economy, which is vital in wartime conditions,” Central Bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko was quoted as saying in the statement. At the same time, the authority tightens capital controls. People from Ukrainian accounts can now only transfer the equivalent of almost 800 euros abroad per month. Previously, this amount had been three times as high.
2:38 p.m .: Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) was irritated by statements by Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) about the Ukraine war. Russian President Vladimir Putin “doesn’t want to talk right now, all he wants is to bring suffering and war to Ukraine,” Baerbock said on Wednesday evening. The CDU foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter spoke of an “absolute minority” in the Union. Kretschmer had demanded that Germany mediate between Russia and Ukraine and ensure that this war was “frozen”.
Kretschmer said on Tuesday that a joint attempt must be made to “influence” Putin. The CDU federal deputy was also convinced that Germany needed more raw material supplies from Russia.
2:02 p.m .: Regardless of the European Union’s efforts to become less dependent on energy supplies from Russia, Hungary wants to buy an additional 700 million cubic meters of gas from Moscow. This was announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party on Thursday. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will travel to Moscow later today to discuss new gas supplies.
The Fidesz party said the additional gas purchases are intended “to ensure the security of Hungary’s energy supply”. Foreign Minister Szijjarto should “negotiate” about it in Moscow.
11:26 a.m .: Despite the resumption of Russian gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, sees no all-clear. If around 40 percent of the pipeline’s capacity is utilized in the next few weeks, then the worst fears would not be confirmed, Müller told the German Press Agency on Thursday. “It wasn’t the worst scenario, but I can’t speak of the all-clear yet.”
Müller pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin had recently made statements that could indicate a reduction to 20 percent. “We are currently at the mercy of Russia because they decide how much gas Nord Stream 1 will forward to us.” Savings and procurement from other sources are all the more important.
11:00 a.m.: Five months after the start of the war, leading Russian politicians have once again questioned the continued existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state. Dmitry Medvedev, ex-president and now deputy head of the Russian Security Council, published a list of things “for which Russia is not to blame” on Thursday. One point reads: “The fact that, as a result of all events, Ukraine could lose the remnants of state sovereignty and disappear from the world map.”
The neighboring country lost most of its sovereignty back in 2014 when it placed itself under the “direct control of the collective West,” claimed Medvedev, who was president between 2008 and 2012. The 56-year-old is a close confidant of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and has been making threats and harsh statements against the leadership in Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February.
10:02 a.m .: The Berlin State Criminal Police Office has called on witnesses of war crimes in Ukraine to report evidence of these crimes to the police. As the authority announced on Thursday, they are particularly looking for witnesses or victims of war crimes such as torture, rape, mistreatment, looting, the killing of civilians and prisoners of war and the use of cluster bombs. You can therefore contact any police station in the capital.
This will receive initial information using a questionnaire, which is also available in Ukrainian, Russian and English, and will pass it on to the responsible authorities.
According to the State Criminal Police Office, such statements and information support the criminal prosecution of these crimes. Both the German law enforcement authorities and the International Criminal Court have launched investigations into the war in Ukraine, along with Ukraine and other countries.
9.54 a.m .: Almost all refugees from Ukraine would like to take up work during their stay in Germany. This is the result of a survey of 936 Ukrainians published by the Munich ifo Institute on Thursday, which, however, is not representative. According to this, 90 percent want to take up employment, 42 percent are already working or looking for a job.
According to the Ifo Institute, 32 percent of those surveyed are willing to work below their qualifications. Only ten percent see no prospects for themselves on the German job market or are not interested in taking up work. According to ifo expert Tetyana Panchenko, people from Ukraine are mostly highly qualified. According to their own statements, 71 percent of those surveyed have a university education, twelve percent have vocational training.
According to Panchenko, the age structure also explains the high level of motivation to take up work. Accordingly, 72 percent of those surveyed are between 30 and 49 years old, and another eleven percent are between 18 and 29 years old. 93 percent of the respondents are women. 52 percent of the participants in the survey want to stay in Germany for the next two years. 46 percent said they wanted to return to Ukraine.
According to its own statements, the ifo Institute surveyed 936 people from Ukraine at the end of May and the beginning of June, who were mainly addressed via social media. In addition, refugees in the Munich region were also interviewed personally. The institute pointed out that the survey was not representative because there was no general data on the refugees.
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