Time Magazine lists Selenskyi among the 100 most influential people. Habeck now sees an oil embargo against Russia as “within reach”. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
7:34 a.m .: Despite the fall of the port city of Mariupol, an adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Minister sees the main military objective there as having been achieved. “The main goal was achieved in Mariupol. It was to hold back the Russian groups (…) more than 20,000 Russian soldiers. And that was made possible thanks to the heroic deeds of the Mariupol defenders and the defenders who were later in Azovstal,” said Yuriy Sak on Tuesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. As a result, the Russian troops would not have been able to conquer other areas in eastern Ukraine.
Azovstal’s soldiers would have given Ukrainians time to regroup and receive more military aid from their international partners. “From this perspective, the goal was achieved,” says Sak. The last Ukrainian fighters at the Azov steelworks in Mariupol surrendered last week.
Ukraine will consider the war won if Russian troops withdraw to the borders in effect before February 24, Sak said. “Of course, this war of aggression against Ukraine started in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula,” the adviser continued. A return of Crimea must therefore also be part of negotiations. The main goal, however, is to liberate the area. “The rest of the objectives can then be negotiated diplomatically.”
2:28 a.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been named one of the 100 most influential people of 2022 by Time Magazine. “In President Zelenskyy, the people of Ukraine have a leader worthy of their bravery and resilience, while citizens across the country…fight for their homes and freedom,” wrote US President Joe Biden. In the Russian war against his country, Zelenskyy “left his mark on history”. The supreme commander of the Ukrainian army, Valeriy Saluschnyj, also made it onto the list published on Monday.
Meanwhile, the Time list of the most influential people of the year also includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, commented on by the imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny. “Perhaps Vladimir Putin’s true mission is to teach lessons. … In 2022 he was particularly good at it,” writes Navalny for the renowned magazine. “He reminded us once again that a path that starts with ‘just a little election rigging’ always ends in dictatorship. And dictatorship always leads to war. It’s a lesson we shouldn’t have forgotten.”
From Germany, “Time” also lists Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen among the 100 most influential people of the year. Time has published the list annually since 1999.
Tuesday, May 24, 00:26: According to the Russian Foreign Minister, the West’s “dictatorial position” towards Russia is accelerating the development of his country’s economic relations with China. Moscow will only rely on itself and on those states that “have proven their reliability,” Sergey Lavrov said, according to the state agencies Ria and Tass on Tuesday night.
According to Lavrov, the future lies in the Eurasia region. In addition to China, he also named India and Iran as important partners. In his opinion, Russia should no longer rely on Western supplies. Rather, Russia will “seriously consider” whether it needs to resume relations if the West offers something.
After the Russian attack on Ukraine began three months ago, the US, the EU and other Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia.
11:13 p.m .: 20 states have promised further arms deliveries to Ukraine. Including Denmark. According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Denmark plans to equip Ukraine with Harpoon anti-ship missiles and launchers. With this, the Ukrainian military is supposed to break the Russian blockades in the ports of the Black Sea.
11:01 p.m .: After three months of war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has demanded modern anti-missile weapons and combat aircraft from the West against Russian attacks. Many people “would not have died if we had received all the weapons we ask for,” Zelenskyy said in a new video message on Monday evening. Since the war began on February 24, his country has been the target of 3,000 airstrikes and nearly 1,500 rocket attacks. The vast majority of attacks were aimed at civilian objects.
All of Ukraine’s partners agree that his country’s fight against Russia serves to “protect the common values of all countries in the free world,” Zelenskyy said. That is why his country has a right to arms assistance.
9.30 p.m .: Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck sees an oil embargo against Russia, in his own words, “within reach”. There are only a few states that are reporting problems – especially Hungary, said the Vice Chancellor on Monday in the ZDF “Heute Journal”. You can be considerate here. But then “something has to happen” in Hungary as well. Habeck added: “Well, I think within a few days we will also achieve the breakthrough.”
The EU Commission has proposed to end imports of Russian crude oil in six months because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. As a compromise, the Commission proposes giving Hungary more time. The proposal does not go far enough for the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
8:10 p.m .: According to the US government, Ukraine has received commitments for further military support from around 20 states. This was announced by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Monday in Washington after a video link from the new international Ukraine contact group. According to this, Italy, Greece and Poland, for example, want to deliver artillery systems. Denmark promised more missiles. Other states announced support for the training of the armed forces. The Russian war of aggression against the neighboring country has now lasted three months.
5.40 p.m .: After extensive investigations, a judge issued an arrest warrant against two people arrested for several break-ins and possible thefts of weapons from the Bundeswehr. The public prosecutor’s office in Kiel announced on Monday that a total of ten suspects were being investigated on suspicion of gang theft. Weapons were found during a search of a residential building in Itzehoe, Schleswig-Holstein, on Sunday.
Among the accused is a member of the 31st Parachute Regiment from Seedorf in Lower Saxony. According to dpa information, a suspicious object is said to have been found in his locker. According to the information, a suspicion of other soldiers in the army and navy is being examined.
It is not yet known what the suspects – including four on active duty in the Bundeswehr – intended to do with the weapons. According to dpa information, there are indications that several soldiers in Ukraine wanted to join the defense against the Russian attackers. The public prosecutor’s office did not provide any information on possible reasons for the crime.
4:04 p.m .: The delivery of 30 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine should be completed before September if possible. After the previously announced provision of 15 Gepard tanks by mid-July, the rest should be delivered by the industry by the end of August, a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Defense said on Monday in Berlin. Accordingly, Ukraine’s contracts with industry are expected to be concluded this week.
This also envisages the training of Ukrainian cheetah crews by the industry itself, the spokesman said. The Bundeswehr supports this, among other things, by providing suitable shooting ranges.
At the end of April, the federal government gave the green light for the delivery of the tanks no longer used by the Bundeswehr. They come from stocks of the armaments company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW). However, the company then had problems obtaining ammunition. Around 59,000 shots are available so far.
The ministry spokesman rejected the fact that this was far too little. Although the cheetah fires up to 1,000 rounds per minute, it is unrealistic to assume that the ammunition will be empty within an hour. The cheetah fires short bursts, tailored to the target, he said. In addition, the anti-aircraft tank is well suited for protecting important infrastructure because it “also has a deterrent effect” against air attacks.
3:50 p.m .: The Ukrainian ex-boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko has called for Russia’s complete isolation because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The war will last as long as the world trades with Russia,” said the 46-year-old on Monday in a round of talks at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
He also called for Russian athletes to be excluded from the Olympic Games. “It has nothing to do with the nationality or the athletes, but they represent the aggressive regime of Russia,” he said. At the same time, the ex-boxer emphasized that Ukraine would not give up its resistance: “We will fight as long as we live.”
His brother Vitali, Mayor of Kyiv, who was also present, said of the bitter resistance against the Russian attackers: “We Ukrainians defend our children, families and the future of our children – and the Russian soldiers fight for money.” Russia invaded the country three months ago , because it sees Ukraine as part of the Russian Empire. “Don’t believe the Russians, they always cheat,” said Vitali Klitschko.
3:33 p.m .: The Russian Attorney General’s Office has declared the German Heinrich Böll Foundation an “undesirable organization” and thus effectively banned it in the country. The foundation’s activities pose “a threat to the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation,” the agency said in Moscow on Monday. However, since the Heinrich Böll Foundation had to close its Moscow office in April under pressure from the Russian authorities, it was initially unclear whether the new classification would have any practical effects at all.
In Russia, the classification as “undesirable” is accompanied by additional penal consequences in the event that an affected organization continues to work despite the ban. If they do, they face up to eight years in prison. The Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is close to the Greens, is already the 56th foreign non-governmental organization to be described as “undesirable” by the Russian authorities.
2:15 p.m .: Boris Bondarev, Russia’s adviser to the United Nations in Geneva, has resigned. In a written statement, Bondarev described Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine as “the most serious crime against the Russian people”.
He also wrote: “Never have I been so ashamed of my country.” Bondarev, who also worked at the Russian Foreign Ministry, added: “Unfortunately, I have to admit that in all these 20 years, the level of lies and unprofessionalism in the work of the State Department has become higher and higher.”
12:57 p.m .: The Polish government has decided to terminate its gas supply contract with Russia, which has been in force since 1993. As the Polish news agency PAP reported on Monday, both Climate Minister Anna Moskwa and the Government Plenipotentiary for Energy Infrastructure, Piotr Naimski, confirmed this.
“After almost 30 years, it can be said that gas relations between Poland and Russia have ceased to exist,” Naimski announced on Polish Public Radio and on Facebook. Minister Moskva said on Twitter: “Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has determination confirmed to the Polish government to become completely independent of Russian gas. We have always known that Gazprom is not a reliable partner.”
As PAP explained further, citing the two government representatives, the Polish government’s decision was made at a cabinet meeting on May 13. However, because it is an international treaty, according to Minister Moskwa, a formal note from the Foreign Ministry in Warsaw to the Russian government is necessary. Moskva announced that this written statement would be sent out later on Monday.
PAP pointed out that the cancellation of the Polish-Russian agreement affects not only gas supplies to Poland, but also gas transit through the Yamal gas pipeline further to Germany. However, this connection was most recently used in the opposite direction anyway, to deliver gas from Germany to Poland.
11:58 a.m .: In the first Ukrainian war crimes trial, a 21-year-old Russian soldier was sentenced to life imprisonment. The court in Kyiv on Monday saw it as proven after the man’s confession that the tanker shot a 62-year-old civilian after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This was the first case to go to court after global outrage at Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
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