A Bulgarian political scientist believes that using nuclear weapons in Ukraine could “make sense” for Putin. During the night there was a hacker attack on the Ukrainian administration in Lviv. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.

8:59 a.m .: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has explained his thoughts on a possible trip to Kyiv. During an on-site visit, “it must be important that something is specifically promoted and not just a photo opportunity,” said Scholz on Monday evening on the “RTL Direkt” program. “I’m not going to join a group of people who go for a quick in and out with a photo op. But if, then it’s always about very concrete things.”

Scholz also emphasized that he had already spent many hours on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. At the beginning of May, he invited the entire federal government and Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Kyiv. The invitation was preceded by a controversy about the fact that Steinmeier was initially not welcome in Kyiv because of his Russia policy in his previous post as Federal Foreign Minister.

Regarding the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Scholz said: “We have to worry that the war will escalate, but that mustn’t paralyze us.” The government must “be in a position to be sensible, very conscious and also very courageous To make decisions”.

The goal remains that Russia does not win the war, said the Chancellor. But the goals would not go beyond that – “that would be a completely wrong aim given the fact that it is a nuclear power”. Scholz again called on Russia for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of its troops, as well as negotiations with Ukraine.

04.03 a.m .: The defense ministers of the European Union deal with the Ukraine war on Tuesday (from 10.15 a.m.). At the Brussels meeting, the representatives of the EU countries want to exchange views via video conference with the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Ukraine is hoping for more heavy weapons from Germany, among others.

The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also wants to inform the defense ministers about the situation in West African Mali. It is also about the implementation of the new security strategy of the EU. Borrell proposes, among other things, a rapid reaction force with up to 5,000 forces. Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is expected in Brussels for the federal government.

2:45 a.m .: According to Unicef, the Ukraine war is exacerbating the problem of severe malnutrition in children. “Even before the war in Ukraine, many families were struggling to feed their children due to conflict, climate shock and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director. Now there are additional problems. The Ukraine, which is considered the granary of Europe, can, among other things, export far less grain as a result of the war.

Tuesday, May 17, 12:22 a.m.: Great Britain has spoken out in favor of Finland and Sweden joining NATO as quickly as possible. The two countries should become members of the western defense alliance “as soon as possible,” Secretary of State Liz Truss said on Monday. France also assured Helsinki and Stockholm outside NATO support in the event of an attack.

Sweden and Finland officially announced their applications for NATO membership on Monday. Against the background of the Russian attack on Ukraine, the two countries had broken with their decades-old tradition of military alliance neutrality.

“The UK strongly supports Finland and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership,” Truss said. The move will “strengthen Europe’s collective security.” During the accession process, London will “offer all its support.”

7:38 p.m .: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declares that Turkey will not approve Sweden’s and Finland’s planned NATO accession. This is reported by the AFP news agency. Delegations from either country should not bother going to Turkey to convince the Turkish government of their bids for membership.

After Finland and Sweden officially decided to apply for NATO membership, Turkey accused both countries of not extraditing “terrorists” living there. In the past five years, neither Sweden nor Finland have responded positively to Turkey’s total of 33 extradition requests, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday, citing the Ministry of Justice in Ankara.

Erdogan accused Sweden and Finland on Friday of behaving “like a guest house for terrorist organizations”. He therefore has no “positive opinion” on the NATO accession plans of the two countries. According to Anadolu, “terror suspects” whose extradition Ankara is demanding are Kurdish extremists or members of the movement of preacher Fethullah Gülen.

A unanimous vote by NATO and the ratification of the alliance expansion by the parliaments of the 30 existing member states are required for Finland and Sweden to join.

7:33 p.m .: The foreign ministers of the EU countries have approved a further 500 million euros for the delivery of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces. This was announced by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday evening after a meeting with ministers in Brussels. This increases the EU funds available for military aid to Ukraine to two billion euros.

A first package of 500 million euros was approved at the end of February, followed by two more in March and April. According to EU information, the money will be used to finance personal protective equipment, fuel, but also weapons for defense. According to Borrell, the additional 500 million euros will be used to provide artillery pieces and armored vehicles, among other things.

The funds for the military aid come from the so-called European Peace Facility. It is a new EU financing instrument that can also be used to strengthen the capabilities of armed forces in partner countries. For the period from 2021 to 2027, the peace facility is endowed with around five billion euros. According to Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD), Germany finances around a quarter of the EU support. The formal legal act for the additional 500 million euros will probably be adopted in the next few weeks. Before that, among other things, the Bundestag must agree to the increase in funds.

5 p.m .: In the dispute over plans for a European oil embargo against Russia, there is hope for an agreement. “In the next few days we will come to a joint result – I am very confident about that,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Monday at the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

There has been a dispute in the EU for almost two weeks now about the plans presented by the EU Commission for an import ban on Russian oil because Hungary is unwilling to support the project. The country justifies this with its high dependence on Russian oil supplies and the high costs of switching to other suppliers. Hungary only wants to agree to an embargo if it receives billions in aid or far-reaching exemptions from the EU.

Regarding the reservations, Baerbock said on Monday that it was important that all EU countries manage to end their energy dependency on Russia and be able to hold out. She also made it clear that she thinks an oil embargo without Hungary and other critical countries is a very bad idea.

4.50 p.m .: The traffic light coalition is postponing the vote planned for this week on the 100 billion program for the Bundeswehr. According to information from the German Press Agency, the item was removed from the Bundestag’s agenda. The reason is that the traffic light “is at odds with each other,” said Union housekeeper Mathias Middelberg. “This applies to the wording in the Basic Law, but also to the determination of the NATO goal of investing two percent of economic output in defense.”

SPD, FDP and Greens want to invest 100 billion euros in defense via a special fund in the coming years. Because the money to bypass the debt brake should come entirely from loans, they want to change the Basic Law. However, this requires a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag, which the coalition alone does not have. Negotiations with the Union have therefore been going on for weeks.

The talks were “in a good style and tone, they drag a bit,” said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour. You don’t have endless time, “but you don’t have to break it over your knee either”. The traffic light partners are all against anchoring the two percent target in the Basic Law.

Above all, the Union insists on a legal clarification that the special fund is used exclusively for the Bundeswehr. On the other hand, the previously planned wording “to strengthen alliance and defense capability” leaves a lot of leeway. Middelberg argued that Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had clearly announced that the money was intended for the armed forces. However, the Greens and parts of the SPD were “a great distance from the positions of their own chancellor”. In addition, the Union demands a permanent increase in the defense budget. Scholz had announced the rearmament of the Bundeswehr at the end of February as a consequence of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

4:32 p.m .: What would a future without Vladimir Putin look like? A question that seems quite relevant in view of the constant rumors of a coup and illness surrounding the Russian president. In the guest article by our expert Gerhard Mangott, you can read who would take power in the Kremlin and under what circumstances.

3:15 p.m .: Vladimir Putin warned the West on Monday. Speaking to the leaders of a military alliance of former Soviet states, he emphasized that Russia would react if NATO strengthened the military infrastructure of Sweden and Finland. The Reuters news agency reports.

Putin again cited NATO expansion as the reason for the war in Ukraine. This is being used by the USA in an “aggressive” way to further aggravate the already difficult global security situation.

Russia has no problems with Finland or Sweden, so there is no direct threat from NATO expansion to include those countries, he said. “But extending military infrastructure to that area would certainly provoke our response.”

3:08 p.m .: Sweden will apply for NATO membership. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced on Monday that her government had decided to officially notify Allianz of its desire to join. “Sweden’s NATO ambassador will inform NATO shortly,” Andresson told journalists in Stockholm. “We are leaving one era to enter a new one,” added the Prime Minister.

2:37 p.m.: The transit of Russian gas through Ukraine continues to decline. According to the energy company Gazprom, 46.8 million cubic meters of gas are to be pumped through the Ukrainian pipeline network towards Europe today. The contractually possible maximum utilization is 109 million cubic meters per day. The transit of Russian gas through the neighboring country dropped significantly last week because Ukraine closed a pipeline through the heavily contested Luhansk region due to the war.

2.30 p.m .: During a parliamentary debate in Sweden on Monday, a majority of the parties voted in favor of the country’s application for NATO membership. There shouldn’t be a vote. Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson wanted to announce her decision on the NATO issue in the afternoon. The ruling Social Democrats had already advocated an application to join the military alliance on Sunday.

A debate on the NATO membership application also took place in Finland on Monday. There was still no end in sight in the afternoon. However, a majority in Parliament for the application is considered safe.

2:46 p.m .: The US fast food chain McDonald’s is giving up its business in Russia as a result of the Russian war against Ukraine. After more than 30 years in the country, McDonald’s wants to sell the branches to a Russian buyer, as the group announced on Monday in Chicago. The company had come to the conclusion that ownership of the Russian activities was no longer tenable and no longer in line with the company’s values.

The company had already announced on March 8 that it would temporarily close the restaurants in the country. The new owner of the restaurants should no longer be able to use the brand symbols. According to its own statements, McDonald’s will post special costs of 1.2 to 1.4 billion US dollars for the withdrawal from Russia, including write-downs and foreign currency losses.

11:57 a.m .: Russia has nationalized the property of the French carmaker Renault in the country: the group and the Ministry of Trade in Moscow announced on Monday that the majority stake in the Russian carmaker Avtovaz and the plant in Moscow went to the Russian state. A price was not mentioned – but Russia’s Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in April that Renault was planning the sale for “a symbolic ruble”.

Renault boss Luca de Meo said: “Today we made a difficult but necessary decision – a responsible decision for our 45,000 employees in Russia.” Renault emphasized that the company had a six-year option to buy back the Avtovaz shares. De Meo said Renault could return to Russia “in the future, in a different context”.

Renault announced its withdrawal from Russia on March 24, a month after the start of the Ukraine war. Work at the Moscow plant has been suspended. At that time, Renault already said that the options for participating in the Lada manufacturer Avtovaz were being examined. The carmaker put the value of the Russian business at 2.2 billion euros.

09:52: Russia has again sharply criticized the efforts of Sweden and Finland to join NATO. “This is another serious mistake with far-reaching consequences,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Monday, according to Russian news agencies. Against the background of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Sweden and Finland are about to give up their decades of military neutrality in order to join the western military alliance.

8:28 a.m .: After the French car group Renault left Russia, the group’s shares in the Lada manufacturer Avtovaz became the property of the Russian state. The Russian Trade Ministry announced in Moscow on Monday that contracts had been signed for the “transfer” of the Renault Group’s Russian shares to the Russian state and government in Moscow. Renault declared in Paris that the buyback option would remain.

6:23 a.m .: In an interview with Die Welt, political scientist and Eastern Europe expert Ivan Krastev mentioned two things that the West should fear in the war in Ukraine. “On the one hand, of course, that Putin’s attack was successful. Paradoxically, however, that things are going really badly for him. It is clear that he would then be willing to push certain boundaries.”

According to Krastev, this could also mean the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. “From Putin’s point of view, the use of nuclear weapons can make sense,” he told Die Welt, but qualified: “I’m not talking about a nuclear war that would mean the end of the world. But attacking Ukraine with nuclear weapons to show that he is ready to cross any border is possible.” According to Krastev, the Ukraine war is also about “sending exactly those signals.” But whether Putin will He could “only speculate” that nuclear weapons would actually be used.

2:14 a.m .: The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to increasingly ask for help in the Russian war of aggression against his country in Africa and Asia. He wants to speak to parliaments in other countries, said Selenskyj in his daily video speech on Monday night. In the past few months, the Ukrainian President had solicited support from parliamentarians in Europe, among other things, via video link. In a week he also wants to address the World Economic Forum in Davos, where, among other things, post-war reconstruction will be discussed.

One goal is also the tightening of sanctions against Russia, stressed Selenskyj. “The occupiers must constantly feel the increasing price of war for them.” The oil embargo against Russia is a priority. “No matter how hard Moscow tries to obstruct this decision, Europe’s period of dependence on Russian energy resources is coming to an end. And that will not change either,” Zelenskyj said.

Monday, May 16, 12:06 a.m.: The city administration of the western Ukrainian city of Lviv has become the target of a cyber attack by suspected Russian hackers. As a result of the attack on Friday, some city services were no longer available, Deputy Mayor Andriy Moskalenko wrote on Facebook. Part of it had been restored by Sunday.

The attackers also stole internal information from the city administration, which was then published in “hostile” information channels on the chat service Telegram, Moskalenko wrote. Russia is also conducting attacks on the “IT front” and one needs to be careful offline as well as online.

The Ukraine has long been in the sights of hacker groups, which Western IT security experts attribute to the environment of Russian secret services. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, an escalation of cyber attacks was also expected, but so far there have been no major headlines.

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