The longtime boss of the Russian oil giant Lukoil died under mysterious circumstances. Ex-General a. D. Klaus Wittmann sees the first Russian defense lines as breached. And: Ukraine wants to deliver nuclear power to Germany. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
Saturday, September 3, 9:12 a.m.: Ukraine wants to support Germany with the delivery of nuclear power on its way out of dependence on Russian energy supplies. “Currently, Ukraine exports its electricity to Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Poland. But we are quite ready to expand our exports to Germany,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal told the German Press Agency. “We have enough electricity in Ukraine thanks to our nuclear power plants. I will address this during my visit to Berlin and then also to Brussels.”
Schmyhal is expected in Berlin on Saturday and will be received by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Chancellery on Sunday. Parallel to the Russian invasion at the end of February, the Ukraine, together with the neighboring country of Moldova, disconnected from the former Soviet power grid. Synchronization with the European network took place in mid-March.
Since then, the country has been exporting between 400 and 700 megawatts of electricity to the European Union and Moldova every day. Schmyhal now wants to increase the export quotas for the EU many times over. “That would be very good for both sides. The EU would get more energy and we would get the foreign exchange that we urgently need,” said the Prime Minister.
2:43 p.m .: The finance ministers of the G7 economically strong democracies want to enforce a price cap on Russian oil. The measure is aimed at reducing Russia’s income, but at the same time cushioning the effects of the Ukraine war on global energy prices, it said on Friday in a joint statement available to the German Press Agency.
2:10 p.m .: A Kremlin spokeswoman responded to the suspension of the visa agreement announced by the EU with a nuclear threat. “Radiation doesn’t have a passport,” threatens Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. She doesn’t need a visa to cross borders. If something happens in Zaporizhia, it won’t be about visas, passports or borders.” She goes on to say that EU countries have made a lot of “self-defeating and suicidal decisions.” Previously, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the suspension a “contradictory decision ” designated.
The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on Wednesday that the European Union would completely suspend the 2006 agreement with Russia to facilitate the issuing of visas. She doesn’t need a visa to cross borders. If something happens in Zaporizhia, it will not be about visas, passports or borders.”
2:02 p.m .: The Kremlin does not rule out another gas supply stop due to maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. There are no technical reserves, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday in Moscow, according to the Interfax news agency. “Only one turbine is running.” The energy giant Gazprom is not to blame for the fact that the reliability of the line through the Baltic Sea is endangered.
Earlier, Peskov claimed that Gazprom could meet its commitments, but that Europe imposed “legal and technical obstacles” on the company because of sanctions related to the Ukraine war. He spoke of a crisis scenario.
Gazprom stopped the flow of gas for three days, citing maintenance work at a compressor station. The federal government considers this to be a pretext. Gas is scheduled to flow again from Saturday morning.
According to the Russian state-owned company, the last remaining turbine in the compressor station has to be serviced every 1000 working hours. The next stop should therefore be in mid-October.
12:32 p.m .: As announced, the Russian gas company Gazprom wants to deliver gas to Germany again through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Saturday. On Friday, delivery quantities as before the current delivery stop were reserved on the website of the operating company Nord Stream from 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. This so-called nomination is advance information for gas network operators. The data published on Friday initially only lasted until 6 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Gazprom stopped its deliveries to Germany through Nord Stream 1 on Wednesday morning, according to its own statements due to scheduled maintenance work on a compressor station. The Russian company sent around 33 million cubic meters of gas through the pipeline every day until Wednesday, which is 20 percent of the possible delivery volume.
Gazprom cites the maintenance of a Siemens turbine as the reason for this reduction, which cannot be delivered to Russia because of Western sanctions. The Federal Government considers this line of argument to be incomprehensible.
12.17 p.m .: Union faction leader Friedrich Merz has spoken out in favor of a delivery of German Leopard 2 main battle tanks to support Ukraine in the fight against the Russian war of aggression. “We should also help Ukraine in this respect so that they are able to push back Russian aggression,” said the CDU chairman on Friday at a meeting of the leaders of the Union faction in Murnau, Upper Bavaria. The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Schmyhal, had previously called for such a delivery.
Schmyhal is expected in Berlin on Saturday. On Sunday he will be received by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Chancellery. Schmyhal is the highest-ranking Ukrainian politician to visit Berlin since the Russian war of aggression began more than six months ago. In an interview with the German Press Agency, he said: “We need a change in the philosophy of arms deliveries. By that I mean: modern battle tanks should also be supplied.” Ukraine expects “the USA to supply us with their Abrams tanks and we expect Leopard 2 from Germany”.
Merz said he had already spoken to Schmyhal on May 2 in Kyiv about arms deliveries. He will now also meet him on Sunday or Monday on the sidelines of his visit to Berlin. The parliamentary group leader emphasized: “A delivery of German tanks, including battle tanks, corresponds to the decision of the German Bundestag of April 28, 2022”, as requested by the Union parliamentary group.
For Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), a direct delivery of battle tanks and armored personnel carriers has so far been taboo. No other NATO state has so far handed over such weapon systems to Ukraine. However, Spain has offered German-made Leopard 2 tanks.
Friday, September 2, 6:49 a.m .: The FDP parliamentary group wants to finally close the chapter on the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline. “As Free Democrats, we demand the dismantling of Nord Stream 2 and the fastest possible development of a concept for legal, technical and environmental protection,” says a position paper adopted at the autumn meeting in Bremen, which was available to the German Press Agency on Friday. The FDP parliamentary group wants to end all purchases of raw materials and energy from Russia and Belarus as quickly as possible, insofar as this is permitted by their own economic capacity to act.
“From the start, the Nord Stream pipelines were a Kremlin geopolitical project aimed at isolating Ukraine. That is why the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in particular has led to considerable resentment and has diplomatically isolated Germany,” says the decision, in which Ukraine is also assured further support.
Russia’s aggression must continue to be answered consistently with economic sanctions. Sanctions worked, the first effects are already visible. “We are calling for the sanctions against members of the Russian leadership to be expanded and we are in favor of expelling family members of people on the sanctions list and withdrawing visas,” said the FDP parliamentary group. “If individual countries, including EU accession candidates, circumvent sanctions or even supply weapons to Russia, this cannot go unchallenged and uncontroversial. If EU accession candidates circumvent the sanctions, the pre-accession aid must be canceled.”
9:05 p.m.: According to the Brigadier General a. D. Klaus Wittmann launched the major Ukrainian offensive against the Russian invaders on August 29, three days ago. You go in five directions, he said in an interview with the “world”. And further: “The first Russian defense lines have apparently been breached.”
However, the defense lines behind it are apparently so strong that the Ukrainian armed forces “are not making any real progress yet”. At the moment, however, there is little concrete information about this from Ukraine – “perhaps also a tactic,” said Wittmann.
In the major Ukrainian offensive, Cherson and the area around it played a crucial role – “objectively, agriculturally, politically and symbolically”. Because: “It is the first big city that Russia has conquered. This is the only area west of the Dnepro that Russia has occupied. That is the first thing Ukraine needs to win back.”
Wittmann emphasized: “The Russians are really only superior in terms of firepower. The Ukraine is superior in tactical mobility, operational planning and leadership, in the morale of the troops.” The ex-Bundeswehr general: “I reckon there are opportunities. But I will say one thing: they need combat vehicles for that.”
He criticizes that the Chancellery has still not made a clear statement about the 88 Leopard battle tanks and 100 Marder armored personnel carriers offered by German industry and finds clear words: “If this offensive in the south goes wrong, it will fail, among other things because there are not enough combat vehicles are present, then we have taken on a part of the blame.”
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