Mayor Klitschko has warned of further attacks on Kyiv. By the end of August, around 952,000 refugees from Ukraine had been registered in Germany. Lukashenko announces the establishment of a joint force with Russia. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war in the ticker.
More on the course of the war in Ukraine
7.12 a.m .: Russia has failed in its attempt to have the vote in the UN General Assembly on its sham referendums held secretly. With 107 votes, the panel voted to hold the public vote expected on Wednesday. 13 states voted against and 39 abstained. Russia had argued that a secret ballot was necessary because of Western pressure, otherwise “it could become very difficult when the positions are presented publicly”. Meanwhile, Russia’s UN ambassador Wassili Nebensja complained about “dangerous polarization” at the UN and the formation of blocs that undermine international cooperation.
4:50 a.m .: To better protect NATO’s eastern flank, the Bundeswehr will support Lithuania’s defense with a combat troop brigade. In view of the security and protection needs of the eastern NATO partners, this sign of solidarity is extremely important and absolutely necessary, Brigadier General Christian Nawrat told the German Press Agency at the Lithuanian military base in Rukla. Lithuania borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia’s ally Belarus.
“We are aware of the importance of the order. It serves to reassure our Baltic allies and act as a deterrent against Russia,” Nawrat said. Germany is clearly on the side of its allies. Nawrat is commander of Panzergrenadierbrigade 41 “Vorpommern”.
After the Russian attack on Ukraine, NATO decided to increase protection of the eastern flank. Germany is to lead a combat troops brigade with 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers for Lithuania. Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised this during a visit to Vilnius in June.
12:05 a.m .: At the beginning of an emergency session of the UN General Assembly, Ukraine called on the world community to condemn Russia’s illegal annexations. “The so-called referendums had nothing to do with what we call an expression of the people’s will – either from a legal or technical point of view,” Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UN, Serhiy Kislizia, said in New York on Monday. He urged the largest UN body to adopt a resolution requiring Russia to reverse its actions.
The Russian ambassador to the UN, Wassili Nebensya, on the other hand, complained about “dangerous polarization” at the United Nations and the formation of blocs that undermine international cooperation. With a series of votes, Moscow tried to force a secret decision on the resolution. However, it failed due to a clear majority of more than 100 states that voted for an open vote. The UN General Assembly began deliberations on Monday on the recent illegal annexations of parts of Ukraine by Russia. At the end of the session, which could drag on until Wednesday due to the large number of speakers, the UN body, the largest with 193 member states, is to vote on the resolution condemning Moscow. Unlike the Security Council, resolutions of the UN General Assembly are not binding under international law. However, the forthcoming vote in New York is also seen as a global mood test regarding the Ukraine war.
11:21 p.m .: The outgoing ambassador of Ukraine in Germany, Andriy Melnyk, sees a real danger that Russia could also use nuclear weapons against his country. The Russian rocket attacks on cities in Ukraine have shown that Russian President Vladimir Putin is apparently capable of anything, Melnyk told RTL/ntv on Monday. The West should explain to Russia very clearly and without diplomatic phrases what Russia would expect if Putin used nuclear weapons in Ukraine. “And I believe that our partners and allies should be perfectly able to do that in language that Putin will understand,” Melnyk said.
White House communications director for the National Security Council, John Kirby, said Sunday the US government has no evidence that Putin made a decision to use nuclear weapons.
10:28 p.m .: US President Joe Biden has promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy further military aid “including advanced air defense systems”. Biden assured Selenskyj in a telephone call that he would “continue to provide Ukraine with everything it needs for its defense,” the White House in Washington said on Monday. The US President also expressed his condolences to Zelenskyj after the massive Russian airstrikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
Zelenskyj wrote in the short message service Twitter of a “productive conversation” with Biden. “Air defense is currently the top priority of our defense cooperation,” the Ukrainian President said. According to Ukrainian police, at least eleven people were killed and dozens more injured in the large-scale Russian attack on Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv for the first time since June. In total, Russia fired more than 80 rockets.
6:55 p.m .: The rocket attacks on dozens of targets in Ukraine this Monday are, according to Dr. Stefan Meister’s reaction to the attack on the Kersch bridge one day after Putin’s birthday. That’s what Meister said in an interview with FOCUS online. “The bridge is important as a supply infrastructure for Crimea and the Russian military in southern Ukraine and has great symbolic importance for Putin. He brought Crimea ‘back to Russia’, a great success for him personally and the bridge connects the Russian mainland with Crimea directly.” Stefan Meister is an expert on Russian domestic, foreign and security policy as well as EU-Russia relations. He is head of the International Order and Democracy program at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
The Russian leadership is no longer acting strategically, but is lashing out wildly the more it comes under pressure. “There is no place in Ukraine that is not safe from Russian missiles,” Meister told FOCUS. “Therefore, the more dangerous the use of nuclear weapons increases, the more the pressure on Moscow increases,” explains Meister. US channels are therefore needed for negotiations with the Russian leadership. “At the moment we are in a spiral of escalation that cannot only be solved militarily. It needs military pressure, but also channels of dialogue and ways out.” Putin is also under massive pressure in his own country, the hardliners are driving him to ever tougher actions. “There needs to be opportunities for top-level talks between Washington and Moscow as Biden is the only relevant point of contact for Putin.”
6:01 p.m .: The Ukrainian secret service SBU has issued a search for Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev. According to the appeal published on Monday, Medvedev is accused of attacking Ukraine’s borders and sovereignty. According to paragraph 110 paragraph 2 of the Ukrainian penal code, he faces a prison sentence of five to ten years as a civil servant.
Medvedev, who is currently deputy secretary of Russia’s National Security Council, on Sunday effectively announced Russia’s retaliation for the Crimean bridge blast. The explosion is a terrorist attack to which Russia will respond by “destroying the terrorists,” he wrote.
4:57 p.m .: Russian President Vladimir Putin has emphatically called for the elimination of problems with the partial mobilization of soldiers for the Ukraine war. Many difficulties have only now become apparent, he said on Monday in St. Petersburg at a video conference with heads of several Russian regions. However, these problems had probably accumulated over a long period of time, he said, without giving details. After the errors have become apparent, you have to deal with them.
Thus, within a short space of time, Putin once again openly addressed the problems of calling up reservists. At a meeting of the Russian Security Council at the end of September, he called for the “correction of all errors”. Reservists complain, for example, that they are drafted into military service despite serious chronic illnesses or old age and other exclusion criteria.
3:12 p.m .: Russia’s ex-president Dmitry Medvedev has threatened new rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities. “The first episode is over. There will be more,” Medvedev, who is Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, wrote to the Telegram news service on Monday. The Ukrainian state in its current form is a constant threat to Russia. Therefore, the political leadership of the neighboring country must be completely eliminated, stressed Medvedev. This is his “personal position”.
12:42 p.m .: The government of the Republic of Moldova has accused Russia of violating Moldovan airspace in missile attacks on targets in Ukraine. Three cruise missiles were fired from Russian ships in the Black Sea and crossed his country’s airspace, Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu wrote on Twitter on Monday. The Russian ambassador in Moldova was therefore summoned. The government in Chisinau condemns the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Moldova is one of the smallest countries on the border with Ukraine and has been affected by refugee movements from the neighboring country.
11:23 a.m .: According to the Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus and Russia will set up joint troops.
“We have decided to set up a regional association of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus,” said Lukashenko on Monday, according to the Belarusian state news agency Beta, without giving any information about their location. He accused Ukraine of preparing an attack on Belarus, which is why this decision has now been made.
10:37 a.m .: The Mayor of Kiev, Vitaly Klitschko, has warned of further rocket attacks on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. “The Russian terrorists are not stopping,” Klitschko wrote on Telegram on Monday. A reporter from the German Press Agency also reported on new explosions from the center of the metropolis.
Klitschko urged residents not to go into town and to seek shelter. “Bring warm clothes, water, a supply of food and phone chargers,” he said. The subway is currently not carrying passengers. In Kyiv, the metro stations act as shelters. The city’s emergency services are on duty, Klitschko emphasized.
9:53 a.m .: By the end of August, around 952,000 refugees from Ukraine had been registered in Germany. Most of the arrivals were counted in March (431,000) and April (198,000) and thus in the first two months after the Russian attack, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday based on preliminary results. Immigration then fell again, but was also significantly higher in July (58,000) and August (70,000) than in the previous year, with an average of 1,000 newcomers per month from the state.
Since May, Ukrainians have also been declining: According to the information, 78,000 emigrants were registered from February to August inclusive. The net immigration to Germany from the Ukraine amounted to 874,000 people in the period. However, the Federal Office pointed out that the numbers were too low if people did not report to the authorities.
During this period, 65 percent of women and girls came from Ukraine. 37 percent of the immigrants were minors. At 96 percent, the vast majority had a Ukrainian passport, 0.35 percent had a Russian and 0.23 a German passport.
4:47 a.m .: The UN General Assembly begins deliberations on Monday on the recent illegal annexations of parts of Ukraine by Russia. At the end of the session, which could drag on until Wednesday due to the large number of speakers, the UN body, the largest with 193 member states, is to vote on a resolution condemning Moscow. Russia had previously advocated a secret ballot – apparently in the hope of a better result. High-ranking diplomats describe this as an unprecedented operation that is unlikely to receive sufficient support.
Just a few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin completed the annexations of the partially occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Cherson with his signature.
As expected, a condemning resolution in the UN Security Council tabled by the US and other countries was blocked by a veto by Moscow. The process then moved to the General Assembly. According to diplomats, it needs the support of two-thirds of the countries voting for it to be passed by the body.
In a draft resolution available to the German Press Agency, Russia’s actions are condemned as aggression and “violation of the sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine”. The referendums are illegal, have “no validity under international law and do not form a basis for changing the status of these regions of Ukraine,” it said. Russia is violating the UN charter, must reverse its actions and withdraw from Ukraine.
A clear majority is expected when the UN General Assembly votes, but the text will have to measure itself against two previous results: In March, the assembly rejected Russia’s invasion with a historic majority of 141 votes. In 2014, following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, 100 member states committed to a resolution emphasizing Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Western diplomats emphasized that every UN member country must have a self-interest in condemning Russia, lest it itself become a victim of illegal annexation by a neighboring state. On the other hand, observers have been seeing war fatigue in a number of countries, especially in Africa and Latin America, for some time now. Some of them find that the Ukraine war distracts from other regional conflicts and global crises and blocks progress.
1:26 a.m .: According to the head of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, the West should not be deterred by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats. “We have to take Putin’s nuclear threats seriously, but they must not determine our actions,” the CSU politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group. Instead, decisions in connection with the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine should be guided by “basic principles such as human rights, a state’s right to self-defense and the rule-based system of values,” said Weber.
The Kremlin has repeatedly indirectly threatened to use nuclear weapons in connection with the war of aggression in Ukraine. For example, Putin had announced that he would use all available means to protect Russia. US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that after the threats from the Kremlin, the risk of a nuclear confrontation with catastrophic consequences was higher than it had been in 60 years. However, the US government has no evidence that Putin made a decision to use nuclear weapons.
Monday, October 10, 12:20 a.m .: After the heavy explosion on the Crimean bridge, Russia’s ex-president Dmitry Medvedev called for those responsible to be killed. “All reports and conclusions are made. Russia’s answer to this crime can only be the direct annihilation of the terrorists,” said Medvedev, who is now deputy of the Russian Security Council, in an interview with Kremlin-affiliated journalist Nadana Friedrichson on Sunday evening. “This is what the citizens of Russia are waiting for,” he said before a Security Council meeting this Monday that will be chaired by President Vladimir Putin.
On Saturday morning, an explosion shook the 19-kilometer bridge that connects Russia and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014. Around seven and a half months after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the building, which is strategically and symbolically important for Russia, was severely damaged. According to official information from Moscow, three people died.
Putin has blamed the Ukrainian secret service SBU for the attack. The SBU headquarters is located in the city center in Kyiv. The power center in Moscow has repeatedly threatened to target command posts in the Ukrainian capital if the shelling of Russian territory does not stop.
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