1.
First
Is there a realistic chance that Ukraine will defeat Putin's army?
To my surprise, the former four-star general and NATO commander Egon Ramms answered yes to this question on "Anne Will" last night.
Putin completely misjudged his opponent's ability to resist.
His attack stalled, many of his tanks were destroyed.
Ramms said: "I am convinced that Ukraine - the people and the armed forces - can win this war."
I can't judge if the ex-general is right.
But if it were, what does that mean for us and our support?
In many comments over the past few days I have read that it is only a matter of time before Putin defeats Ukraine.
It is therefore wrong to support the Ukrainian soldiers with weapons because it only makes the war worse and increases the suffering of the people.
I thought that argument was cynical.
But if one takes Putin's victory for granted, it follows a certain logic.
Jakob Augstein put it this way in »Friday«: »The West is prolonging the war with its arms deliveries.
As soon as our weapons are used there, it's no longer just Putin's dead, it's ours too."
However, if you believe that Ukraine has at least a small chance of victory, things are different.
The West could then make an important contribution to stopping the aggressor.
It would not be wrong to support Ukraine militarily; on the contrary, it would be morally necessary.
I'm afraid there's no easy answer to the question of arms shipments.
But wishing Ukraine a quick defeat because that would mean fewer deaths is a pretty presumptuous position.
It's not up to us to decide whether the Ukrainians give up or fight.
And if they choose to fight, we should help them.
Read more here: Air raids on Kharkiv, hundreds of thousands fleeing – this is the current situation
2.
Second
Putin's attack on Ukraine triggered the largest refugee movement in Europe since World War II.
According to United Nations estimates, more than 1.7 million people have already left their home country, a good million of them to Poland alone.
Officially, only 50,000 refugees have come to Germany so far, as the Federal Ministry of the Interior announced today.
The actual number is likely to be higher, however, since not all those entering the country were recorded.
At the weekend I was at the Berlin Central Station, where more than 10,000 refugees are currently arriving every day.
A kind of emergency room was set up here with the help of volunteers.
Luckily it's dry in the station and not as cold as outside.
In the basement there is some food, clothes, SIM cards for mobile phones, bus tickets for the onward journey, children's toys.
Helpers receive people who are looking for accommodation, the mediation is spontaneous on site on demand.
Others translate forms and bus timetables;
the Russian speakers can be recognized by their shiny waistcoats.
It's surprisingly calm and organized, but it still tears your heart apart.
Most of the refugees are women and children, with a few older people in between.
For many, their relief at having fled to safety is likely to be overshadowed by fear for their husbands, sons and brothers who remained in Ukraine.
How is Germany prepared for the refugees?
Will the chaos of 2015 be repeated, when thousands of people camped in the mud for days in front of the Berlin State Office for Health and Social Affairs, the notorious Lageso?
My colleagues Katrin Elger, Tobias Großekemper, Serafin Reiber and Hannes Schrader researched the situation in Germany and also spoke to refugees.
There are some indications that the authorities are in a better position this time than they were in 2015. "This state institutions will not be overwhelmed again," says Werner Schiffauer, a member of the Council for Migration.
It is also encouraging at the moment that there is again a broad mobilization within German society to help the refugees.
If you are wondering what you can do for the people from Ukraine: In this text you will find ways to donate.
Help for the people in Ukraine – you can donate here
Expand areaAction Alliance for Disaster Relief
Donation account: Commerzbank
IBAN: DE65 100 400 600 100 400 600
BIC: COBADEFFXXX Online donations:
aktionsbuendnis-katastrophenhilfe.de
Caritas Germany, the German Red Cross, Unicef and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe have joined forces in the disaster relief action alliance.
AreaAktion Deutschland Hilft eVopen
DE62 3702 0500 0000 1020 30
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX
Bank for Social Economy
Online donations: Aktion Deutschland Hilft eV
Expand areaAction Little Prince
Donation account: Sparkasse Münsterland Ost
IBAN DE46 4005 0150 0062 0620 62
BIC: WELADED1MST
Expand areaDoctors of the World eV
Donation account: Deutsche Kreditbank
IBAN: DE06 1203 0000 1004 3336 60
BIC: BYLADEM1001
AreaAlliance Development Helpopen
Donation account: Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
IBAN: DE29 100 20 5000 100 20 5000
BIC: BFSWDE33BER Online donations
: spender.entwicklung-hilft.de
The alliance includes Bread for the World, Christoffel-Blindenmission, German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Aid, Kindernothilfe, medico international, Misereor, Plan International, terre des hommes, Welthungerhilfe.
Expand German Red Cross (DRK) section
IBAN: DE63370205000005023307
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX
Keyword: emergency aid Ukraine
Expand DivisionHumedica eV
Donation account: Sparkasse Kaufbeuren
IBAN: DE35 7345 0000 0000 0047 47
BIC: BYLADEM1KFB
Area Save the Children e.
V.open
Donation account: Bank for Social
Economy IBAN: DE92 1002 0500 0003 292912
BIC: BFSWDE33BER
Expand areaSOS Children's Villages worldwide
Donation account: GLS community
bank IBAN: DE22 4306 0967 2222 2000 00
Expand areaUN refugee aid
Donation account: Sparkasse Köln Bonn
IBAN: DE78 3705 0198 0020 0088 50
BIC: COLSDE33 Online donations
via: uno-fluechtlingshilfe.de
Read more about the arrival of refugees from Ukraine in Berlin here: parents, grandmother, two children, a labrador, eight cats
3.
Third
People are dying in Ukraine, a nuclear war could break out - and we should just keep doing our job?
This is difficult for many people, as my colleague Verena Töpper writes.
Especially since we are already ailing after two years of the pandemic.
I learned the term »doom scrolling« from Verena, the impulse to look at my cell phone every few minutes to read the latest disaster reports.
Enlarge image
Photo: Uwe Umstaetter / Westend61 / Getty Images
Verena asked the consultant Reinhild Fürstenberg how we can better deal with fear.
One tip is to keep a thought journal.
"The thoughts no longer buzz around in your head, but have found a place," says Fürstenberg.
»If I then pack away the notebook or the piece of paper, it’s easier for me to concentrate on other things.«
The only thing that helps against »doom scrolling« is to turn off your cell phone.
"That requires a lot of discipline," says Fürstenberg.
»My advice: start small.
Turn off push notifications.
Make it a point not to read the news for an hour.
If that worked, add another hour.
The attraction is there, but I can decide for myself whether to give in to it.«
Read the whole story here: How are you supposed to work now?
(Would you like to receive the "Situation in the evening" conveniently by e-mail in your inbox? Here you can order the daily briefing as a newsletter.)
What else is important today
Seven-day incidence continues to rise slightly:
The RKI has registered 78,428 new corona infections.
Meanwhile, the nationwide seven-day incidence continued to rise – for the fifth day in a row.
Within a day, 24 more people died related to the virus.
Elizabeth II receives a visit to Windsor Castle after a corona infection:
The Queen is apparently doing better after physical complaints and a corona infection.
The monarch has received a state guest for the first time in a long time - the focus was on a bouquet of flowers.
Criminal hackers steal internal data from Samsung:
The mobile phone manufacturer Samsung has become the victim of a cyber attack.
A hacker group, which is currently blackmailing another large company, is boasting about the data leak.
My favorite story today: The wall has to go
Wherever a new housing estate is built in Germany, the gabion wall is not far away, that stone-filled wire wall that always makes a somewhat hostile impression on the street side.
The bulk material in the wire basket is said to provide a habitat for insects and other small creatures.
However, many home builders seem to simply find the optics of the gabion simply beautiful.
My colleague Barbara Supp has a neighbor who has put up a photo wallpaper on his fence that looks like a gabion.
"Why do people retreat behind protective walls?" asks Barbara.
»To protect against envy of the new Weber grill?
To protect against burglars?' That would be a bad idea, because the burglars could work comfortably in the protection of the high wall through which no one could see them.
Barbara mourns the loss of the old front yard, she writes: »The front yard – as I know it from the past, it is actually a semi-public space.
It is there to get you talking to people who are passing by or who are standing in the neighboring garden.
You are not obligated to do anything and yet you are approachable.
You go over what's happening in the neighborhood and in world politics if you like, and when it's all said you go back to the dandelions.”
Read the entire garden column here: Why are so many people retreating behind ugly walls these days?
What we recommend at SPIEGEL+ today
Showdown in the Crystal Hall:
Can the Office for the Protection of the Constitution monitor the AfD?
The Cologne administrative court will hear about this on Tuesday.
The domestic secret service can refer to a prominent key witness: ex-party leader Meuthen.
»Women do not intentionally choose poorly paid jobs«:
Why do women earn less than men?
Why do men find it harder to find a job in some sectors?
The sociologist Karin Gottschall describes how gender structures the labor market.
And what helps.
“Kill them all”:
The country is supposed to help host the soccer World Cup in 2026 – now almost unthinkable.
In Mexico, Ultras attack opposing supporters with iron bars and knives during a game.
Authorities deny there were any deaths.
Which is less important today
Enlarge image
Actor Holland: "I can't suddenly grow a few centimeters"
Photo: MARIO ANSUONI / REUTERS
Superhero with an inferiority complex:
Tom Holland, 25,
struggled with his height for a long time.
"That's why I had a lot of self-doubt at the beginning of my career," the British actor told the dpa news agency in London.
That was also the case when he got the role as "Spider-Man".
Holland is said to be 1.73 meters tall.
In the meantime, however, he has conquered his complex.
"I can't suddenly grow a few inches," Holland said.
"So there's no point in wasting energy on that."
Typo of the day
, now corrected: "Foreign Minister Annalaena Baerbock (Greens) said on the ARD program 'Anne Will' that a possible stop would have to last for months and be well prepared."
Cartoon of the Day:
How...?!
Couldn't do your homework?
And tonight?
My colleague Nora Gantenbrink likes rap music.
So has her two-year-old son.
Recently, the two were driving through the city when Nora's Spotify playlist played an older German rap song, "2010" by Sido and Haftbefehl.
The song is about how the two of them are the greatest, musically but also sexually.
At one point it says: »I fuck every day because my groupies love me – look, your cousin sucks one in the Q7.« Nora's son found that interesting.
"Suddenly there was a crow from behind: 'Seven cows'," writes Nora: I saw my son, very happy.
"Mama, Cowseven!" I turned off the song.
I imagined my son chewing broccoli in his day-care center in Hamburg's Sankt Pauli district, crowing: "Your cousin is going to suck me in a cow sieve."
If you have children and are looking for alternatives to Sido and Haftzettel, Nora has a music tip for you: »Oh Yeah!« by Dikka, the rapping cartoon rhino.
The songs are called "Superpapa", "I'm not going to bed" or "French fries with mayo".
Nora's son's favorite song goes like this: »The panda does breakdance steps with the heron - The mouse and the giraffe dance butt to butt - Hey, if you ask what we're doing here, the answer goes like this - We're having a party at the zoo – Party at the zoo.«
Her son now says very often during the day: "Mom, party at the zoo," writes Nora.
“We'll turn up the volume and dance.
He hasn't said anything about Kuhsieben for a long time.
I'm actually quite satisfied.«
Read the whole home story here: The rhyming monster
A lovely evening.
Yours sincerely,
Alexander Neubacher
Here you can order the »Situation in the Evening« by e-mail.