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Soon also with Swedish and Finnish flags?
NATO headquarters in Brussels
Photo: PASCAL ROSSIGNOL / REUTERS
This article will be continuously updated.
Sweden and Finland want to submit NATO membership applications
6.25 a.m .:
Sweden and Finland want to submit their NATO membership applications together in Brussels on Wednesday.
The Nordic countries want to join the military alliance out of concerns for their security after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Both countries are thus giving up their long tradition of military non-alignment.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of both countries signed the applications to join NATO.
The NATO ambassadors of Sweden and Finland are to submit the applications to NATO headquarters.
After that, all 30 alliance states must agree to the northern expansion.
However, Turkey is threatening to block the Nordic countries' admissions process with a veto.
Strack-Zimmermann demands coordinator for arms deliveries
6.13 a.m .:
The chairwoman of the defense committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), has reiterated calls for a chief manager for the delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
She pleads for a special coordinator in the Chancellery to bring all those involved from politics, business and the military to one table, Strack-Zimmermann told the dpa news agency.
So far, the Ukrainian government has placed its inquiries in a wide variety of places.
“That also led to unfortunate misunderstandings for which we cannot and do not want to take responsibility in this situation,” said Strack-Zimmermann.
"All of this is not only annoying for everyone involved and creates uncertainty due to unclear regulations and processes, it also slows down the urgently needed aid to Ukraine," she said.
Approval processes, repairs and the procurement of spare parts and ammunition are time-consuming.
Schulze wants to strengthen the fight against hunger at the G7 development ministers' meeting
6.12 a.m .:
“There are famines because Putin uses hunger as a weapon in a targeted manner”: Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) has announced a global anti-hunger pact that is to be launched at the G7 development ministers’ meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in Berlin.
Putin's actions must be countered with "a new alliance for global food security, which we want to decide at this meeting," Schulze told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung".
»The situation on the agricultural markets was already tense, and Russia's war of aggression has made the situation even worse.
If we do nothing, the worst famine in decades is imminent.« In addition to more money, the anti-hunger pact provides for close coordination of the international community's food security measures.
The World Bank and the African Union are involved.
Foundations and private companies are also invited.
Russian deputy prime minister visits occupied territory in Kherson
12:05 a.m .:
Russia is determined to tie the occupied Cherson region in southern Ukraine to itself.
The region around the port city will take a "worthy place in our Russian family," said Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Marat Chusnullin during a visit to Cherson on Tuesday.
The Russian agency Ria Novosti quoted him as saying that they would live and work together in the future.
On May 1, Russia introduced the Russian ruble as official currency in the region.
A few days ago, the deputy chief of the pro-Russian administration in Cherson, Kirill Stremoussov, brought up a formal application for Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin to join the conversation.
He justified the waiver of a previously considered referendum with the fact that such a referendum on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, was not internationally recognized.
The Ukrainian government, on the other hand, is convinced that a Russification of the Cherson region will fail.
fek/dpa/AFP
