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Emmanuel Macron in Romania
Photo: Yoan Valat / AFP
Israel is to deliver gas to Europe via Egypt
10.44 a.m .:
Israel is to deliver liquefied gas to Europe via Egypt in the future.
Ministers from both countries signed a declaration of intent during a visit by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Cairo.
EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson signed for the European side.
The agreement comes at a "very difficult time" for the EU - during a war on European soil, said von der Leyen.
The goal is fossil fuels from “trustworthy suppliers”.
Report: Lambrecht wants to offer
Ukraine
three Mars II rocket launchers
11:22 a.m .:
According to a report, Germany wants to deliver three Mars II rocket launchers to Ukraine instead of the four previously discussed.
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) wanted to announce the plan at the meeting of EU defense ministers, reported the Business Insider portal.
The German rocket launchers from Bundeswehr stocks should be handed over to Ukraine in August or September.
Before that, Ukrainian soldiers should be trained on the system, as the portal further reported.
The fact that three instead of four rocket launchers are now being delivered is partly due to a lack of ammunition.
Germany cannot fire a large part of its own ammunition because a software update is missing.
The update was announced for the end of the year, the portal further reported.
According to information from "Business Insider", the German delivery is only working because the USA wants to deliver additional ammunition for Mars II.
In addition, less than half of the Mars systems in Germany are operational, and the system is no longer being built by industry.
Almost 135,000 Ukrainian students at German schools
11.17 a.m .:
The schools in Germany have now taken in around 135,000 refugee children and young people from Ukraine.
The Conference of Ministers of Education (KMK) published the current figures.
According to this, 134,704 Ukrainian students were registered at schools and vocational schools up to the past week, 1,243 more than in the week before.
So far, most children and young people have found shelter in Bavaria (24,791), North Rhine-Westphalia (23,639) and Baden-Württemberg (18,052).
The numbers have risen steadily since the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost four months ago.
In some federal states, however, they are now also declining.
A total of around eleven million schoolchildren are taught in Germany.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) spoke on Tuesday of more than 850,000 refugees from Ukraine who had now registered in Germany.
Many have probably returned to their homeland in the meantime, she said.
NATO continues to pledge support to Ukraine
11:09 a.m .:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has assured Ukraine that it will continue to supply it with heavy weapons.
Ukraine: 5.7 million birds killed
10.44 a.m .:
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, grain could not be harvested on an area of around 2.4 million hectares because of the Russian invasion.
The ministry also estimates that 42,000 sheep and goats, 92,000 cows, 258,000 pigs and more than 5.7 million birds have been killed in the areas affected by the fighting.
Macron: Ukraine must talk to Russia
10:42 a.m .:
“The Ukrainian President and his officials will have to negotiate with Russia,” said Macron during a visit to Romania and Moldova.
Macron arrived on Tuesday for a three-day trip to NATO's southern flank.
Macron has been criticized by Ukraine and Eastern European allies for his ambiguous support for Ukraine in the war against Russia.
Ifo lowers economic forecast for Germany because
of the war
10.33 a.m .:
The war and its consequences continue to weigh heavily on the German economy.
The Ifo Institute corrected its growth forecast for the current year to 2.5 percent on Wednesday, the experts had previously assumed 3.1 percent.
The Institute for the World Economy (IfW) only expected growth of 2.1 percent this year.
Both institutes referred to the high energy prices and ongoing delivery problems.
Russia reports destruction of warehouse with NATO weapons
10:30 a.m.:
Russia announced that its missiles had destroyed an ammunition depot for weapons donated by NATO countries in the western Ukrainian region of Lviv.
EU signs gas deals with Israel and Egypt
10:19 a.m.:
The EU, Israel and Egypt have signed a declaration of intent for a natural gas agreement.
The deal will enable "significant" exports of Israeli gas to Europe for the first time, Israel's Energy Ministry said on Wednesday.
The EU had said Israel could help reduce its dependence on Russian energy in the future.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of an energy conference in the Egyptian capital Cairo, which was also attended by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Officials believe that Israeli gas will be piped to liquefaction plants in Egypt and then shipped to Europe.
Von der Leyen said the agreement would also strengthen regional cooperation.
The EU Commission and the states of the European Union are currently trying to find alternatives to Russian gas and oil imports worldwide.
The EU has already decided on a coal and oil embargo against Russia because of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Gas deliveries from Russia, on the other hand, have not yet been sanctioned.
French President Pledges Continued Support to Ukraine
10:08 a.m .:
Shortly before a possible trip to Kiev, French President Emmanuel Macron promised Ukraine ongoing support.
"We will do everything to stop Russia's war forces, to help the Ukrainians and their army and to continue negotiations," he told French and NATO soldiers at a military base in Romania.
"For the foreseeable future we will have to protect, deter and be present," Macron added, referring to NATO's increased military presence in the eastern states of the alliance.
East Ukraine : The situation in the embattled
Sievjerodonetsk
is becoming more difficult
9.42 a.m .:
In eastern Ukraine, fighting continues for the city of Sievjerodonetsk and other places in the Luhansk region.
“It's going to be more difficult, but our soldiers are stopping the enemy on three sides.
They protect Sieverodonetsk and do not allow any advance to Lysychansk," said the governor of the Luhansk region Serhiy Haiday on Wednesday in his blog of the Telegram news channel.
Lysychansk, where Hajday says the number of casualties is high, is on a river across from Sievarodonetsk, which is already largely controlled by Russian troops.
The bridges between the two cities are destroyed.
The Russians continued to shell houses and again attacked the Azot chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk, Hajday said.
"The enemy is weaker in street fighting, so he opens artillery fire, destroying our houses," he said.
There is also severe damage in the surrounding villages.
There have also been Russian airstrikes in many places.
Riots are threatening in eleven countries because of rising food prices
9.10 a.m .:
In countries especially in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, rising food prices could lead to social unrest, according to a study.
Credit insurer Allianz Trade writes in a study that eleven countries that depend on imports of foodstuffs that have become scarce, such as grain, are particularly at risk.
These are Algeria, Tunisia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey and Sri Lanka.
Ukrainian governor of Luhansk: Troops stand firm in Sieverodonetsk
8.37 a.m .:
According to the Ukrainian authorities, Sievjerodonetsk is still being defended by Ukrainian troops.
The soldiers withstood attacks from three sides, said the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday: "They are preventing the enemy from advancing on Lysychansk," he said, according to the Reuters news agency.
The city controlled by Ukraine is separated from Sieverodonetsk only by a river.
On Monday, Russian troops destroyed the last bridge connecting the twin cities.
Russian ultimatum for chemical plant in Sievjerodonetsk expired
8.11 a.m .:
After weeks of fighting for Sievjerodonetsk, a Russian ultimatum for the soldiers holed up in a chemical plant in the city expired this morning.
According to an agency report on Tuesday, the fighters should surrender by 8 a.m. Moscow time (7 a.m. CEST).
It was initially unclear whether the soldiers actually laid down their arms.
British intelligence information corroborated the Ukrainian authorities' account that hundreds of civilians were also staying in the bunkers at the Azot chemical plant.
Russia had promised that they could leave the plant safely.
The Ukrainian authorities continued to try to facilitate an evacuation from Sieverodonetsk.
After the destruction of the last strategically important bridge, the siege ring pulls around the city, which originally had a good 100,000 inhabitants, but is getting tighter and tighter.
The British Ministry of Defense said that according to intelligence information, Russian forces now controlled most of the city.
London: Russia controls majority of Sieverodonetsk
6.52 a.m .:
According to the British Ministry of Defence, Russia now controls Sievjerodonetsk in the majority.
The heavy fighting has severely damaged the city, according to the daily Twitter update from London on the situation in Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers and several hundred civilians are holed up in the Azot chemical plant.
This is reminiscent of the Azov steelworks in Mariupol, which was captured by Russia just a few weeks ago.
Despite the progress, Russia did not expect such resistance in Sievjerodonetsk, sources in London said.
This will continue to claim Russian armed forces, which could also be deployed elsewhere.
Ukraine predicts prolonged global wheat shortage
6:25 a.m.:
According to Ukraine, the Russian invasion will lead to a global wheat shortage for at least three crops.
"Ukraine will disappear from the market for a long time," Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi told Reuters.
It's about three wheat harvests at the same time: "We can't export last year's harvest, we can't catch up with the current harvest to export it, and we don't really want to sow the next one." This is bad for the rest of the world.
"What if they come in July or August and they want to buy grain and they turn them down, or the price is $600 a ton?"
According to the minister, the problem is exacerbated by the fact that Ukrainian farmers are no longer growing as much wheat due to the Russian blockades.
Winter wheat, which is sown from the end of summer, is popular in Ukraine.
Solskji pointed out that farmers already switched from corn to sunflowers in the spring.
It is true that the harvest is smaller in terms of weight per hectare.
However, it can be sold for a higher price.
A similar effect could now also occur with wheat, Solskji said.
There is strong demand for sunflowers and rapeseed in Europe, which is likely to crowd out everything else - including wheat and corn.
He assumes that in autumn the area advertised for winter wheat will be "a significant percentage" smaller.
Before the war, Ukraine exported up to six million tons of grain a month.
The Russian blockade reduced the quantity to 300,000 tons in March, since then it has recovered somewhat.
That happened in the night
5 a.m.:
The government in Kiev has no interest in a peace plan based on the Minsk model.
The UN is calling for Russia to stop adopting Ukrainian children.
And: Joe Biden wants grain silos on the Polish border.
The overview of the most important Ukraine news of the night.
Ukraine contact group discusses further arms deliveries
4.18 a.m .:
Up to 50 countries of the so-called Ukraine contact group are discussing further arms deliveries to the country today – from 3 p.m.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has invited the other NATO states and a number of partner countries to the Brussels headquarters.
Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is also expected.
Before the meeting, Ukraine demanded heavy weapons such as tanks and howitzers in order to be able to defend itself against the Russian offensive in the east of the country.
This evening the NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels for a working lunch with Ukraine and Georgia as well as Sweden and Finland (6.30 p.m.).
The NATO Council, which lasts until Thursday, is used to prepare for the summit meeting in Madrid in two weeks.
Biden supports grain elevators on Ukraine border
3.42 a.m.:
US President Joe Biden supports the push by European countries to build silos along the Ukrainian border to enable grain exports to contain the global food crisis.
The government in Washington, in coordination with European partners, is developing a plan for the removal of grain by rail, Biden said at a trade union conference in Philadelphia.
Ukrainian tracks have a different track gauge than in the EU.
"That's why we're going to build silos on the borders of Ukraine, including in Poland, temporary silos." The grain can thus be loaded from Ukrainian railway wagons into the new silos and then onto European freight wagons in order to ship it "by sea to the whole world to bring." A transport across the Black Sea is not possible because of the Russian sea mines.
Ukraine welcomed the move.
"This is just one of the potentially useful ways to ensure food security," said Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak.
But a safe corridor from the Ukrainian ports is also needed.
The US wants to continue to make exceptions for Russian oil imports from the EU
2:24 a.m .:
The US government wants to continue to make an exception to sanctions against Russian energy exports for the EU.
The US Treasury Department "has renewed its approval for energy-related transactions to align our regulations with the timeline for implementing the crude oil ban imposed by the European Union," an AFP spokeswoman said.
The measure was actually supposed to expire on June 24th, but is now to be extended to December 5th.
The extension "will allow for an orderly transition to help our broad coalition of partners reduce their reliance on Russian energy as we seek to constrain the Kremlin's revenue streams," the spokeswoman added.
However, the import of Russian oil into the US remains banned.
At the end of May, the European Union announced a gradual embargo on Russian oil as part of new sanctions against Moscow because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
The import of crude oil by ship is to end within six months, the import of petroleum products within eight months.
The oil supply via the Druzhba pipeline, on the other hand, can be continued "temporarily" - but without an end date.
Among other things, it supplies Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which would have refused an embargo without this exception.
Union is stepping up the pace for Ukraine's EU accession
2:00 a.m.:
The Union faction is pushing for a perspective for Ukraine to join the European Union.
"The German Bundestag calls on the Federal Government to work within the EU to ensure that Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia are given clear prospects of accession and that they are granted candidate status at the European Council on June 23 and 24, 2022," it said according to the newspaper "Rheinische Post" in a draft that the Union wants to bring to the Bundestag next week.
A strong signal is now needed that we see Ukraine as a free, independent, European state in the long term, Europe expert and Junge Union boss Tilman Kuban told the newspaper.
"The EU candidate status must not become a permanent parking space."
col/kha/til/AFP/dpa/Reuters