Ukraine war: Moscow condemns "blockade" by Lithuania - Scholz calls for EU reforms

Created: 2022-06-20 04:47

By: Daniel Dillmann

Germany sends more self-propelled howitzers into the Ukraine war.

Moscow accuses Lithuania of breaking the law.

The news ticker.

• "Incipient blockade":

  In the midst of the Ukraine conflict, the Russian government accuses EU member state Lithuania of violating international law.

• Help from the west:

  Germany is supplying more weapon systems to Ukraine in the war with Russia.

• Appeal to allies:

  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calls on allies to maintain their support in the Ukraine war.

++ 10.15 a.m .:

Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) wants to accelerate the expansion of the EU with reforms.

In order to be able to accept states like Ukraine, the EU must “modernize its structures and decision-making processes.

It will not always be possible to decide everything unanimously that has to be decided unanimously today. ”The Chancellor said in an interview with the dpa news agency.

Scholz wants to talk about a possible departure from the unanimity principle at the next EU summit.

This will take place next Thursday and Friday.

Ukraine war: Moscow accuses Lithuania of breaking the law

++ Update, 8:15 a.m .:

The political leadership in Moscow accuses Lithuania of breaking international law.

In the course of the Ukraine war, the EU member country stopped rail transit to the Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad, which belongs to Russia.

Konstantin Kosatschow, one of Russia's leading foreign politicians, said on Sunday night on his Telegram channel that the blockade was "beginning".

A Russian soldier during a military exercise in Kaliningrad.

The enclave becomes a point of contention in the midst of the Ukraine war.

© Mikhail Golenkov/imago

"As a member of the EU, Lithuania violates a whole range of legally binding international legal acts within the framework of sanctions (national law), which affect not only the obligations of Lithuania itself, but also those of the EU as a whole," wrote Kosachev.

War in Ukraine: New weapons from Germany - prominent visit to Lviv

Kyiv - More weapons, more money, but no direct intervention in the war.

That sums up what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said about the future role of Western allies in the Ukraine war.

According to Stoltenberg, one has to be prepared for the fact that the war between Ukraine and Russia could "last for years".

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"We must not let up in supporting Ukraine," Stoltenberg said in an interview with Bild am Sonntag.

Rising energy and food prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine are "no comparison to the price that Ukrainians have to pay every day with many lives".

If Russian President Vladimir Putin learns from the war "that he can simply carry on as he did after the 2008 war in Georgia and the occupation of Crimea in 2014", then the NATO states would pay "a much higher price".

Visits to Ukraine during the war: Politics show solidarity

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Help for Ukraine: More weapons, more money, no NATO soldiers

It sounded very similar from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited Ukraine again at the weekend.

In an op-ed piece published in the Sunday Times late Saturday night, Johnson wrote that in the Ukraine war, time is "now of the essence".

Everything depends on "whether Ukraine strengthens its defense capability faster than Russia renews its attack capability."

For this, the country urgently and quickly needs new weapon systems from the West.

However, Stoltenberg also emphasized that the western defense alliance would not intervene in the fighting.

"We are helping the country, but we will not send NATO soldiers to Ukraine," he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has been demanding more weapons from Germany for weeks - with success, according to Ukrainian media reports.

Accordingly, the German ambassador in Ukraine confirmed the delivery of further self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine.

Feldhusen is said to have also promised to supply multiple rocket launcher artillery systems (HIMARS).

These weapon systems are currently being assembled and loaded on behalf of Germany, the USA and Great Britain.

Help for Ukraine: Ben Stiller visits Lviv

Hollywood celebrities have even traveled from the USA to Ukraine for support.

In his capacity as UNHCR Ambassador, actor Ben Stiller visited the city of Lviv, to which many Ukrainians from the east of the country had fled.

But whether all this technical and moral support for Ukraine will be enough to survive the attack from Russia is far from certain.

The governor of the Ukrainian Donbass sub-region of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajdaj, does not seem to be sure either.

He warned of a further escalation of the fighting with Russia.

"It's good that the West is helping us, but it's too late," Hajdaj told the afp news agency.

In the face of the Russian attacks, there have long been "no longer any safe places" in the Luhansk region.

(dil/dpa/afp)