The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Ukraine News on Wednesday: Lithuania's President insists on a stronger NATO presence in the Baltic States

2022-06-29T04:56:21.736Z


NATO wants to increase massively, Lithuania's President Nauseda hopes for rearmament, especially in the eastern alliance area. And: CDU foreign expert Kiesewetter criticizes German arms deliveries as insufficient. the news


Enlarge image

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Guest Olaf Scholz Troops in Pabrade, Lithuania (June 7)

Photo: Petras Malukas / AFP

This article will be continuously updated.

Kiesewetter criticizes German arms deliveries to Ukraine as insufficient

5.20 a.m .:

Before the NATO summit in Madrid, the CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter accused the federal government of not supplying Ukraine with enough weapons.

"It was foreseeable that the Ukraine would get on the defensive because weapons had only been promised for weeks but not delivered," Kiesewetter told the "Passauer Neue Presse".

»Germany stands for that in particular.«

Internal Bundeswehr papers had shown early on that the Ukraine could have been provided with a larger number of Marder tanks, but also artillery and Leopard tanks, Kiesewetter said.

Ring exchanges were also made impossible in some cases.

“Germany made a lot of things very, very difficult for Ukraine.

Apparently they want to force the peace by starving the Ukraine with deliveries of only small quantities of important weapons until they can no longer do it."

The CDU politician warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin's goal is not only to break up Ukraine, but also to attack Moldova and the Baltic States.

"If NATO doesn't give Ukraine massive support now, we'll accept Russian power politics."

Baerbock: Nobody knows how long the war will last

5.15 a.m .:

How long the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine will last is completely open, according to Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens).

“We don't know when the war will end.

It could end tomorrow when the Russian President stops the bombing," said Baerbock before the NATO summit in Madrid on Tuesday.

This is the hope expressed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

And the West must do everything to keep this hope alive.

"We will do everything to ensure that Ukraine remains a sovereign state and that the whole country can live in peace and freedom," promised Baerbock.

The Green politician is in Spain for the NATO summit.

Defense commissioners: Burden due to increase in the NATO task force

4.11 a.m .:

The drastic increase in the rapid deployment force announced by NATO will weigh heavily on the Bundeswehr, according to the Bundestag Defense Commissioner, Eva Högl.

“It is foreseeable that the demands on Germany will increase.

For the Bundeswehr, this means an enormous challenge and requires great efforts in terms of personnel, material, equipment and infrastructure," Högl told the Augsburger Allgemeine.

At the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine, Högl criticized the fact that the Bundeswehr soldiers who are supposed to deter the Russian army at the Rukla military base in Lithuania lacked basic equipment, including underwear.

Against the background of the Ukraine war, NATO wants to increase the number of its rapid reaction forces from around 40,000 to more than 300,000.

Mayor of occupied city of Kherson arrested

1.44 a.m .:

According to official information, Russian security forces have arrested the mayor of the occupied city of Cherson.

Mayor Ihor Kolychayev defied Russian orders, the statement said.

An adviser to Kolychayev said the mayor was kidnapped because he didn't want to cooperate with the Russian occupiers.

The region around the Black Sea port city was occupied in the very first week of the Russian invasion.

A large part of the population has left the region.

Lithuania's President insists on a stronger NATO presence in the Baltic States

1.30 a.m .:

Shortly before the NATO summit, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda again insisted on a stronger NATO presence in the eastern alliance area.

In view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the transition from deterrence to forward defense must be completed at the top meeting in Madrid, Nauseda told the dpa news agency in an interview in Vilnius.

The previous NATO tripwire logic for the defense of the Baltic States is no longer sustainable.

More ground troops are needed in the Baltic states and on NATO's eastern flank, said the Lithuanian head of state.

Air defense instead of air surveillance is also necessary.

Biden welcomes Turkey's green light for Sweden and Finland to join NATO

1.10 a.m .:

US President Joe Biden has welcomed the end of Turkish resistance to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

Biden said on Wednesday night that he congratulated the three countries for the agreement reached, in which Ankara pledged its support for Stockholm's and Helsinki's accession efforts.

"Finland and Sweden are strong democracies with very capable armed forces," said the US President.

"Your membership will strengthen NATO's collective security and benefit the entire transatlantic alliance."

With a view to the NATO summit in Madrid, which begins on Wednesday, Biden declared that the western military alliance was "stronger, more united and more determined than ever before".

Zelenskyy accuses Moscow of targeted attack on shopping center

12:06 a.m .:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of the targeted attack on the civilian object after the rocket hit a shopping center.

“The Russian missile hit exactly this object.

Purposeful.

Obviously there was such an order,” said Zelenskyj in his daily video speech on Wednesday night.

The aim was to kill as many people as possible.

To support his allegations, he showed video footage of the impact in the city of Kremenchuk.

The Russian Ministry of Defense - and later also the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov - had denied that the shopping center had been shelled.

The "high-precision missiles" fired from Moscow hit factories in Kremenchuk, where Western weapons and ammunition were stored.

The explosion caused the fire in the "disused shopping center," said Russian army spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

At the same time, Selenskyj called Russia a "terrorist state" before the UN Security Council.

He called for a tribunal to investigate Russian military actions.

mrc/AFP/dpa/Reuters

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-06-29

You may like

News/Politics 2024-02-27T17:14:29.864Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.