Ukraine receives 772 million euros in US military aid

Created: 2022-08-20 05:03

By: Andreas Schmid, Fabian Müller

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have announced their participation in the G20 summit in November.

The Chairman of the Duma blames Washington.

News ticker.

• Putin

  and Xi want to attend the

  G20 summit

  in November: Ukrainian President Selenskyj had also announced his participation in the meeting.

• Tripartite summit

  on the

  Ukraine war

  : Ukrainian President Zelenskyy met Turkish President Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Guterres on Thursday (18 August).

• Putin

  moves

  hypersonic missiles

  : Moscow stationed fighter jets in Kaliningrad

• This 

  news ticker on the negotiations and sanctions

  in the 

  Ukraine war

  is updated regularly.

Update from August 19, 10:19 p.m.

: More help for Ukraine.

The US government wants to provide military aid of around 775 million US dollars (around 772 million euros).

The planned aid package should include 15 ScanEagle surveillance drones, 40 mine-protected vehicles and 16 self-propelled howitzers, the US Department of Defense announced on Friday.

This increases US military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of US President Joe Biden's term in office to a total of 10.6 billion US dollars (around 10.56 billion euros).

According to the Pentagon, this is the 19th time that the US Department of Defense has delivered equipment from its own stocks to Ukraine since August 2021.

"As President Biden has made clear, we will support Ukraine in defending its democracy for as long as is necessary," the Pentagon said in a statement.

US President Joe Biden (r) speaks to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office (archive image from 2021) © Evan Vucci/AP/dpa

Update from August 19, 8:42 p.m

.: Against the background of ongoing attacks on the site of the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the Presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, have spoken out in favor of a rapid inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In a phone call on Friday, Putin and Macron demanded that IAEA inspectors inspect the power plant “as soon as possible,” according to a Kremlin statement.

Moscow had declared "its willingness to provide the necessary support" for the IAEA inspectors during a visit to Zaporizhia, the statement said.

The phone call between Macron and Putin was the first direct exchange between the two heads of state since late May.

Update from August 19, 3:30 p.m.:

Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of the Russian Duma, has made serious allegations against the United States with regard to the Ukraine war.

The government in Washington is trying to maintain its "power over the world" by making countries in Europe dependent on the United States.

The Tass news agency quoted the Duma chairman as saying.

"Washington has condemned Europe to hunger, cold and isolation," Volodin continues.

"Washington is willing to do whatever it takes to maintain its power in the world, sacrificing the well-being of citizens and the economies of European countries."

Russian President Vladimir Putin in conversation with the Chairman of the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.

© ALEXEY DRUZHININ/AFO

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Ex-intelligence chief: Vladimir Putin will experience an 'unpleasant end'

Putin's losses in the Ukraine war: Pentagon provides new figures - "quite remarkable"

Zelenskyi adviser: Negotiations with Moscow are like "Russian roulette"

Update from August 19, 10:30 a.m.:

The Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has again spoken out against negotiations with Moscow at the current time.

“Negotiating with Russia is playing 'Russian roulette' with a fully loaded gun and a fatal ending for everyone.

A continuation of the war, terror and criminal extortion.” That's why President Zelenskyj defined the conditions for negotiations, Podolyak explains.

Russia must withdraw all its troops from the Ukrainian territories.

Only then can one think about returning to the negotiating table.

Putin and Xi want to attend the G20 summit in November - Zelenskyj also wants to attend

Update from August 19, 7:51 a.m .:

According to a report by the

news agency , both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese head of state Xi Jinping want to visit the G20 summit in Bali in November.

Hosting Indonesian President Joko Widodo told

in an interview published on Friday: "Xi Jinping will come.

President Putin also told me that he will come.” The Kremlin has so far left open the question of Putin's participation.

Indonesia currently holds the G20 presidency.

In the West, Putin's participation in the summit is considered problematic, especially since Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, has also been invited.

Because of the war of aggression against the neighboring country, Russia is to be politically isolated.

Several states have questioned their participation should Putin appear in person.

In the interview, Widodo described the tensions between the USA and China as "worrying", but at the same time made it clear that Indonesia wanted to behave neutrally.

“Indonesia wants to be friends with everyone.

We have no problems with any country," Widodo said.

UN Secretary-General Guterres announces reconnaissance mission

Update from August 18, 6:32 p.m.:

After the attack on a camp with Ukrainian prisoners of war at the end of July, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced a reconnaissance mission.

Brazilian General Carlos dos Santos Cruz is said to be in charge of the operation.

"We will now continue to work to obtain the necessary assurances to ensure safe access to the site and all other relevant locations," Guterres said Thursday after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv in western Ukraine.

After the death of around 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Olenivka prison near Donetsk at the end of July, Ukraine had requested access by independent international experts in order to clarify the case.

Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of being responsible for the deaths of the prisoners.

Update from August 18, 5:05 p.m .:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has called on the UN to secure the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

"The United Nations must ensure the security of this strategic object, its demilitarization and its complete liberation from Russian troops," Zelenskyy said after a meeting with UN Secretary-General António Guterres in Lviv, western Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader accused Russia of "deliberate" attacks on the nuclear facility.

Repeated shelling of the nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine - for which Ukraine and Russia blame each other - has fueled fears of a nuclear incident.

These fears also overshadow the UN Secretary-General's two-day visit to Ukraine.

Ukraine summit with Selenskyj, Erdogan and Guterres: Putin rejects the first negotiation proposal

Update from August 18, 4:25 p.m

.: The tripartite summit in Ukraine has officially started.

After a first meeting between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Turkey's head of state Recep Tayyip Erdogan, UN Secretary General António Guterres also joined in Lviv.

It is about a solution in the faltering negotiations in the Ukraine war.

However, Russia rejected a first UN proposal.

According to Russia, there should be no demilitarization of the zone around the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

That is unacceptable because it makes the facility even more vulnerable to attacks, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

On the contrary, Russia expects that experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit the nuclear power plant "very soon".

Such a mission has long been planned.

The power apparatus in Moscow had repeatedly stated that the IAEA could convince itself that Russia was only responsible for the safety of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

Most recently, the United Nations had rejected allegations by Moscow that the UN had prevented an IAEA mission.

Now the Kremlin rejected the UN proposal.

Putin moves hypersonic missiles: Moscow stationed fighter jets in Kaliningrad

Update from August 18, 3:50 p.m

.: Now it’s official: Russia is relocating three combat aircraft equipped with hypersonic missiles to its Kaliningrad exclave.

The Mig-31i aircraft with Kinzhal missiles were stationed at the Shkalovsk base in Kaliningrad, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Thursday.

They formed a combat unit there that was “ready for action around the clock”.

Update from August 18, 2:30 p.m

.: War diplomacy is entering the next round.

At 2 p.m., Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan met for talks in Ukraine.

The two met in the Potocki Palace in Lviv, Turkey's state news channel Anadolu reported on Thursday.

A meeting with UN Secretary-General Guterres is also on the agenda later in the afternoon.

Update from August 18, 1:50 p.m .:

The situation around the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in Lithuania is tense.

Now Russian President Putin has apparently had fighter jets sent to his enclave on the Baltic Sea.

This is reported by

, citing the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.

Accordingly, three fighter jets equipped with hypersonic missiles were stationed in Kaliningrad.

This is where the dispute ignited: the exclave of Kaliningrad.

© Graphics: A. Brühl/dpa

In mid-June, the Lithuanian government enforced a ban on the transit of certain goods through its own territory to Kaliningrad - as part of the sanctions against Russia because of the Ukraine war.

Moscow reacted angrily and spoke of a blockade.

The Russian Exlave has no direct land connection to Russia, it lies between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic Sea.

Tripartite summit on the Ukraine war: Selenskyj talks to Erdogan and Guterres - new chance for peace?

First report from August 18

: Lviv - Does this three-way meeting mean a new start in the struggle for a negotiated solution in the Ukraine war?

UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Lviv on Thursday (18 August).

Before the meeting, Erdogan announced that the "end of the war between Ukraine and Russia should also be discussed through diplomatic channels" in Lviv.

For Zelenskyy, the trip to western Ukraine to Lviv is the first publicly announced trip since the beginning of Putin's attack on Ukraine.

Since then he has been to Ukraine several times and also visited soldiers at the front, but his travel plans have always been kept secret.

International guests received Selenskyj in the capital Kyiv.

As with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, their arrival was always kept secret.

Visits to Ukraine during the war - Politics shows solidarity

View photo gallery

Before meeting Erdogan and Guterres: Zelenskyy visits hospital in Lviv

Before the tripartite summit, Zelenskyy visited a military hospital in Lviv.

He spoke to the wounded and doctors, as seen in photos released by his press service, and hailed the fighters as "heroes."

“Russia will not win this war.

Thank you for protecting the Ukrainian land,” Zelenskyy said, according to a message on his Telegram channel.

The 44-year-old awarded medals to several soldiers.

Selenskyj meets Erdogan and Guterres in Lviv: Chance for new negotiations in the Ukraine war?

For the United Nations and Turkey, the meeting in Lviv is an attempt to sound out the chances for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, almost six months after the start of the Ukraine war.

It is also said to be about the situation in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops.

This image, provided by the Russian military website, shows a MiG-31 fighter jet being used to launch a new hypersonic missile.

(Archive image) © dpa

Erdogan and Guterres can already claim initial success in their mediation in the Ukraine war: following an agreement between Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul, grain exports from Ukrainian ports have been permitted again since the beginning of August.

However, Erdogan also recently met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi and agreed to work more closely with him.

Selenskyj meets Erdogan and Guterres: Ceasefire negotiations are considered unlikely

UN circles are skeptical about the chances of further diplomatic successes: They believe that negotiations on a ceasefire are only possible if Russia or Ukraine refrain from aiming for victory.

However, Ukraine wants to reconquer lost territories so as not to leave compatriots at the mercy of the Russian occupation.

Russia's war aims continue to boil down to a large-scale subjugation of Ukraine

.

Talks between Kyiv and Moscow had therefore already been broken off in the first weeks of the war without any result.