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Destroyed residential area in Nova Kakhovka in southern Ukraine's Kherson Oblast (September 7)
Photo:
IMAGO/Sergei Malgavko / IMAGO/ITAR-TASS
That says Kyiv
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
has announced new attacks on Russian-held territory in Ukraine.
"Perhaps it seems to some of you that after a series of victories there has been silence, but it is not silence," Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Sunday.
Rather, it is the preparation for the next offensive - the goal of which is the recapture of Mariupol, Melitopol and Cherson.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine will not only focus on the areas it controlled before the Russian attack in February.
The 44-year-old announced that the territories of the Moscow-backed separatists in the east of the country and cities in Crimea, which had been annexed by Russia since 2014, would also be recaptured.
"Because all of Ukraine must be free."
After invading Ukraine on February 24, Russia has seized large areas in the south and east of the country.
Moscow currently still occupies around 125,000 square kilometers - that's about a fifth of Ukraine's territory including the Crimean Peninsula.
Zelenskyj's wife,
First Lady Olena Selenska
, has meanwhile traveled to London.
Together with the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal, she paid her last respects to the late Queen: she bowed her head in front of the monarch's coffin on a gallery in Westminster Hall.
Selenska was then received by heir apparent Prince William's wife, Kate, at Buckingham Palace.
On Monday, Selenska should represent her country at the Queen's funeral;
even if their participation was not officially announced at first.
International reactions
US President
Joe Biden
has pledged his country's continued support to Ukraine.
The price that the people of Ukraine have to pay for this war is extremely high, he said in an interview with CBS.
"But we will stand by them for as long as they need our help."
Ukraine is not losing the war and is gaining ground in certain areas, Biden said.
“They defeat Russia.
It turns out that Russia is not as competent and capable as many people assumed.” What Russian President Vladimir Putin had done was barbaric, said Biden – and in this context mentioned attacks on civilians, hospitals, nursing homes or schools.
Federal President
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
personally said goodbye to the late monarch at the coffin of Elizabeth II in London on Sunday evening.
In an interview with the ZDF "heute journal" he had previously spoken about the planned funeral service for the Queen - and thereby dampened expectations that the meeting of dozens of heads of state and government could make a concrete contribution to the settlement of the war.
"I think we shouldn't underestimate the fact that people who bear responsibility talk to each other," said Steinmeier.
"But I don't think we should expect that such encounters on the sidelines of funerals and memorial services will give rise to new initiatives, for example for peace solutions, or that ideas will suddenly grow here on how to end the war in Ukraine."
Federal Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock
spoke on the ARD program "Anne Will" about possible deliveries of battle tanks to Ukraine - and explained that Germany could only do this in close cooperation with international partners.
"None of the international partners is currently taking the step."
Germany has coordinated all previous arms deliveries to Ukraine here, Baerbock said.
And she thinks that's right.
The Western deliveries in recent weeks have really changed the war, said the Green Party politician, referring to the recent recapture of Ukrainian troops from the Russian occupiers.
Defense Minister
Christine Lambrecht
currently sees little point in reintroducing conscription.
When asked about the new threat situation as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the SPD politician told the newspapers of the Funke media group: "A debate on conscription is of little help to us in the current situation." The training of soldiers takes time, less than a year that makes little sense.
In addition, there are neither enough barracks, trainers nor the equipment for tens of thousands of conscripts.
The question of military justice called for by the Federal Constitutional Court "cannot be answered so easily," said Lambrecht.
Conscription should also include women and "should not only affect every fourth person in a year".
Conscription was suspended in Germany in 2011.
what is happening today
From 11 a.m.,
the
EU Commission will present new
measures to deal with crises
such as the corona pandemic or Russia's war against Ukraine.
According to a draft law that has already been announced, it should be possible to make production specifications for companies in the future.
EU states could also be required to create reserves of important goods.
It is still unclear whether the proposed law will be presented in this form.
aar/dpa/Reuters
