Zelenskyy on Russian partial mobilization: "Felt they were going to lose"
Created: 09/28/2022, 04:58 am
By: Florian Naumann, Richard Strobl
With sham referendums, Russia wants to create facts in the Ukraine war.
An annexation is expected to take place this week.
The news ticker on diplomacy.
Great Britain
announces new
sanctions against Russia
: The government in London is reacting to the sham referendums carried out by Moscow in eastern Ukraine.
Selenskyj
warns of
Putin nuclear attack
: USA threaten Russia "privately" with "catastrophic" consequences.
Lavrov
explains
nuclear doctrine
for annexed areas: Pre-emptive strikes also possible?
This news ticker has ended.
You can find the current
news ticker on negotiations in the Ukraine war
here.
Update from September 27, 6:50
a.m.: According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, Russia is only trying to delay defeat with the partial mobilization announced last week.
"They felt they were going to lose.
And they're just trying to delay this moment in order to have at least some activity at the front," Zelensky said in his video speech on Tuesday night.
"Unfortunately, the Russian people are not yet aware of the full brutality of the Russian government against their own people," Zelenskyy said.
That must be made clear to the Russians.
The announcement of the partial mobilization had led to public protests in many places in Russia.
Ukraine-News: US whistleblower Snwoden receives Russian citizenship
Update from September 26, 9:34 p.m .:
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave US whistleblower Edward Snowden Russian citizenship.
In a decree published Monday on the Russian government website, the former NSA operative's name appears among other names in a list of new Russian citizens.
A US State Department spokesman said Monday in Washington he was not aware of any change in the status of Snowden's US citizenship.
The spokesman also stressed that with Russian citizenship, Snowden could now be drafted into military service in the Ukraine war after Putin announced the partial mobilization of the Russian military.
The question does not arise because Snowden has not served in the Russian army and has no relevant experience, the Russian side said.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Kremlin had admitted “mistakes” in the partial mobilization for the first time.
Previously, some men without combat experience had also been drafted.
Russia's domestic intelligence service arrests Japanese consul on suspicion of espionage
Update from September 26, 9:28 p.m .:
According to its own statements, Russia’s domestic secret service FSB arrested a Japanese consul on suspicion of espionage.
The member of the Japanese consulate in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok on the Pacific was caught "in the act" of receiving secret information about the effects of Western sanctions, among other things, for a fee, the FSB said on Monday.
The diplomat was also declared an "undesirable person".
Japan protested "diplomatically", it said.
A video was also released purporting to show an interrogation.
also read
Ukraine mock referendums ended: Russia announces "clear" victories - UN with clear reaction
Ex-oligarch warns the West: In this scenario, "Putin will be at the NATO border tomorrow"
Britain announces new sanctions against Russia over sham referendums
Update from September 26, 6.40 p.m .:
Britain has announced new sanctions against Russia in response to the sham referendums held in parts of Ukraine.
The British Foreign Office announced on Monday that more than 30 officials and "collaborators" who were involved in organizing and conducting the votes were affected.
In addition, four other oligarchs who are said to support Russian President Vladimir Putin will also be subject to travel bans and possible assets in the UK will be frozen.
"Mock referees held using guns cannot be free or fair and we will never honor their results," Britain's new foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said in a statement.
"They are following a clear pattern of violence, intimidation, torture and forced deportations in the Russian-held areas of Ukraine."
Mock referendums: Portraits of the leader of the separatist-controlled Luhansk People's Republic and Russian President Putin stand next to a ballot box at a polling station.
© Uncredited/AP/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++
International Atomic Energy Agency wants to continue negotiations with Ukraine and Russia
Update from September 26, 6:18 p.m .:
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) continues to support talks about a ceasefire zone around the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
Last week, on the fringes of the UN General Assembly in New York, Grossi began negotiations with representatives of Russia and Ukraine.
Representatives of both countries blamed the other country for attacks on Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
Bogus referendums are nearing completion, accession of occupied territories could happen quickly
After the end of the sham referendums in the occupied areas of Ukraine this Tuesday, a rapid connection to Russia is apparently imminent.
According to the organizers, a minimum turnout of 50 percent has been achieved in the occupied areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.
They are sham referendums because they are held without Ukraine's consent, under martial law and not according to democratic principles.
There have also been reports of people being forced to vote.
Local residents in Dagestan apparently block the road to prevent partial mobilization
Update from September 26, 9:33 a.m.: Warning
shots during anti-war protests: In the village of Endirej in Dagestan, residents blocked a road in order to prevent the partial mobilization ordered by Putin.
This was announced by civil rights activists.
Videos show police officers pointing guns in the air, then shots are heard.
According to Dagestani media, the protest was a reaction to 110 men from the village being forced into the war against Ukraine.
There were also major protests in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala.
Dagestan is one of the regions of Russia from which, according to observers, a particularly large number of men are conscripted.
Activists complain that members of ethnic minorities are particularly hard hit by the mobilization and therefore sometimes even speak of "ethnic cleansing".
Anti-mobilization protests are also particularly large in the Yakutia and Buryatia regions of Siberia.
The Russian police are taking action against anti-war demonstrators, such as here in St. Petersburg.
© Uncredited/AP/dpa
Ukraine-News: US warns Russia of "catastrophic consequences" of a nuclear attack
Update from September 26, 6:43 a.m .:
Russian President Vladimir Putin indirectly threatened the use of nuclear weapons when he announced the partial mobilization of reservists in a television speech on Wednesday.
According to Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor to US President Joe Biden (see update from September 25, 6:43 p.m.), US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also warned Russia against using nuclear weapons.
"We have made it very clear, publicly and privately, to the Russians to stop talking about nuclear weapons," Blinken said in an interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes that aired Sunday.
Blinken said in the TV interview on the fringes of the UN general debate in New York that it was "very important that Moscow hears from us and is told that the consequences would be appalling.
And we made that very clear," said Blinken.
Any use of nuclear weapons "would obviously have catastrophic consequences for the country using them, but also for many others."
Weapons for Ukraine: Zelenskyy renewed call for support from the West
Update from September 25, 8:45 p.m .:
In an interview with the US broadcaster CBS, Volodymyr Zelenskyj not only warned of a nuclear attack by Russia – but also declared negotiations with Vladimir Putin impossible in view of the threatening annexations.
"In any case, this would make it impossible to continue diplomatic negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation," said Zelenskyy in the conversation.
At the same time, Zelenskyy renewed his call for support from the West with heavy weapons.
“If the US is able to show leadership and get the tanks, then Germany and other European countries will follow.
I think that if we get tanks from the United States, our European allies will also help us clear Ukrainian cities with tanks," said Zelenskyy.
Selenskyj warns of Putin's nuclear danger - USA threaten Russia with "catastrophic" consequences
Update from September 25, 6:43 p.m .:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj says he takes Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats seriously.
“Maybe it was a bluff yesterday.
Now it could be a reality, ”Zelenskyj told the US broadcaster CBS News in an interview published on Sunday.
Selenskyj referred to the skirmishes over the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia and said with regard to Putin: “He wants to scare the whole world.
These are the first steps in his nuclear blackmail.
I don't think he's bluffing."
US President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told the broadcaster on Sunday that the US government had told the Kremlin "directly, privately, at a very high level" that any use of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic consequences for Russia.
Russia had also been warned that the US and its allies would respond decisively.
Putin's Nuclear Threats: Truss Provides Interpretation - Cannot Win the War for Russia?
Update from September 25, 6:10 p.m .:
Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss has asked Western countries not to be provoked by Vladimir Putin.
"We shouldn't listen to his saber-rattling and empty threats," Truss told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
"Instead, we must continue to sanction Russia and support the Ukrainians."
If Putin were to succeed, it would not only send a terrible message to Europe and pose a major threat to the Ukrainian people themselves, Truss said.
"It would also send a message to other authoritarian regimes around the world that it's somehow acceptable to invade a sovereign country." That's why it's so important that the West continues to act as one.
Putin has realized that he will not win the war, but that he made a strategic mistake by invading Ukraine.
That is the reason for his actions.
Putin's annexation referendums are in progress: even Serbia is now rebuffing Putin
Update from September 25, 3:15 p.m
.: Despite Serbia’s good relations with Moscow, the government in Belgrade will not recognize the results of the Russian sham referendums.
According to the Serbian media, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said this at a press conference.
Recognizing these sham referendums "would be totally against our national and state interests, the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders," the minister said.
Selakovic was referring to the parallels between Russia's attack on Ukraine and the Kosovo problem from the perspective of Belgrade.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic recently pointed this out at the UN General Assembly in New York: "What is the difference between (sovereignty) Ukraine and Serbia?
The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia have been grossly violated and you, or at least some of you, have legitimized and internationally recognized that,” Vucic said.
The former Serbian province of Kosovo declared its independence in 2008.
This is not recognized by Serbia, but by most other countries.
On the subject of the Ukraine conflict, Vucic maneuvers between Russia and the West.
He accepted UN condemnation of Russia's attack on Ukraine but opposed sanctions against Russia.
Schwarzenegger on the energy crisis in Europe: "You have made yourself vulnerable"
Update from September 25, 12:49 p.m
.: Now the “Terminator” also attests Europe to certain mistakes in its previous energy policy.
"You have made yourself very, very vulnerable to relying on Russia for energy," said US Hollywood star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Bits & Pretzels start-up fair in Munich.
Schwarzenegger also spoke out in favor of nuclear power with a view to the Russian war of aggression.
Environmentalists would have meant well with the nuclear phase-out, but made a mistake.
It's true that accidents can happen with nuclear energy, Schwarzenegger said.
But the death toll from nuclear accidents is negligible compared to those dying from pollution and climate change.
Nuclear power plants work almost CO2-neutral, but greenhouse gases are emitted, for example, when uranium is mined.
Schwarzenegger has long been committed to protecting the environment.
With his efforts as California's governor, he wanted to create a prime example for the United States and ultimately the rest of the world: "Fossil fuels are the enemy." During his visit to Germany, Schwarzenegger also stopped by the Oktoberfest.
Energy company boss as "election observer": Stefan Schaller in the criticism
Update from September 25, 11:56 a.m
.: Because he accompanies the Russian mock referendums as an election observer, Stefan Schaller, managing director of the supplier Energie Waldeck-Frankenberg (EWF), should be released from his duties.
The Council of Elders and the district committee voted in favor of this the day before with a large majority.
The final decision on Schaller's release is to be made on Monday (September 26), according to the district on its website.
According to media reports, Schaller was invited by Russia to monitor the elections.
The
EWF managing director confirmed his commitment as an election observer to the
Hessian Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) .
“I wanted to get an idea of the situation on site.
Also because I believe that objective information can never be wrong," he said.
His stay has nothing to do with his position as EWF managing director.
"It's purely private, I took vacation for it," emphasized Schaller.
The EWF could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
The outgoing Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, also got involved in the debate.
Criminal proceedings will be initiated against the EWF managing director in Ukraine, he announced on Twitter
Russia wants to create facts in the Ukraine war: annexation probably this week
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (archive photo) has already commented on the validity of the Russian nuclear doctrine for annexed areas.
© Jean-Christophe Bott/dpa
First report from September 25th
: Moscow/Kiev – until Tuesday mock referendums will be held in the Russian-occupied Ukraine regions of Donzek, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Cherson.
In it, the people there are supposed to decide whether they are for or against joining the Russian Federation.
While Russia invokes the “right of peoples to self-determination,” neither Ukraine nor the international community recognizes the vote.
These are sham referendums because they are being held without Ukraine's consent, under martial law and not according to democratic principles.
Free work by international independent observers is also not possible.
Russia wants to create facts in the Ukraine war - annexation probably this week
Nevertheless, Russia is serious and apparently wants to create facts quickly with the result.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Friday that the result of the vote would be implemented quickly.
According to a report by the Russian news agency
Tass
, it is now clear how quickly things should go: According to a source from the Russian Duma, the annexation should take place as early as September 30.
The
Kyiv Independent
also reports, citing Russian media, that Vladimir Putin will address the Duma that day.
Russia's Ukraine referendums: Lavrov explains nuclear background to votes
With an annexation of the areas, Russia could, at least at home, justify another offensive by Ukraine in the areas as an attack on Russian territory.
This could justify, among other things, a general mobilization.
The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope
View photo gallery
In his speech to the UN in New York, Putin's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also stated that the Russian nuclear doctrine also applies to annexed areas.
This doctrine justifies the use of nuclear weapons in response to an attack on one's own state.
In addition, according to a report by the German news channel n-tv, according to the doctrine, preventive nuclear strikes are also possible if reliable information is available that an attack is planned.
Meanwhile in Russia, after the announcement of partial mobilization, there is apparently panic among the population and confusion among the Russian authorities.
(
rjs/dpa
)