EU Parliament President for delivery of main battle tanks - Ukraine "needs weapons to fight"
Created: 2022-10-06 05:26
By: Andreas Schmid, Felix Durach
EU Parliament President Metsola has spoken out in favor of supplying Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.
© Philipp Schulze/dpa
After Ukrainian recaptures, the Kremlin speaks of a "temporary withdrawal of troops".
The areas will be brought back under control.
All information in the news ticker.
Counter-offensive
after
counter-offensive
: Russia does not want to give up areas liberated from Ukraine.
Russia
wants to
reconquer areas
: Peskov speaks of Putin's "prerogative".
This news ticker on the
negotiations
in the
Ukraine war
is constantly
updated
.
Update from October 5, 10:10 p.m .:
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, wants to ask the EU countries to deliver modern tanks to Ukraine.
Ukraine "needs weapons to fight to reclaim its territory," which "could be, for example, Leopard 2 tanks that have multiple member states," Metsola told AFP on Wednesday.
She wants to propose this to the heads of state and government of the EU countries at their meeting in Prague on Friday.
Western countries, especially the EU, are already supplying arms and military equipment to Ukraine.
However, Kyiv is demanding more, especially for the delivery of Leopard 2 tanks from Germany.
To date, the German government has mainly supplied artillery and anti-aircraft systems to support Ukraine.
Parliament Speaker Metsola suggested that European countries wanting to supply tanks of this type could be compensated from common EU funds.
For example, possible tank deliveries would “militarily affect no member state more than another”.
"These are discussions that we need to have now, especially as we see Russia escalating," Metsola said.
"But also when we see on the other side that Ukraine is successfully pushing back the Russians," added the Maltese.
Ukraine-News: Putin puts Zaporizhia nuclear power plant under Russian administration
Update from October 5, 5:10 p.m .:
Vladimir Putin has placed the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, which his troops have occupied, under Russian administration.
The Russian President signed a corresponding decree on Wednesday.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe in southern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian troops since March.
The region of the same name is one of the four areas whose annexation Putin announced in a speech on Friday.
The head of the nuclear power plant, Ihor Murashov, was arrested by Russian troops on Friday.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is on site with several experts, he is now back with his family.
On Tuesday, the IAEA announced that its boss, Rafael Grossi, was traveling to Kyiv and Moscow this week.
There he wants to continue his deliberations on the establishment of a security zone around the nuclear power plant.
Ukraine-News: Putin surprised by the results of the mock referendums
Update from October 5, 4:57 p.m
.: The Kremlin recently announced the official annexation of the four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Cherson and Zaporizhia.
More than 90 percent of the people voted for the union with Russia in the vote, which is largely regarded as illegal under international law.
Even Vladimir Putin was surprised by this result, as he now said.
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"The results of the referendums, frankly, not only pleased me, but also surprised me - after all, people lived and still live in such difficult conditions," Putin said at a televised meeting with Russian teachers on Wednesday, according to CNN.
Counter-offensive after counter-offensive: Russia does not want to give up areas liberated from Ukraine
First report from October 5th
: Moscow - The Ukraine recently managed to conquer more territories.
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dozens of towns have been "liberated" from Russian occupation in the past few days.
"The Ukrainian army is advancing fairly quickly and powerfully in the current defense operation in the south of our country," Zelenskyy said in his speech on Tuesday evening.
Villages in the Cherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions were brought back under Ukrainian control.
Russia confirmed the Ukrainian successes - albeit in the Kremlin style, including new announcements.
Naturally, Russia did not want to talk about “liberation” on Wednesday.
The corresponding regions were only "temporarily cleared by the Russian army," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the state news agency Tass in the afternoon.
The territories are to be reconquered by Russia.
“There is no contradiction here.
They will belong to Russia forever, they will be recaptured,” Peskov said.
There are "no changes to the status of the military special operation," as the war in Russia is still called.
Russia wants to retake territories: Peskov speaks of Putin's "prerogative"
Peskov did not give any further details, but made it clear: "Certain areas will be recaptured and we will continue consultations with the populations who express a desire to live in Russia."
In September, the Kremlin held annexation referendums in four Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Cherson and Zaporizhia, which it deemed illegal under international law.
Ukraine has now achieved military successes in three of the four areas.
This renewed counter-offensive could change the war.
Experts assume that if Ukraine takes military action in the annexed areas, Russia will speak of an attack on Russian territory.
This would give President Vladimir Putin, who is also the supreme commander of the Russian army, a reason for war.
Putin must decide how Russia views the latest developments in the war and what that means for possible negotiations.
"This is solely the prerogative of the commander-in-chief," said Peskov.
“No such decisions have been made to date.
Only the continuation of the special military operation is on the agenda.”
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