Enlarge image
Russian warship fires missiles towards Ukraine (photo dated October 10)
Photo: AP
What has happened in the past few hours
The
Ukrainian General Staff
has registered further Russian
missile
and
air strikes
on residential buildings and objects of civilian infrastructure.
In the evening situation report from Kiev there was talk of
three rocket attacks
and
four cases of shelling by planes
.
Multiple rocket launchers were used ten times.
Of the ten targets hit, most were in the front-line areas of Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv to the south.
In addition, the Russian army continues to use Iranian-made combat drones, ten of which have been shot down.
The Ukrainian military data were not independently verifiable.
The civil administration reported from the central Ukrainian region of Vinnytsia that two such drones had been intercepted.
That says Kyiv
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
has asked international donors for further aid of up to
55 billion US dollars
.
The money is needed to cover the expected
budget deficit
next year, he said in a video address to finance ministers at the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
$17 billion
would
needed to start
rebuilding
critical
infrastructure
.
"The more aid Ukraine receives now, the faster the Russian war will end," said the politician.
Zelenskyy also welcomed new international
commitments
for anti-
aircraft
and
missile defense
weapons
for
his country.
The meeting of the so-called Ukraine contact group in Brussels on Wednesday was "quite productive" in this regard, he said in his video address.
"I am grateful to those of our partners who have already decided to increase precisely this support for our state - support for effective anti-aircraft defense," said Zelenskyy.
The more brutal Russian rocket terror becomes, the more the world understands that protecting the skies over Ukraine "is one of Europe's most important humanitarian tasks in our time."
According to Zelenskyy ,
Ukraine
has the
power to
continue
the
war
against the aggressor Russia
.
"We have brave people, we have brave soldiers," said the 44-year-old in a ZDF interview, according to the translation.
»Nobody likes to lose, nobody wants to appear as a loser (...).
We can't afford to lose, it's a matter of survival for us."
Arms deliveries to Ukraine
The
British
government wants to
deliver AMRAAM anti-aircraft
missiles to Ukraine for the first time.
The missiles, capable of launching cruise missiles in conjunction with the US-promised NASAMS air defense system, are expected to be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
This was announced by the Ministry of Defense in London.
"The missiles will help protect Ukraine's critical infrastructure," the statement said on Thursday.
France
has also pledged to supply Ukraine with
air defense systems
.
"We will deliver radars, (air defense) systems and missiles" to protect the Ukrainians "particularly from drone attacks," President Emmanuel Macron told France 2. Macron also confirmed that France wanted to send Ukraine
more
Caesar
howitzers
.
The French head of state said that 18 howitzers had already been delivered since the beginning of the war.
"We are currently working with Denmark on the delivery of six additional howitzers." These were originally intended for the Danish army.
After two days of intense Russian shelling, Ukraine had asked its western allies for help in strengthening its air defenses.
Canada
also
announced further
military aid
for Ukraine in the equivalent of around 35 million euros.
This included artillery ammunition, winter clothing and drone cameras.
Defense Minister Anita Anand said.
humanitarian situation
The number of male refugees
from Ukraine
admitted to
Germany has also
increased
since the beginning of the war
.
Nothing has changed in the gender ratio.
According to figures from the Federal Ministry of the Interior,
468,652 of the adult war refugees stored in the Central Register of Foreigners are currently women
.
This corresponds to a share of around
72 percent
.
The AfD parliamentary group wanted to find out via a parliamentary inquiry how many Ukrainians of military age – according to the laws of their home country, this applies to men between the ages of 18 and 60 – are currently living in Germany.
The answer from the federal government states that at the end of August the data of around 162,000 Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 were stored in the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR).
The AZR data should be treated with a certain degree of caution, because it is possible that some of those registered there have left Germany again in the meantime.
International Reactions
The
UN General Assembly has
condemned
Russia's "illegal
annexations
" in Ukraine by
a large
majority
.
143 of the 193 UN member states voted in favor of a corresponding resolution at an emergency session on Wednesday, five against.
35 countries abstained, including China, India, South Africa and Pakistan.
At the beginning of March, 141 countries had already voted for a resolution calling on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine "immediately".
Bangladesh, Iraq and Senegal, who abstained in March, voted in favor of the resolution on Wednesday.
Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Nicaragua opposed the resolution.
The new resolution condemns Russia's so-called "referendums" in the occupied territories of Ukraine and the subsequent annexation of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions.
It calls on all UN and international organizations not to recognize the annexations and demands that Moscow "immediately and unconditionally withdraw" its decisions.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
said the vote showed
international
unity against Russia
and reiterated that Washington would never recognize the sham referendums.
The vote was a "reminder that the overwhelming majority of nations stand with Ukraine," Blinken said.
French President Macron
continues to rely on a
diplomatic solution
to the war.
"Vladimir Putin must end this war, respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and return to the negotiating table," Macron said on Wednesday evening.
"I believe that at some point it will be in the interest of Russia and Ukraine to return to the negotiating table and negotiate." The question then arises as to whether war goals such as Ukraine's territorial integrity can only be achieved militarily.
economic consequences
According to a consulting company, the war will
reduce
natural
gas consumption
in
Europe
for
decades
.
According to the Norwegian-based company DNV in its annual report, consumption is now expected to reach 170 billion cubic meters in 2050.
A year ago, 310 was assumed.
"Security of energy supply is forcing Europe to increase the efficiency of the system and increase the production of renewable energy," DNV director Sverre Alvik told Reuters.
Globally
, however, the war will have
little
impact
on the switch to renewables: Bangladesh and Pakistan, for example, do not have the resources of the European countries and are therefore returning to coal.
What is happening today
In Brussels, the defense ministers of the NATO countries are discussing
how
to
deal
with
Russian
President Putin's
threats
to
use
nuclear weapons
in the war against Ukraine
.
According to information from alliance circles, a meeting in the format of the so-called nuclear planning group should deal, among other things, with the NATO nuclear weapons strategy and plans for modernizing the current infrastructure.
In view of the
energy price crisis
as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the
Bundestag is deliberating on relief
for
low earners
and
pensioners
.
On the agenda of the plenum are the first deliberations on the planned citizens' allowance, the housing benefit reform and the energy price flat rate for pensioners.
From January 1st, millions of people in need are to receive more money and better care in the job centers with the citizen benefit.
The
President of Ukraine will address
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
via video link from 10 a.m. today
.
The assembly then discussed the effects of the Russian war against Ukraine.
jok/Reuters/dpa