Medvedev threatens the West with "the most powerful weapons of destruction" - Zelenskyj sets a condition for the peace plan

Created: 2022-12-15, 4:44 p.m

By: Florian Naumann, Bedrettin Bölükbasi

According to a report, Washington is no longer per se against Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil.

News ticker on war diplomacy.

• Russia

  in the

  Ukraine war

  : report on personal castling among Putin's advisers

• Threatening gestures

  from

  Russia

  : Ex-President Medvedev talks about "most powerful weapons of destruction"

• Drone attacks

  from Ukraine

  on Russia

  : USA allegedly give “green light”

• This

  news ticker on diplomatic developments

  in the Ukraine war has ended.

  You can find the new ticker here.

Update from December 12, 12:33 p.m

.: The Kremlin promptly denied a suspected personnel shift among Putin’s foreign policy advisers, reports the ISW.

The details in our new news ticker on diplomacy in the Ukraine war.

Update from December 12, 9:26 a.m

.: French President Emmanuel Macron called his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday (December 11) and assured him that he supported his peace plan.

The Ukrainian President had suggested that Russian troops withdraw from his country, including Crimea, which had been annexed since 2014.

In addition, there are reparation payments, the legal processing of war crimes and security guarantees from the West.

While Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov is descending from respected diplomat to pariah by Putin's grace, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is also to be connected via video at the meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday (December 12, 1 p.m.) in Brussels.

Update from December 11, 10:37 p.m .:

During the exchange of prisoners between the USA and Russia around the basketball player Brittney Griner and the arms dealer Wiktor But, there were apparently also desires by the Kremlin for Germany: According to information from Washington, Moscow also wanted the Berlin “Tiergarten murderer” to be released .

Ukraine News: According to Foreign Minister Kuleba, no commitment for tank deliveries from Germany

Update from December 11, 8:48 p.m .:

According to Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, there are currently no German commitments for tank deliveries to Ukraine.

"No such decision has been made yet.

There are no promises.

But we are working on it, quite openly," said Kuleba on Sunday in the ARD program "Report from Berlin" according to the translation.

Ukraine does not understand why Germany is supplying artillery but not tanks.

"As of now, there are projects from Germany, that is the delivery of the Iris-T systems, these are anti-aircraft weapons." The Gepard tanks are also anti-aircraft weapons.

"But as of this writing, as far as I know, tanks are not included in that list.

That's too bad."

The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, had previously said he had received promises in Berlin for further arms deliveries.

"Which ones we will announce together in due course," Makeiev said in an interview with

.

War in Ukraine: Turkish President Erdogan pledges humanitarian aid

Update from December 11, 6:45 p.m .:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has apparently promised humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

According to a report by the Ukrainian portal

, Erdogan promised Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a telephone call.

Turkey will continue to work to meet Ukraine's needs in the wartime winter.

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According to reports, the city of Odessa, among others, could be without power supply in the long term.

Meanwhile, fighting continues in the Donbass.

The first experts see Russia facing another painful partial defeat.

Russia in the Ukraine war: report on personal castling among Putin's advisers

Update from December 11, 3:18 p.m

.: There will soon be a personal castling in Vladimir Putin’s circle of advisors.

It also affects Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin's adviser on foreign affairs.

The Russian-language portal

claims to have found out.

Mention is also made of Igor Maslov, Valery Fedorov and Filipp Ilyichev.

Ushakov is already 75 years old, which can be considered a "formal" reason for his exchange, it said.

However, an unnamed source told

, "In these troubled times, the Russian president simply needs people who can work and come up with good ideas."

Ukraine News: Erdogan talks about details of phone call with Putin

Update from December 11, 2:37 p.m

.: Erdogan’s office has now announced details from his phone call with Putin: The Turkish President wants to expand the grain agreement to other goods.

The Kremlin in Moscow said the deal was complex.

Above all, the restrictions on the export of Russian grain and fertilizer should be lifted.

According to the Kremlin, the phone call was also about the creation of a gas hub in Turkey.

The head of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom, Alexej Miller, conducted negotiations there last week, it is said.

Both heads of state also spoke about Syria, where Turkey is currently using airstrikes against the Kurdish militia YPG.

Erdogan referred to an agreement with Russia from 2019, according to which the YPG should withdraw from parts of the border area with Turkey.

Russia is President Bashar al-Assad's most important ally in the Syrian civil war.

UK Foreign Secretary on peace talks: 'Nothing really coming from the Russian side'

Update from December 11, 1:33 p.m

.: "The general rhetoric is still confrontational," is the current assessment of British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on possible peace talks in the Ukraine war.

"I don't really see anything coming from the Russian side," he said in an interview with Sky News about possible peace talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Cleverly suspected a "fig leaf for Russian rearmament" behind the current offers of talks from Moscow.

Threatening gestures from Russia – Ex-President Medvedev talks about “most powerful weapons of destruction”

Update from December 11, 12:22 p.m

.: According to Dmitry Medvedev, Russia is now increasingly producing weapons of the new generation, which could potentially also be used against the West and away from the Ukraine war.

The enemy isn't just Ukraine, the ex-Russian president wrote on Telegram.

"It's also in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and a whole host of other places that swore allegiance to today's Nazis," Medvedev added.

That is why Russia is currently increasing the "production of the most powerful means of destruction, including those based on new foundations".

The information could not be independently verified.

Ukraine News: "Just think about it": Putin speaks of new military doctrine and pre-emptive strike

Medvedev was probably referring to hypersonic weapons, which Moscow says it has been developing for years.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Medvedev has published more anti-Western and pathetic articles.

Image from December 6: Dmitry Medvedev during talks in the Kremlin © Yekaterina Shtukina/Imago

On Wednesday (December 7), President Putin declared that Russia would only use nuclear weapons in response to an attack.

Two days later, he said Moscow was considering changing its military doctrine to potentially carry out pre-emptive strikes on other countries.

Grain corridor in the Ukraine war: Erdogan wants to talk to Putin and Zelenskyy

Update from December 11, 10:39 a.m

.: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to hold talks with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyj on Sunday (December 11).

The aim is to "strengthen" the corridor for cargo ships in the Black Sea set up with the grain agreement, Erdogan announced in Istanbul.

He did not give details.

Ukraine-News: Drone attacks from Ukraine on Russia: USA allegedly give "green light"

Update from December 11, 9.45 a.m

.: After the devastating destruction of the Ukrainian infrastructure, speculation is currently boiling up in the Ukraine war.

As

claims to have learned, Washington no longer explicitly rejects alleged Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian side.

The United States has probably given the "green light" for this, writes the British newspaper on the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

The information could not be independently verified, nor could a report raising concerns that allies of the “Wagner” group could be planning an attack on NATO behind Putin's back.

The British tabloid

also took up the report and spoke of prompt threats from “Putin’s circles”.

An unnamed source said: "For them, this means playing with fire, risking a full-blown war that could also lead to nuclear war." This information could not be independently confirmed either.

Picture from December 9: Vladimir Putin in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan © Pavel Bednyakov/Imago

Ukraine-News: Further German arms deliveries: Melnyk successor Makeiev confirms commitment

Update from December 11, 7:06 a.m .:

The Ukrainian ambassador in Germany, Oleksiy Makeiev, claims to have received promises in Berlin for further arms deliveries to his home country for the Ukraine war.

“In direct conversations, we were assured more weapons and more ammunition.

Which ones, we will announce together in due course," he told the

in a recent interview on the state of arms supplies for the war in Ukraine .

He doesn't want to put diplomatic pressure on the federal government, but wants Germany to deliver what it has faster.

"Because we don't have time to wait any longer for weapons."

More anti-aircraft systems, self-propelled howitzers, cheetahs and ammunition were urgently needed at the front.

"We are also still in talks about the delivery of Marder and Leopard tanks.

However, the decision on this lies with the federal government," said the ambassador on the current situation in the war in Ukraine.

Ambassador: Ukraine needs allies, not intermediaries

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far refused to supply Leopard 2 tanks on the grounds that no other NATO country has made such tanks available.

Meanwhile, the United States signaled on Friday that they see no obstacle in this.

But it was Germany's decision, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told journalists during a visit to Berlin.

The German government had assured him that there would be no negotiations with Russia without Kiev's consent, Makeiev continued: "I was clearly assured that there would be no negotiations with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin if we didn't want them to." At the moment, Ukraine does not need mediators, but allies.

“Because peace in Ukraine cannot be negotiated, it has to be fought for.

When the Chancellor says that Ukraine will be helped as long as it needs us, that means that until the last Russian soldier is gone from our soil, including Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea, reparations will be paid and war criminals will be convicted,” Makeiev demanded .

Update from December 10, 10:20 p.m .:

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke up about the Ukraine war.

In a guest article for the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal, the ex-prime minister wrote: "The war in Ukraine can only end with Vladimir Putin's defeat." After Russia's "brutality" there is no other end for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy still acceptable to the Ukrainian people.

Even if Kremlin chief Putin were to offer this, one should not conclude a "land for peace" agreement.

He called on the West to do more to end the war in Ukraine faster.

The Ukrainians had shown the necessary "bravery", now they would only need equipment.

Ukraine-News: Duma chairman demands "compensation" from Germany and France

Update from December 10, 8:50 p.m .:

The Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, has called on France and Germany to pay “compensations” to the population of eastern Ukraine.

He also said, according to the Russian state agency Ria Novosti, former Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President François Hollande had to answer for "non-compliance with the Minsk agreements".

He accused Merkel and Hollande of having caused the current situation in Ukraine with "fraudulent policies".

Despite the Minsk agreements of 2014, a "coup d'etat and genocide of the population of Donbass" took place.

Therefore, Merkel and Hollande are also responsible for the difficulties in Europe: "The inhabitants of Europe should know who they have to thank for these problems."

Ukraine-News: EU agrees on aid to Ukraine without Europe

Update from December 10, 7:10 p.m.:

The EU states have agreed on a billion-dollar package for war-torn Ukraine.

However, the decision was made on Saturday against Hungary's dissenting vote, as the German Press Agency learned from EU circles.

According to the decision, 18 billion euros will be paid out to Kyiv in the course of the coming year.

According to the original proposal by the EU Commission, a unanimous decision by the 27 EU countries was actually necessary for the aid package.

However, Budapest blocked the package because of a dispute over the possible freezing of EU billions for Hungary.

That is why the current Czech EU Council Presidency was looking for a way to decide on aid without Hungary.

The solution now lies in the fact that the guarantees for the loans - if Hungary sticks to its veto - are not covered by the EU budget as initially planned, but are taken over by the EU states.

As a result, a unanimous decision was not necessary.

Ukraine-News: Arms dealer announces support for Putin after release

Update from December 10, 5:20 p.m .:

The Russian arms dealer Viktor But, who returned home after a prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington, has expressed his support for Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

"If I had the opportunity and the necessary skills, I would go (to the front) as a volunteer," the 55-year-old said in a stream on Russia's state broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today).

He never understood why Russia didn't start the war earlier, he said.

Ukraine News: Kuleba confident about NATO membership

Update from December 10,

3:50 p.m.: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba has shown confidence in his country’s NATO membership.

"Basically, the eastern border of Ukraine is already the eastern border of the Euro-Atlantic area," the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform quoted the foreign minister as saying.

NATO membership will only recognize this legally, he stressed, adding: "And that will happen, I have no doubts." world and the strongest army in Europe".

Ukraine crisis: Iranian military aid to Russia - drones and ballistic missiles

Update from December 10, 3:15 p.m .:

In the background of the Ukraine war, Iran and Russia are expanding military cooperation and are negotiating cooperation in this area.

Iran apparently wants to significantly increase the supply of drones to the Russian military, the US newspaper

reports, citing officials from the United States and allied countries.

To this end, Iranian and Russian military and diplomatic delegations have met at least twice in the past month, the officials emphasized.

It is probably about up to 6000 kamikaze drones of the "Shahed" type.

According to other officials, Iran also supplied ballistic missiles to Russia.

Ukraine-News: Cooperation between Russia and Iran - "The axis of evil is being formed"

Advisor to the President of Ukraine, Mikhailo Podolyak, commented on the relevant reports on Twitter.

"The axis of evil is being formed," Podolyak wrote.

It is no longer just about Ukraine, but about “global security”.

The Ukrainian diplomat asked: "Shall we watch in silence?" US officials previously confirmed to NBC News that the military cooperation between the two countries also poses a global threat.

Ukraine News: Scholz wants to continue talking to Kremlin boss Putin

Update from December 10, 2:02 p.m

.: Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to continue talking to Vladimir Putin despite the sobering experiences of the last phone calls.

"We have completely different opinions," said Scholz on Saturday in a question and answer session with citizens in his Potsdam constituency.

"Nevertheless, I will continue to talk to him because I want to experience the moment when it is possible to get out of the situation.

And that doesn't work if you don't talk to each other."

Ukraine News: Scholz on Putin phone calls – "We have completely different opinions"

Since the beginning of the war, Scholz has repeatedly telephoned Putin several weeks apart.

The last conversation in early December was marked by mutual accusations.

Scholz said in Potsdam that the "really depressing" thing about the talks for him was that Putin, despite the massive losses on the Russian side, persisted in wanting to conquer Ukrainian territory by force.

It could be that 100,000 soldiers have already died on the Russian side.

"That's quite a lot if you compare it with other wars."

Ukraine News: Putin speaks excellent German with the Chancellor

The Chancellor also stressed that talks with Putin were always polite.

"No one is yelling on the other side of the phone." And Scholz revealed that he once wanted to learn Russian.

“I once tried to learn that for eight hours at the adult education center.

But apart from the alphabet, nothing stuck.” But since Putin speaks German very well, he doesn't need a translation in the talks with him, said the Chancellor.

Have called each other "several times" since the Ukraine war.

Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin.

© Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance/IMAGO/Russian Look (montage)

Ukraine-News: Belarus approves grain deal

December 10 update, 9:26 a.m.:

According to the United Nations, Belarus allows Ukrainian grain to be transported through its territory so that it can be exported from Lithuanian ports.

Minsk allows this without any preconditions, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday in New York after a meeting with Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Ambrazevich.

At the same time, Ambrazevich repeated his government's request to be able to export fertilizers that are currently subject to sanctions.

Ukraine-News: US basketball player Brittney Griner returns to her home country

Update from December 9, 9:40 p.m

.: The US basketball player Brittney Griner returned to her homeland almost ten months after her arrest in Russia.

A plane with the 32-year-old on board landed in the US state of Texas early Friday morning (local time).

The US had exchanged Griner for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

"We confirm that Brittney Griner arrived at San Antonio Military Base in Texas (...) and that she (...) was transferred to Brooke Military Medical Center," a spokesman for the military medical facility said on Friday.

The basketball player was "in a good mood," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on MSNBC on Friday.

In a statement, Griner's family expressed their "sincere gratitude" to US President Joe Biden and his administration "for the tireless work they have done to bring Brittney home."

The basketball player was exchanged for arms dealer Bout, who had previously been released from US custody, at Abu Dhabi airport on Thursday.

Negotiations on the Ukraine war: Putin disappointed by Merkel because of the statement on the Minsk agreement

Update vom 9. Dezember, 21.00 Uhr: „Das ist enttäuschend. Ich habe nicht damit gerechnet, das von der ehemaligen Bundeskanzlerin zu hören“, sagte Wladimir Putin am Freitag in Bischkek über Deutschlands Ex-Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU). Merkel hatte zuvor in einem Interview mit der Zeit gesagt: „Die 2008 diskutierte Einleitung eines Nato-Beitritts der Ukraine und Georgiens hielt ich für falsch. Weder brachten die Länder die nötigen Voraussetzungen dafür mit, noch war zu Ende gedacht, welche Folgen ein solcher Beschluss gehabt hätte, sowohl mit Blick auf Russlands Handeln gegen Georgien und die Ukraine als auch auf die Nato und ihre Beistandsregeln. Und das Minsker Abkommen 2014 war der Versuch, der Ukraine Zeit zu geben. Sie hat diese Zeit hat auch genutzt, um stärker zu werden, wie man heute sieht. Die Ukraine von 2014/15 ist nicht die Ukraine von heute.“

Putin ordnet Merkels Interview nun so ein: „Diese Äußerungen beweisen, dass die Entscheidung, eine Militäroperation zu starten, richtig war und vielleicht all das früher hätte beginnen sollen“. Und er wird noch grundsätzlicher: „Zudem stellt sich die Frage nach dem Vertrauen in den Westen, das schon fast bei null ist. Wir sind bereit für Vereinbarungen, wir sind offen, aber das lässt uns nachdenken, mit wem wir es zu tun haben.“

UN Hochkommissar für Menschenrechte: 17,7 Millionen Ukrainer auf humanitäre Hilfe angewiesen

Update from December 9, 5:50 p.m

.: About 17.7 million Ukrainians are dependent on humanitarian aid because of the war.

That said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on the occasion of Human Rights Day.

Ukraine is in a humanitarian emergency.

On Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a candlelight vigil to mark Human Rights Day.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a vigil on Human Rights Day © Ukrainian Presidential Press Off/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa.

Ukraine war: Ukraine's defense minister says Russia is not interested in peace talks

Update vom 9. Dezember, 17.10 Uhr: Der ukrainische Außenminister Dimitri Kuleba sagte in einem Interview mit dem Wallstreet Journal, dass Friedensverhandlungen mit Russland derzeit nicht in Sicht seien. Russland sei - trotz anderslautender Beteuerungen - auch nicht interessiert an Friedensverhandlungen. „Sie bereiten sich auf neue Kämpfe und Angriffe vor. Nichts spricht dafür, dass sie Friedensverhandlungen wollen“, sagte er. Im Interview sprach Kuleba außerdem über das Recht der Ukraine, Angriffe auf Russland zu fliegen.

Ukraine-News: Wladimir Putin äußert sich zu Friedensverhandlungen im Ukraine-Krieg

Update vom 9. Dezember, 16.10 Uhr: Der russische Präsident Wladimir Putin hat sich zu Verhandlungen im Ukraine-Krieg und zu einem möglichen Kriegsende geäußert. „Der Lösungsprozess als ganzes, ja, er wird womöglich nicht einfach sein und Zeit in Anspruch nehmen“, zitierte die russische Agentur Tass den Kreml-Chef aus seiner Rede beim Gipfel der Eurasischen Wirtschaftsunion in Kirgisistan. Zudem gab er auch an, Russland sei zwar bereit für Verhandlungen, doch es müsse „Vertrauen“ bestehen.

Zu den jüngsten Worten von Altkanzlerin Angela Merkel, dass man mit den Minsk-Vereinbarungen Zeit für die Ukraine gewinnen wollte, sagte Putin: „Ich habe das oft gesagt, wir sind bereit zu Gesprächen, aber bei solchen Aussagen fragen wir uns, mit wem wir es zutun haben.“ Putin bezeichnete Merkels Worte als „unerwartet und enttäuschend“. Die Teilnehmer von möglichen Verhandlungen müssten „so oder so die neuen Realitäten der Welt akzeptieren“, hieß es weiter vom russischen Machthaber.

Ukraine-News: Lukaschenko spricht von „inakzeptablen“ Forderungen aus Kiew

Update vom 9. Dezember, 15 Uhr: Der belarussische Machthaber Alexander Lukaschenko hat die Bedingungen der Ukraine an Russland für Verhandlungen zum Ukraine-Krieg als „inakzeptabel“ bezeichnet. Russland würde die Forderung, russische Truppen müssten sich aus annektierten Gebieten zurückziehen, nicht akzeptieren, sagte Lukaschenko laut der russischen Staatsagentur Tass. Daneben betonte Lukaschenko, es müssten endlich „in aller Stille und Ruhe“ Verhandlungen geführt werden.

Ukraine-Krieg: Russische Delegation trifft sich mit US-Vertretern in der Türkei

Erstmeldung vom 9. Dezember: München – Seit mehr als 9 Monaten läuft der russische Angriffskrieg gegen die Ukraine. Nach unzähligen Entwicklungen auf dem Schlachtfeld bleiben mögliche Verhandlungen zwischen der Ukraine und Russland für ein Kriegsende allerdings weiter aus. Zwischen den USA, dem wichtigsten Unterstützer der Ukraine, und Russland gibt es aber dennoch diplomatische Treffen. Laut Moskau haben sich am Freitag (9. Dezember) amerikanische und russische Delegationen in der Türkei getroffen.

USA-Russland-Treffen in Istanbul: Russischer Diplomat sieht „einfaches Arbeitstreffen“

Turkey often plays an important role in talks behind the Ukraine war.

The heads of the secret services of Russia and the USA met in Ankara in mid-November.

The most recent meeting in the city of Istanbul was apparently about the work of the diplomatic missions in the other country, as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to the TASS agency.

"The relevant departments" discussed problems in bilateral relations, Ryabkov said at an event hosted by the Valdai Club.

At the same time, the Russian diplomat emphasized: "This is not a political signal that we are resuming talks with the USA on major issues." It was just a "simple working meeting".