The situation in the morning - whose existence is actually threatened here?

Joy in Kyiv, anger in Moscow

The morning after the German decision to send the Leopard tanks, the people of Kyiv had to hide in their homes: Russia again sent cruise missiles and drones in their direction.

After the danger had passed for the time being, our employee Fedir Petrov went out on the streets of Kyiv and spoke to people about the news from Germany.

for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's announcement, some were surprised that it had taken so long;

many were confident of victory.

Read the voices from Kyiv here:

• Survey in Kyiv: "You won't get far with just a Kalashnikov and heroism" 

The reactions of the Russian state media to the Leopard decision show the state of mind the leadership in Moscow is in at the moment.

»On the one hand, certainty of victory is demonstrated, on the other hand, the importance of the German Leopard and the American Abrams is

.

That certainly suggests a

,” writes our Moscow correspondent Christina lever.

And: »Propagandists and politicians keep swearing by 'certainty of victory' as the only possible outcome of this war.

To this end, Russian representatives constructed

by claiming that Russia's existence was once again at stake."

• Defiant victory slogans, subliminal tension: This is how Russia's propaganda reacted to the tanks from the West 

This point is even occasionally forgotten by some in the German debate - but

.

More precisely: It denies that they exist at all and therefore attacked them.

If Ukraine stops fighting, it will be gone.

If Russia stops fighting, all she can do is withdraw to her pristine territory.

The decisive question – also for concerned intellectuals – is therefore what the West should be more afraid of: a Russia that is reaching its military limits in Ukraine and is failing with an imperialist war of aggression?

Or a Russia that subjugates Ukraine in a nationalist frenzy and thereby strengthens its expansionist drive?

You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:

• The latest developments:

  fighter jets for Ukraine?

  Biden's national security adviser does not categorically reject this.

  The UN reports detonations near the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.

  And feared more refugees.

  The overview.

• The quarreling beneficiaries of the tank boom:

  German armaments manufacturers are facing billions in business.

  They are supposed to repair old leopards, produce masses of ammunition and develop new weapons.

  But what can they actually deliver?

  And when? 

• Hackers loyal to Putin attack websites of German companies and authorities:

  Because of Olaf Scholz' tank announcement, Russian hackers are apparently trying to take German websites offline.

  Only in isolated cases did they have short-term success.

Why isn't Macron sending tanks yet?

In military terms, France is one of the leading powers in Europe, but unlike Germany, Great Britain and the USA, it has so far not wanted to send any »Leclerc« type battle tanks – why is that?

Our Paris correspondent Britta Sandberg explains the reasons: In addition to the risk of a further escalation of the war, President Emmanuel Macron

.

However, they initially also mentioned the USA, only to then decide otherwise.

Will Paris stick to its stance?

Read the details here:

• France considering delivery of Leclerc tanks: Fragile Monster 

Commemorating the victims of the Holocaust

On January 27, 1945, Soviet soldiers liberated the last surviving prisoners from the Auschwitz death camp.

Today is the

, the six million murdered Jews, Sinti and Roma, homosexuals, the disabled and the many other people who were killed on an industrial scale by the Nazis.

There are commemorative events across the country, candles are lit, flowers are laid.

This year, for the first time, the memorial service in the Bundestag will also be about the victims of the German National Socialists who belonged to sexual minorities: Bundestag President Bärbel Bas had already announced last year that she would take care

this year - they were still in the Bundestag never the focus of commemoration.

The actors Jannik Schümann and Maren Kroymann will read texts about two victims.

And the Holocaust survivor Rozette Kats, born in 1942, will also speak in the Bundestag.

In this readable text, based on the life stories of the victims, SPIEGEL employee Jasmin Lörchner tells how the Nazi regime persecuted gays and lesbians:

• How the Nazis persecuted queer people: "Ms. T. doesn't seem to have a normal disposition" 

What a leopard emoji reveals about the relationship with Africa

The Federal Foreign Office had to apologize yesterday because it angered many people in Africa with a tweet.

The Russian foreign minister traveled to Africa this week, it said, not to see leopards but to spread his propaganda.

The leopard was depicted as an animal emoji,

.

But people across the African continent saw it as an insult.

Africa correspondent Heiner Hoffmann explains why.

Why it is about fundamental questions in the relationship between the former colonizers and the colonized.

And why that

.

• Dispute over tweet from State Department: Why Africa has had enough of European arrogance

Vote of no confidence in Greece's prime minister

Greek Prime Minister

of no confidence tonight in Athens

: the country has been dealing with a wiretapping scandal for months.

Last year it became known that the secret service EYP had wiretapped Greek politicians, military officers, entrepreneurs and journalists between 2020 and 2022.

The left-wing opposition blames Mitsotakis' conservative government for this.

The head of government will probably survive the vote in parliament without any problems, he has a comfortable majority.

Before the Greek elections, which will be held this year (an exact date is not yet known), the affair is a problem for Mitsotakis.

In the country it is already called

.

Here's the current quiz of the day

The starting question today: Who was elected President of the Bundestag in October 2021?

Winner of the day...

...are

that should soon revolutionize our lives.

Or are they already doing it?

An example is ChatGPT from the US company Open AI.

»Can artificial intelligence soon replace jobs in the publishing industry?

Buzzfeed has announced that they will be relying on OpenAI to personalize their quizzes and some content for their audience.

This isn't the first publishing company to use artificial intelligence.

Buzzfeed's CEO expects artificial intelligence to support the creative process and help the company create content.

In 15 years, he expects that artificial intelligence and data will do the creation, personalization and animation of content itself.«

Incidentally, the previous text was created by the artificial intelligence ChatGPT on the basis of this »Wall Street Journal« article.

It will probably be a while before artificial intelligence can not only put together a quiz,

.

Let's see how long it lasts.

The latest news from the night

• NSU investigative committee summons Beate Zschäpe as a witness:

  In 2018, Beate Zschäpe was sentenced to life imprisonment.

  Now the right-wing terrorist is to testify before the Bavarian NSU investigative committee.

• Fire in a high-rise building in Cologne - stairwell smoked up on more than 40 floors:

  The Cologne Uni-Center is one of the largest residential buildings in Europe.

  A fire broke out in the basement and smoke drifted through the building.

  Several people were slightly injured, and numerous homes were evacuated.

• US military kills IS leader in Somalia:

  The US has carried out a military operation against the »Islamic State« in Somalia.

  The mission had been planned for months - the high-ranking IS leader Bilal al-Sudani was originally only supposed to be arrested.

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

• "I'm the face of the construction crisis":

  400,000 new apartments per year, Klara Geywitz has to cash in on this central goal of the SPD for the time being.

  How the construction minister wants to stop extortionate rents - and why she doesn't believe in expropriations. 

• Oberhof summer sports center:

  With two World Cup events, Oberhof will become the center of winter sports in the coming weeks.

  It could be the last big party - we are already adjusting to the times without snow. 

• Now or never, nostalgia:

  For decades, Germans only looked ahead, in 1973 SPIEGEL spotted a wave of nostalgia: "sentimental rear-view" with petticoat and Elvis quiff, Rühmann revival and bad homeland films. 

• Aachen is the perfect city for a weekend trip:

  The distances are short, the sightseeing list is all the longer: Here are the best tips for enjoying art, cocktails and Charlemagne in the just wintry city of North Rhine-Westphalia Westphalia. 

I wish you a good start into the day.

Yours sincerely, Mathieu von Rohr, head of the SPIEGEL international department