Chancellor Olaf Scholz assured that German weapons supplied to Ukraine would not be used on Russian soil. “Russia attacked Ukraine, and that is why Ukraine can defend itself,” the SPD politician said on Friday during a visit to the Estonian capital, Tallinn. “And at the same time it is clear that the weapons we provide will only be used on Ukrainian territory.”
Scholz guarantees further support
During a visit to Estonia, the chancellor assured Ukraine of further assistance in the Baltic states – as long as it was needed. “Let’s be frank again here: We are ready to defend every square centimeter of NATO territory from attack,” Scholz said on Friday after meeting his counterparts Kaja Kallas (Estonia), Krisjanis Karins (Latvia) and Ingrida Simonyte (Lithuania) in Tallinn. “And I mean exactly what I say.”
Lithuania is hosting the upcoming NATO summit in July. “For peace in Europe, we need Ukraine in the EU and in NATO,” said hostess Kallas. The Ukrainian president announced in a video message that his country would use every opportunity to “fill relations with the western military alliance with real political content”. Ukraine pushes for NATO membership. Scholz, however, tempered expectations regarding the meeting: the summit “will mainly organize concrete support for Ukraine in this situation”.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galusin told the TASS news agency late on Saturday that one of the conditions for peace was that the neighboring country not become a member of NATO and the European Union.
Kiev: Russia again fires missiles at neighboring countries
Russia continued its relentless attacks on Friday. By evening, the Ukrainian General Staff counted at least 18 rocket attacks on inhabited areas around the Kiev and Dnipropetrovsk regions in the country’s southeast. In addition, Russia has used missiles from the S-300 and S-400 systems, which are actually intended for air defense, according to the army’s evening report. The military also recorded 60 airstrikes – so-called Kamikaze drones from Iran of the Shahed-136/131 type are said to have been used.
peace talks
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said during a telephone call with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin that his country, like India, Indonesia and China, is ready for dialogue with both sides of the conflict. China’s special envoy Li Hui is in Moscow for talks on Friday. At the same time, the “Wall Street Journal” reported, citing an unnamed diplomat, that Li Hui should have asked Europe to “hand over” the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine to Russia.
Ukraine has repeatedly made it clear that it will not accept this. Zelenskyy’s adviser Mykhailo Podoljak warned on Twitter that such a scenario was tantamount to a Russian victory and at the same time a defeat for democracy. Prior to the possibility of negotiations, Moscow confirmed that Ukraine was leaving the occupied territories.
Former Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told Tagesspiegel: “This will be a painful truce that will not satisfy either side.” And added: “If in the end Putin gets confirmation towards Crimea and some corrections in the east and he has to present that as a success at home, it will definitely not be easy. On the other hand, Ukraine will find it very difficult to make territorial compromises.”
That will be important on Saturday
It is eagerly awaited to see if there will be any new information about the situation in the embattled Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Russia announced last weekend that it would take over the completely destroyed city. Ukraine has not confirmed this. On Saturday evening, Ukraine’s Unian agency, citing the military in Kiev, reported that they “continue to inflict heavy casualties” on Russian troops there. Information from war zones cannot be independently verified.
