Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy support from Britain beyond his own term in office. His country's continued determination to support Ukraine in the current war will not waver regardless of who becomes his country's next prime minister, Johnson said in a phone call with Zelenskyy on Friday, according to a spokeswoman. Among other things, they want to further expand the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Great Britain.
A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Johnson announced his resignation following pressure from his conservative faction after a number of scandals. His successor is currently being chosen. Party members have until September 5 to decide whether Secretary of State Liz Truss or former Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak will follow in Johnson's footsteps. In Ukraine, the outgoing British head of government is popular - partly because Great Britain is one of the largest arms suppliers.
The Ukrainian army says it has deployed combat drones at the Enerhodar nuclear power plant, which is occupied by the Russian army. "An attack on a tent city and enemy technology was carried out with kamikaze drones," the military intelligence service said in Kyiv on Friday. Air defenses and a Grad (Hail) multiple rocket launcher were said to have been destroyed. According to the intelligence service, three Russians were killed and twelve injured. A video released shows tents and people fleeing an explosion.
The Russian occupation administration for the Zaporizhia region had previously reported on the attack around 440 kilometers south-east of the capital Kyiv. Accordingly, eleven power plant employees are said to have been injured, four of them seriously. The information provided by both sides cannot be independently verified.
With six blocks and an output of 6000 megawatts, Europe's largest nuclear power plant was captured by the Russian army in early March. Over half of Ukraine's electrical energy is generated from nuclear power.
The US government has approved further arms sales to Ukraine. Four Himars multiple rocket launchers and 580 Phoenix Ghost drones are to support Ukrainian troops in the fight against Russia, said the communications director of the National Security Council in the White House, John Kirby, on Friday. The $270 million worth of arms shipments brings the total US pledged military aid to Ukraine since the start of the war to $8.2 billion. The money comes from a $40 billion package of economic and military aid to Ukraine approved by Congress in May.
Kirby said the Himars missile launchers and drones enabled the Ukrainians to successfully counter the attack despite the superiority of Russian artillery. With Western precision weapons, they were also able to inflict serious casualties on the Russians. CIA director William Burns said on Wednesday that he assumed around 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since the war began almost five months ago. That would roughly correspond to the number of casualties suffered by the Soviet Union in the nearly ten-year war in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Romania has approved the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. President Klaus Iohannis signed the relevant ratification law on Friday, the President's Office in Bucharest announced. Both chambers of parliament approved it on Wednesday without dissenting votes.
Sweden and Finland had applied to join the Western Defense Alliance after the Russian attack on Ukraine. So far they have been neutral. The Bundestag and Bundesrat have already approved the accession. Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004.
The United Nations and Russia have signed a separate memorandum of understanding in the wake of an agreement to end Russia's grain blockade in the Black Sea. According to UN information, this provides for the promotion of the unhindered export of Russian food and fertilizers.
To do this, the UN would put together a team that would work with countries and organizations that have imposed sanctions on Russia. They are intended to work on solutions for better export of the products without relaxing existing sanctions. Russian fertilizers and food are not directly affected by sanctions. However, logistical penalties affect any exports from the country.
EU Council President Charles Michel has welcomed the solution for the export of millions of tons of grain from Ukraine. "This agreement can benefit millions of people around the world," the Belgian wrote on Twitter on Friday. Consistent implementation is now of the utmost importance. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was also pleased with the agreement and said that the food could "finally" leave Ukraine via the Black Sea.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell spoke of a "step in the right direction". At the same time, he called for the agreement to be implemented quickly. The EU is determined to support the export of Ukrainian grain. "Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine is putting millions of people at risk of starvation."
Michel and Borrell thanked the United Nations and Turkey for their efforts to mediate the agreement, which was signed in Istanbul on Friday.
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, together with Poland and Romania, have called on the EU to do more to counter Russian misinterpretations and distortions of history. In a joint letter released on Friday, the five Central Eastern European countries also called on the EU institutions to take a leadership role in preserving historical memory and preventing the manipulation of facts.
“Russia has never condemned the crimes of the Soviets, and its current leadership tolerates and even enthusiastically supports the Soviet legacy. It is necessary to step up efforts at the EU level to counter Russia's attempts to rewrite history and use the narratives of totalitarian regimes in the context of the war against Ukraine," the letter said. "Legal, political and awareness-raising instruments" should be used for this purpose.
Unlike the atrocities of the National Socialists, the memory and knowledge of Soviet crimes have yet to find their place in European consciousness. "Without an accurate, honest and comprehensive assessment of the past, we will not be able to effectively prevent future crimes on our continent or investigate the current ones in Ukraine," the five leaders said in a letter.
Almost five months ago, Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine and justified it, among other things, with the aim of allegedly “denazifying” the neighboring country. Moscow keeps falsely claiming that the Ukrainian leadership is Nazi-dominated.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were alternately occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany during World War II. After the end of the war, the three Baltic states remained involuntarily part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Poland was under the German reign of terror during the war and then as a "People's Republic" under the thumb of Moscow. Stuck between the totalitarian powers of Germany and Russia, a fascist dictator came to power in Romania, who was overthrown by the advancing Red Army. After that, Romania also became a “People's Republic” within the Kremlin's sphere of access; from 1965 it was under the rule of the Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
In the midst of the Russian war of aggression, the head of territorial defense in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro says he was denaturalized during a trip abroad. “I cannot enter with any document. As for the matter, I'm stuck here in the border area," Hennady Korban told Ukrainian media on Friday. He is still at the border checkpoint. Since his Ukrainian passport was confiscated, he cannot return to Poland. Korban recently complained publicly about the lack of support from Kyiv.
The office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyj initially did not comment on the process. Korban, 52, is said to have used US contacts to press for the head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, to be fired. This, in turn, has long been accused of having too close ties to Russia. The Ukrainian media has been speculating for days about an alleged secret decree by President Zelenskyj, according to which at least ten Ukrainians have had their citizenship revoked because they allegedly had a second citizenship.
According to his own statements, Korban briefly traveled abroad to visit his family last week. He plays a central role in organizing the defense of the Dnepropetrovsk region.
Expatriation while traveling abroad was common practice in Soviet times. In the ex-Soviet Republic of Ukraine, Zelenskyy's predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, resorted to this method again in the fight against political opponents and deprived Georgian ex-president Mikhail Saakashvili of his citizenship. However, under Selenskyj he regained his Ukrainian citizenship.
Poland has ratified the accession of the Nordic countries Finland and Sweden to NATO. President Andrzej Duda signed the laws on Friday, which had previously been approved by both chambers of the Polish parliament in Warsaw. "This is a very important day not only for NATO and for our part of Europe, but also for the security of future generations," Duda said during a visit to the Baltic Sea city of Gdynia.
Finland and Sweden have been neutral for many decades. The Russian aggression against Ukraine, which is reminiscent of World War II in its cruelty, has changed this view, Duda said, according to the PAP news agency.
At its summit in Madrid at the end of June, the western defense alliance approved the membership applications from Finland and Sweden. Since then, ratification by the individual member states has been ongoing.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his relief at the agreement to end the blockade on Ukrainian grain exports and described it as a "beacon of hope". The deal "opens the way for large-scale commercial food exports from three key Ukrainian Black Sea ports -- Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhnyy," Guterres said in Istanbul on Friday. "This is a deal for the world," he said.
Shipping grain and food supplies to world markets will help "close the global food supply gap" and stabilize global food prices. "It will bring relief to developing countries on the brink of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable people on the brink of famine," Guterres said. He thanked Ukraine and Russia and Turkey for mediating. At the same time, he warned that all sides must now meet their obligations.
Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) has welcomed the federal aid package for the gas importer Uniper. "It's good that the federal government is now helping Uniper and stabilizing the group," said Günther on Friday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had previously announced that the federal government would be involved in a multi-billion dollar rescue package for the ailing energy company Uniper.
Günther demanded that the state must take all energy suppliers into account, especially the municipal utilities as municipal suppliers. "The federal government must fulfill its national responsibility here and also provide assistance." Regardless of this, Schleswig-Holstein is examining instruments for a protective shield that can be used to avoid liquidity bottlenecks at municipal energy suppliers.
Despite the restart of the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline, the situation remains serious, said Günther. Depending on the Federal Network Agency's scenario, there could be a gas shortage in winter. "This danger has not yet been banned." Should the situation deteriorate, the state government will set up a management staff.
Russia and Ukraine have agreed a solution with the United Nations and Turkey for the export of millions of tons of grain from war-torn Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine separately signed corresponding agreements on Friday in Istanbul, mediated by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Before the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine was one of the most important grain exporters in the world.
The deal "opens the way for large-scale commercial food exports from three key Ukrainian Black Sea ports -- Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny," Guterres said. On Twitter, Guterres called the agreement a "beacon of hope."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was also present at the ceremony, called the day "historic".
Because of the Russian war of aggression against the neighboring country, around 20 million tons of grain cannot be exported from Ukraine. However, the food is urgently needed on the world market – especially in Asia and Africa. The United Nations recently warned of the worst famine in decades.
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the grain conflict with his Turkish counterpart Erdogan at a meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran on Tuesday.
According to the UN, a humanitarian corridor has now been agreed between Ukraine and the Bosphorus – the strait between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Accordingly, the export is monitored by a joint coordination center with representatives of the United Nations, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey in Istanbul. A senior UN official called the center the "heartbeat of the operation."
According to the information, the parties also agreed that ships bound for Ukraine would first be searched in Istanbul to ensure that they were not carrying weapons or the like. There should be another check in Turkey if the ships coming from Ukraine want to leave the Black Sea again. This is to ensure that only grain is on board. That had been a condition of Russia.
Ships in the humanitarian corridor and the ports involved should not be attacked. This point is interpreted in New York in such a way that a ceasefire should actually apply in these strategically important places - for example in the port of Odessa. The agreement is said to be initially valid for four months. However, the UN official made it clear that an extension until the end of the war was sought. According to the UN, the implementation of the agreement – and thus the export of food from Ukraine – could take a few more weeks.
Russia no longer wants to supply oil to countries that introduce a price cap for it. This was said by Russia's central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina. The G7's proposal, which aims to deprive Russia of energy revenues to limit the country's ability to fund the "military operation" in Ukraine, would also boost global oil prices.
"As far as I understand it, we will not supply oil to those countries that would introduce such a cap," said the central bank governor. "Our oil and our oil products are diverted to countries that are willing to work with us." US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently advocated a price cap for Russian oil.
The Polish government accuses Germany of breaking its promises: "The German promises to exchange tank rings have proven to be deceptive maneuvers," Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk told the news magazine "Spiegel" about the announced arms deliveries to Ukraine. From the Polish point of view, the German offers are so unacceptable that the UK and the USA are now relying on the help of other NATO partners . Berlin had suggested that eastern NATO partners hand over older Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) promised that Berlin would endeavor to replace the war equipment quickly. This should ensure the defense capability of the NATO partners.
Shortly after the start of the war, Poland had handed over T-72 tanks to the Ukrainians. From Warsaw it is said that Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) has offered the Poles to deliver 20 "Leopard" tanks of an older version as a replacement - but only from spring 2023 and initially only one per month. No more public information was recently given in Berlin on the exact state of affairs.
"We were offered a symbolic number of tanks," said Szynkowski vel Sęk. "It's hard to take this as a serious proposal after we delivered over 200 tanks to Ukraine in two months."
As announced, the European Union is increasing its financial aid for the supply of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces to 2.5 billion euros. The EU states officially decided on Friday the next tranche of 500 million euros, as announced by the Council of Member States. "Ukraine needs more weapons, we will deliver them," said foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Council chief Charles Michel had already made public the EU's intention to make a further 500 million euros available on Monday.
Specifically, 490 million euros of the money is to be spent on weapons and ammunition and 10 million euros on protective equipment, petrol or first-aid kits. A first package of 500 million euros was approved at the end of February, followed by three more in March, April and May.
The funding comes from the so-called European Peace Facility - a new EU financing instrument that can be used to strengthen armed forces in partner countries. According to Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD), Germany finances around a quarter of the expenditure.
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Russian army of torture, illegal arrests and deprivation of liberty of civilians in southern Ukraine. "Russian troops have turned the areas they have occupied in southern Ukraine into an abyss of fear and wild anarchy," said HRW Ukraine representative Yulia Gorbunova.
In addition to torture, Gorbunova also mentioned "inhuman treatment", "arbitrary detention" and "deprivation of liberty" in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. The Russian authorities must ensure that this abuse ends immediately.
According to HRW, they interviewed more than 70 Ukrainians, who described more than 40 cases of abuse and torture. They therefore testified that they were tortured or witnessed torture. The victims were beaten or electrocuted, they suffered injuries to their ribs or teeth, burns or concussions.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has signaled that the federal government might consider extending the life of Germany's three remaining nuclear power plants to increase energy security.
“The Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy has commissioned a tightened worst-case scenario calculation. Let's take a look at them," Scholz replied on Friday when asked whether he would reconsider Germany's decision to shut down the last operating nuclear power plants at the end of the year. In the past, he had rejected corresponding demands in response to identical questions. "Electricity production is something we constantly recalculate."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is raising expectations of a resumption of grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea. "Soon, signatures will be made with the participation of Russia, Ukraine and the UN Secretary-General to solve the grain problems, and then we will announce good news to the world," Erdogan said in Istanbul.
According to the United Nations, a corresponding agreement is to be signed in Istanbul at 4:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. Central European Time). The blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russia has caused grain prices to rise sharply and triggered an international food crisis.
The pro-Russian separatists in Transnistria see no chance for further cooperation because of the Moldovan government's aspirations to join the EU. Moldova had not agreed with the separatists on its application for membership, said the foreign minister of the internationally unrecognized government of Transnistria, Vitali Ignatyev, in Moscow on Friday. "Moldova therefore crossed a certain Rubicon when it was granted EU candidate status," he added.
Ignatiev said that no one could speak for Transnistria, the goal now was independent development and later accession to the Russian Federation. However, the latter is a process that requires political preparation and much more. "Independence is of course paramount," he said.
Transnistria lies on the border between Moldova and Ukraine. Separatists had declared the region independent in the early 1990s, but this has not been recognized by any state. However, Russia has soldiers stationed there, which it officially calls a peacekeeping force. In the course of their invasion of Ukraine, Russian military officials have made capturing a land route to Transnistria one of their goals. This would cut off Ukraine from the Black Sea. However, the Russian troops are currently a long way from this goal.
During a visit to the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt spoke to local officials about the possible pitfalls of an agreement on the resumption of grain exports. According to a spokesman, she met the governor of Odessa Oblast, Maksym Marchenko, and the city's mayor, Hennady Trukhanov, in the city on the Black Sea on Friday.
“It's overdue for the grain blockade to be lifted; the silos in Odessa are full,” said the Green politician. The World Food Program is urgently dependent on the grain deliveries from the Ukraine and it is also crucial for Odessa that the silos are available for the new harvest. A concession by Russian President Vladimir Putin would be "the minimum in this senseless war," said Göring-Eckardt. "He has to protect the security of the ships and the ports and must not abuse secure corridors for attack attempts."
In response to the Western sanctions, the Russian government has once again explicitly included the EU countries Greece, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia and Croatia on its list of “unfriendly states”. In fact, the entire European Union was already there. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the government's decision on Friday as a further step by Moscow to reduce contact with these countries. The main issue is restrictions on the diplomatic missions of the countries in Moscow to hire Russian personnel.
According to this, Slovenia and Croatia are no longer allowed to employ Russian citizens. For the other countries, specific figures are stipulated. Other restrictions are also possible, said Peskow. The background is an unfriendly policy of the countries towards Russia. He did not give details.
Following a decree by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the Russian government began compiling a list of “unfriendly states” last year, with the USA and the Czech Republic appearing first. After the war of aggression against Ukraine, those countries that supported sanctions against Moscow were also counted on. For example, Putin had decreed that Russia's financial obligations to "unfriendly states" would only be settled in rubles. Later, the head of the Kremlin instructed that customers in the EU, for example, pay for Russian gas in rubles - and no longer in dollars or euros.
Ukraine wants to sign the agreement on grain exports from its blocked Black Sea ports only with the United Nations and Turkey. "Ukraine is not signing any documents with Russia," Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak said on Twitter on Friday. Ukraine will sign an agreement only with Turkey and the United Nations. Mirroring this, Turkey and the United Nations would conclude a treaty with Russia.
Podoliak also categorically ruled out the involvement of Russian ships and the presence of Moscow representatives in Ukrainian ports. "In the event of a provocation, there is an immediate military response," emphasized the 50-year-old. If necessary, all controls would be carried out in Turkish waters by "joint groups". He did not provide any information on the composition of these groups.
An agreement on grain exports involving Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN should be concluded in Istanbul, Turkey on Friday. It would be the biggest compromise between Moscow and Kyiv since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in late February. According to Ukrainian sources, three ports near the city of Odessa are involved.
Ukraine had accused Russia of blocking the ports and thus grain exports with its navy. Aid organizations feared famine due to the situation, especially in East Africa, but also in other parts of the world. Ukraine is among the top five grain exporters in the world
According to the pro-Russian administration of the eastern Ukrainian separatist areas, access to the search engine provider Google has been blocked. "We have decided to block Google on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic," wrote separatist leader Denis Puschilin on Friday in the online service Telegram. The US Internet company promotes "violence against Russians, especially the people of the Donbass," it said. Google had already blocked neighboring Luhansk on Thursday.
Puschilin accused Google of acting "openly on orders from its bosses in the American government". The West and Ukraine would put "unprecedented pressure on the physical and mental security" of the republic and want to "break" its people. "We can no longer accept this," Puschilin wrote.
The leader of the pro-Russian separatists in the Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said the search engine could be made available again "if they start to respect people".
A few days before the start of the war, Russia had recognized the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent. Parts of both regions have been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014. Meanwhile, the Russian army has completely captured Luhansk and is increasing its attacks on targets in the Donetsk region.
Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) does not share the assessment of his Saxon counterpart Michael Kretschmer (CDU) on the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. "You can't freeze a war," Ramelow told the German Press Agency in Erfurt on Friday. "There are many international examples of frozen conflicts flying around our ears." Kretschmer had declared this week that Germany had to mediate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and ensure "that this war is frozen".
"Of course I want a negotiated peace," said Ramelow. "But I don't see that a frozen war can be an offer for a state like Ukraine that was attacked by Russia." In contrast to Kretschmer, who believes that further Russian raw material supplies are necessary, Ramelow advocated extensive independence from fossil fuels , a considerable proportion of which Germany has so far obtained from Russia.
Poland is also preparing major purchases of planes and tanks from South Korea to strengthen its armed forces. Warsaw is interested in 48 FA-50 light combat aircraft, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Friday after media reports. "The first plane would arrive in Poland as early as next year," said Blaszczak. The contracts should be signed next week, he said, according to the PAP agency.
South Korean K2 “Black Panther” main battle tanks would be added to the planes. "Already this year we will receive the first units, a total of 180 tanks in the first batch," said Blaszczak. In the future, Poland will also build and develop these tanks under license.
Eastern EU and NATO member Poland is arming itself to face a possible threat from Russia. The country has also ceded many weapons from its army to Russia-invaded Ukraine and must replace them. Poland sees itself primarily as an ally of the USA and buys weapons there. Blaszczak points out that the armaments from South Korea are compatible with US systems.
The Japanese government sees national security increasingly threatened by the Ukraine war and tensions between China and Taiwan. A defense white paper approved by the cabinet on Friday said Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is raising concerns that violent changes to the status quo could spill over into the Indo-Pacific region. Strategic competition between states has intensified and the global balance of power is changing. China's rapid rearmament is an additional factor.
Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said the Indo-Pacific region is at the heart of international strategic competition. Alongside China and Russia, the 500-page white paper names North Korea as a problem for Japan's security. The section on Taiwan is twice as long as last year and points to growing tensions between the US and China over the island nation, which the People's Republic claims as Chinese territory.
Another problem is China's relentless attempts to change the status quo of Japan's Senkaku Islands, which China calls and claims Diaoyu Islands.
Regarding the Ukraine war, the authors of the White Paper wrote that cooperation between Beijing and Moscow could become more important because of Russia's international isolation and combat fatigue. Both states are stepping up joint naval and air force maneuvers, Defense Minister Kishi said.
The white paper calls for upgrading the Japanese military and increasing the defense budget. The government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has already announced that it will increase military spending to two percent of economic output over the next five years, which would be around ten trillion yen (around 71 billion euros).
Ukrainian rescue workers said they recovered three bodies from a school hit by a Russian attack in the east of the country. Work on the school in Kramatorsk in the Donbass region of Donetsk that was attacked on Thursday has been completed, the state rescue service said on Friday. The presidential office said Russian attacks damaged 85 residential buildings in the city, along with the school. Meanwhile, the attacks continued in other parts of the country.
Russian attacks on schools and hospitals are very painful and reflect Russia's true goal of turning peaceful cities into ruins, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on TV. He repeated his call for civilians to flee.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russia's attack on the Kramatorsk school killed 300 soldiers who were using the building as a base
The Russian central bank has once again eased its monetary policy significantly despite the ongoing sanctions against the country. The key interest rate will fall by 1.5 percentage points to 8.0 percent, as the central bank announced in Moscow on Friday. It is the fifth rate cut in a row. Analysts had expected a reduction, but only to 9.0 percent.
At the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine, the central bank drastically raised its key interest rate to 20 percent in order to stop the Russian ruble from falling. Meanwhile, the ruble is even stronger than before the attack on Ukraine, also due to significant restrictions imposed by Moscow on capital movements. Although the inflation rate is high at a good 15 percent, it is tending to decline. The central bank therefore has leeway to lower its key interest rate and relieve the economy.
According to central bank forecasts, Russia's gross domestic product will shrink by four to six percent this year. The recession is expected to continue in 2023, albeit to a lesser extent. The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine at the end of February and the subsequent sanctions imposed by the West are affecting Russia's economy.
At the same time, the central bank expects the strong upward pressure on prices to gradually subside: annual inflation of twelve to 15.00 percent is expected for this year, which will fall to five to seven percent in 2023. For 2024, the central bank is expected to reach its inflation target of four percent again. In the middle of the month, inflation in Russia was 15.5 percent.
After weeks of wrangling over the export of grain blocked in Ukraine by Russia's war, the agreement is ready to be signed, according to information from Moscow. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Turkey to sign an agreement in Istanbul, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency. It was negotiated through the United Nations. “We can confirm that the signing is being prepared. But let's wait and see, we won't act too quickly just yet."
Infrastructure Minister Olexander Kubrakov is to sign the agreement for Kyiv, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres for the United Nations. The signing is planned for 3:30 p.m. (CEST) in Istanbul.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not want the federal government to intervene in the operational business, despite his entry into the gas importer Uniper. "We don't want to become entrepreneurs as a state," he says. But care will be taken to ensure that our money is used properly.
He also promised that the federal government should not be involved permanently. "It doesn't have to stay that we're in it." When asked whether the debt brake in the federal budget had to be released because of the expenditure for Uniper and the relief for citizens, he replied: "We have the financial leeway we need for this. "
According to British military intelligence, Russia is running out of specific ground missiles. That is why anti-aircraft missiles are increasingly being used for land attacks, reports the British Ministry of Defense, citing its secret services. However, since these are actually intended for shooting down aircraft and missiles, they could miss their targets on the ground. Therefore, they are particularly dangerous for soldiers or civilians. With massive buildings, they would have little clout.
A gas turbine needed to operate the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by Russia's Gazprom PJSC has not yet arrived at its destination after being serviced in Canada.
“Under normal circumstances, servicing turbines is routine for us. Of course, we want to transport them to their place of use as quickly as possible. However, the time it takes is not entirely in our control," said a spokesman for Siemens Energy AG, the manufacturer of the device.
Last week, Gazprom asked Siemens to return the turbine, one of several installed in the pipeline, along with the associated documentation. The drive had been sent to Montreal for repairs and was initially stranded there due to sanctions against the Russian oil and gas industry. Economics Minister Robert Habeck suggested that the turbine would first be delivered to Germany and from there to Russia.
Reuters reported early Thursday that the turbine was detained in Cologne after returning from Canada and that Moscow has not yet provided the necessary documents needed to import it into Russia, such as where exactly it is to be delivered and which customs station is responsible is. The workpiece will probably be used at the compressor station in Portovaya, around 20 kilometers from the Finnish border in Russia.
Before a trip to Africa, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assured the countries there that he would be supplied with food and energy. "Russia will continue to diligently fulfill its obligations under international treaties with regard to the export of food, fertilizer, energy and other necessities for Africa," Lavrov wrote in an article published by the Foreign Ministry in Moscow for several African newspapers. According to the ministry, Lavrov will travel to Africa from July 24 to 28 to visit Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Russia is internationally criticized for driving up energy and food prices through its war in Ukraine, thereby fueling a food crisis in African countries. Lavrov denied this in the article. "Western and Ukrainian propaganda speculation that Russia is supposedly exporting hunger is absolutely bottomless," he said. It is a new attempt by the West to blame Russia for its "headache".
Berlin's Economics Senator Stephan Schwarz (independent) sums up the debate about the energy crisis and Russian gas supplies as follows: “Putin is deliberately playing Russian roulette with us. Close the gas tap, open the gas tap, that should unsettle you, wear you down and drive prices up further.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hinted that the country's Black Sea ports could reopen shortly. News from Turkey can be expected on Friday with a view to lifting the port blockade, says Zelenskyj in a video speech.
The Turkish government earlier announced that Russia and Ukraine would sign an agreement on Friday to resume Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea. So far, there have been no official confirmations from Moscow and Kyiv. The blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russia's Black Sea Fleet has caused grain prices to skyrocket around the world and sparked an international food crisis.
According to network data, gas has continued to flow continuously through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline since the maintenance work was completed delivered per hour. This corresponds to a delivery of around 700 gigawatt hours per day and around 40 percent of the theoretically possible utilization. The gas flow is thus still at the level before the start of the ten-day maintenance work on July 11th.
The German Tenants' Association has described energy saving as the "need of the hour". "Tenants should be motivated to save energy, but should not be obliged to fall below the minimum temperature in their apartments," said the tenants' association at the request of the German Press Agency. "Both the consequences for the tenants and the effects on the condition of the building remain unpredictable."
It went on to say: “Saving energy is the order of the day and affects everyone: owners, tenants and industry. Of course, it should not be forgotten that apartments that are too cold or pipes that freeze in winter can cause considerable damage to the house and to the health of the residents. In any case, one must also consider liability issues for any damage to the buildings and to the health of their occupants due to apartments that are too cold in winter.”
The Union has criticized the new energy saving package by Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) as insufficient. "The federal government must now finally push ahead with an effective energy saving pact by the federal, state and local authorities that goes beyond individual measures," said CDU Vice President Andreas Jung of the "Rheinische Post" on Friday. "Otherwise the uncoordinated patchwork remains and fizzles out."
Specifically, Jung aimed, among other things, at the regulations on bioelectricity and in public buildings. “Robert Habeck has now announced further measures. He also wants to finally lift the bioelectricity cap," said the spokesman for the Union faction in the Bundestag for climate protection and energy. “It is exactly two weeks ago today that the traffic light rejected our application in the Bundestag. But the federal government continues to ignore important potential, and it still does not throw everything into the balance.”
The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is committed to direct deliveries of heavy weapons from Germany to Ukraine based on the experience of ring exchanges with third countries. “The ring swap idea makes sense. But it's not going the way we imagined it would," Strack-Zimmermann told the Rheinische Post. "We must then also have the courage to admit that things are not working as we had imagined and should, if necessary, deliver directly to Ukraine instead," emphasized the chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag.
Ring exchange means that Eastern European allies deliver weapons of Soviet design to the Ukraine and receive weapons from Germany in return. Soviet-made weapons are easier for Ukrainian soldiers to use than Western-made equipment, which is new to them. At the beginning of July, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the Bundestag announced further arms deliveries to Ukraine as part of the so-called ring exchange for the coming weeks.
The special representative for international climate policy at the Federal Foreign Office, Jennifer Lee Morgan, is sticking to the climate goals of the federal government despite the consequences of the Ukraine war. "Climate neutrality by 2045, coal phase-out by 2030. That applies," Morgan told the newspapers of the Funke media group. The contracts for the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) should not call this into question either. "And where LNG contracts are in place, we need to set the stage for us to switch to green hydrogen as soon as possible," Morgan said. According to her, the war is drawing attention away from the fight against the climate crisis. But it is not an either/or question. "The climate crisis is happening here and now."
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) brought the former Greenpeace boss into her house on March 1 this year as special representative for climate protection. Shortly before Morgan took office, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck has warned against taking the resumption of Russian gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline as a sign of reliability. Russia's President Vladimir Putin repeatedly used the availability of gas strategically to split Germany and Europe, said the Green politician on ZDF's "heute journal". "We have to accept that Putin is using this gas lever against us," warned Habeck. Germany must therefore find alternatives and be frugal.
Despite fears to the contrary in Germany, Russia resumed gas supplies through the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1 on Thursday after maintenance. However, as before the 10-day freeze, flow was limited to around 40 percent of capacity. Russia justifies this with the lack of a turbine, which was meanwhile held in Canada due to sanctions, but was then released. It is unclear where the turbine is currently.
Habeck called the turbine an "advantageous argument" and a "flamboyant game" by Russia. The Gazprom company has enough turbines. This one turbine is not needed. Habeck also vehemently opposed the idea of putting the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline into operation. Putin also referred to this line, which has been completed but has not yet been approved for operation and is subject to US sanctions. Habeck said going live would increase dependence on Russian gas. Putin would then have achieved his goal of breaking sanctions. “That would be raising the white flag in Germany and Europe. We should definitely not do that.”
The Economics Minister also emphasized the cohesion in Germany despite high energy prices and inflation. "We are a strong country," said Habeck. There is a strong interaction between people, business, civil society and politics. "Putin will see how strong we are," said Habeck.
The local transport industry is campaigning for the 9-euro ticket to be extended by two more months. "We need a successor solution quickly," says Oliver Wolff, the general manager of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (Friday). "It would be best to extend the campaign by another two months as a temporary solution. The ticket could continue to be valid in September and October, thus relieving citizens of the high energy prices,” emphasized Wolff.
The 9-euro tickets launched in June are still valid in July and August and enable one-month trips in buses and trains throughout Germany. The debate about a successor plan is already in full swing. Wolff said the proposal for a two-month interim solution would give politicians and the industry time to develop a permanent offer for a nationwide local transport ticket. Wolff called on the federal and state governments to get together quickly. "People shouldn't fall into a hole at the end of August." After all, energy prices are still high.
The logistics coordinator of the federal government, Oliver Luksic (FDP), has warned of a lack of transport capacity for the delivery of fuels in view of the coal-fired reactivation in winter. "The hard coal-fired power plants require huge amounts of coal, which will lead to bottlenecks in logistics in the foreseeable future," said the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport to the editorial network Germany (RND/Friday). The comeback of coal-fired power generation decided by the federal government will result in considerable additional traffic on shipping lanes and rail.
"The operators of coal-fired power plants will have great difficulties in getting the necessary amounts of fuel in winter," said Luksic. The logistics industry is already working at full capacity: "The transport routes are already at their limit in many places and in the near future there will be another massive burden due to the reactivation of the coal-fired power plants." Shortage of wagons on the railways, of ship capacities in inland shipping and a massive shortage of train drivers," he added
The FDP insists on sanctions for future citizens' income if those affected do not appear at appointments. Solidarity is not a one-way street, said Jens Teutrine, the member of the German Press Agency responsible for citizen money in the FDP parliamentary group. "As a last resort, sanctions are therefore appropriate and necessary," he added. Teutrine answered the question of whether the FDP would go along with the six-month "time of trust" planned by Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) without sanctions.
On Wednesday, the minister presented his plans for structuring citizen income, which is to replace Hartz IV in the coming year. People who receive citizen income should therefore not have to fear any cuts in benefits for six months, even if, for example, they miss appointments at the job center. "Trust between benefit recipients and the job center can only be built up if there is any contact at all," said Teutrine.
The majority of Germans support the sanctions against Russia, even if this causes problems with the energy supply. According to an ARD survey published on Thursday, 58 percent of Germans support the sanctions. One in three (33 percent) does not support the sanctions. However, the mood differs between western and eastern Germany.
In western Germany, 63 percent are in favor of the sanctions - regardless of possible negative effects for Germany, according to the Germany trend survey for the ARD morning magazine. In eastern Germany, on the other hand, more than half (51 percent) would not support the sanctions in the event of negative effects. In view of the energy policy consequences of the Ukraine war, 59 percent of Germans were in favor of a temporary speed limit on German autobahns. 35 percent were against such a speed limit.
The Belarusian opposition politician Svetlana Tichanovskaya has criticized the continued operation of the German-Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream 1. "We are absolutely certain that there should be no deals with dictators," she said on Thursday evening on ZDF's "heute journal". She understands the individual national interests, but in order to stop tyranny and terror, it is time to act decisively and stop gas deals with Russia.
Warnings by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of a "nuclear war" should not be taken seriously, Tichanovskaya said. The ruler only wants to weaken solidarity with Ukraine. "It is high time that democratic countries showed their teeth and showed that they are not afraid of such loud rhetoric," said the opposition figure.
