DIranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amiraptolahian admitted for the first time that he had supplied combat drones to Russia. A small number of drones were delivered, but months before the war against Ukraine began, the minister told reporters in Tehran. However, in late October, Amiraptolahian announced that Iran had not supplied Russia with drones or missiles.
He said the country had no idea about the use of drones in Ukraine right now. Iran is determined to end the conflict. “If it is shown that Russia used Iranian drones in the war against Ukraine, we will not be indifferent.”
Earlier this week, Amir Irani, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, described the allegations as completely baseless and emphasized Iran’s neutrality in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The United States and its Western allies on the Security Council have called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to investigate whether Russia has used Iranian drones to attack civilians in Ukraine.
On the other hand, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Iran has already indicated that it will supply drones to world powers. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme spiritual leader, praised the drones’ effectiveness. During state-sponsored demonstrations marking the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, participants waved banners with images of drones as a sign of national pride.
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12:29 pm – Link boss pushes for peace deal
In light of the months-long war in Ukraine, Lingae leader Martin Shirdevan has called for initiatives for peace talks from the central government and the European Union. He also accused President Olaf Scholz (SPD) of missing an opportunity for joint peace efforts with China during his recent visit to China. “This terrible war must finally end as soon as possible,” Shirdevan warned at the state party conference of the Saxon Left Party in Loba. He insisted that Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, was the aggressor in this war. “Our solidarity goes out first to the civilians in Ukraine under attack.”
12:19 pm – Kretschmer expresses support for Ukraine
At the CDU’s state party conference, Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer tried to get clear words about the war in Ukraine. “This war of aggression by Russia (…) is a major crime under international law,” said Kretschmer, head of the CDU state in Schütitz near Leipzig. There is no reason to justify this attack. “Of course we’re on the side of the people who were hit,” Kretchmer said. It is clear that Ukraine should be supported.
10:31 am – According to the secret services, Russian personnel received almost no training
According to British experts, the Russian army is training new recruits because of the war of aggression in Ukraine. This emerges from a daily intelligence update from the Ministry of Defense in London. Accordingly, Moscow has already faced difficulties in organizing training for the approximately 300,000 reservists drafted in during the partial mobilization. According to the British, the problem could worsen for the roughly 120,000 conscripts who are regularly drafted in the fall.
10:20 am – Current situation in Ukraine
Current situation in Ukraine
Source: Infographic World
8:50 am – Seven ships with grain leave the ports
Seven cargo ships carrying agricultural products left a Ukrainian Black Sea port on Thursday. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure in Kyiv, they loaded a total of 290,000 tons of food. Their targets are countries in Europe and Asia. On Wednesday, Russia made a U-turn. Now re-participating in a grain export agreement with Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine agreed to a deal over the summer, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. Despite the war, it enabled Ukraine to export its grain by ship through a security corridor on the Black Sea. However, after drone attacks on its Black Sea fleet on Saturday, Russia suspended its participation and said it could no longer provide security guarantees for civilian shipping.
8:40 am – Mützenich: Use of nuclear weapons can cause conflict to “get out of hand”.
He has warned Russia against using nuclear weapons in a war against Ukraine. “If nuclear weapons are indeed used, it will have unintended consequences for Russia as well. Then the conflict will get completely out of hand,” said Mutsenich of the “Kollner Stadt-Ansiger”. Russia is making worse-than-planned progress in its war of aggression, and German arms supplies are contributing to this. “It’s a victory,” said the SPD politician from Cologne. “At the same time, one has to fear that Putin’s failures will continue to mount. That is why it is so important to end the war as quickly as possible,” Mutzenich said.
1:53 am – The new Ukrainian ambassador calls for an entry freeze for Russians
Ukraine’s new ambassador in Berlin, Oleksii Makeiev, has warned of attacks on Ukrainians in Germany and called for a ban on entry by Russians. At the same time, in an interview with the newspapers of the Funke media group, he firmly believed that Germany would soon be able to supply battle tanks to Ukraine.
“Other countries are denying entry to Russians. I appeal to the central government to do the same,” McKeev said. In this context, he spoke of a “serious security risk.” “Russians coming to Germany do not do so against war,” the ambassador said. “They do not want to die in war. “
He believed in the supply of main battle tanks from Germany. “We have reason to believe that a decision will be made to deliver the Leopard 2 directly from Germany to Ukraine,” McKeev said. Ukraine needs these tanks. “It’s time to stop talking about provoking Russia.” Germany showed “leadership” by providing the Iris-T missile defense system. “We look forward to this leadership role in other armed forces.”
01:52 – Naval analyst: Don’t underestimate the Russian Navy
According to Germany’s top navy, Russia’s navy should not be underestimated, even after the Ukrainian military attacked the port of Sevastopol with maritime drones. “These maritime drones are an easy-to-use weapon with considerable penetrating power,” naval inspector John Christian Kock told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” in an interview. “Obviously, the Russian side is not adjusted to these hybrid processes, which is somewhat surprising.” However, this “should not prompt one to underestimate the Russian Navy”.
“We are witnessing the uninterrupted construction of modern units equipped with understated weapons, such as hypersonic weapons and ballistic missiles,” the vice admiral emphasized. The navy continued to occupy an important place in Moscow’s military doctrine.
10:45 pm – Selensky not willing to negotiate with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has no desire on Moscow’s part to end the war of aggression against his country. Russia sends tens or hundreds of thousands of people to fight; But if you want to negotiate, don’t let people die in a “meat grinder,” Zelensky said in his daily video message distributed in Kyiv on Friday evening.
“We are now ready for a peace, a fair and just peace. We have explained the formula for this many times,” Zelensky said. Above all, Russia must respect Ukraine’s borders and its territorial integrity under UN law.
The Ukrainian head of state has accused Russia of misleading everyone in its recent offer to foreign correspondents to negotiate an end to the conflict. The Moscow region has announced that mobilization is over. “But the truth is that Russia is gathering people in its territories and in our occupied territories and letting them die,” he said.
Zelensky has repeatedly called for the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory as a precondition for peace talks. In addition, he now said that Russia should be held responsible for terrorism against Ukraine. The country should punish the war criminals and compensate the damage.
9:18pm – Biden’s national security adviser promises more military aid to Ukraine
During a visit to Kyiv, US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jack Sullivan, pledged continued US support to Ukraine in its war against Russia and pledged more weapons. Sullivan met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, his adviser Andriy Yermak and Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov in the Ukrainian capital on Friday, a spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council said.
Sullivan also promised another $400 million military aid package. These include upgrading T-72 tanks, drones and fixing 250 Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to be sent to Ukraine.
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