DUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed doubts about the peace efforts of African countries. At a joint press conference in Kiev, he said of the plan for several African presidents to travel to Moscow on Saturday: “It’s their decision. I really don’t understand if it’s fair.” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he wanted to talk to Putin about the United Nations Charter, which states that the territorial integrity of states must be respected.
Ramaphosa said peace must be achieved through negotiations and diplomatic moves. Both parties must be willing to de-escalate. Zelensky again rejected calls for peace talks with the Russian government. That would freeze the war in Ukraine. Instead, he renewed his plan for a global peace summit to be produced by Ukraine and invited African countries.
According to a draft seen by Reuters, the delegation, which also includes representatives from Zambia, Comoros, Senegal and Egypt, will first propose several confidence-building measures. One goal is to force the two warring parties to negotiate. A withdrawal of Russian troops, a ban on Russia deploying tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, a suspension of the international arrest warrant against Putin and an easing of sanctions against Russia could be brought to the table. A cease-fire agreement may be signed following this, the document said. This requires negotiations between Russia and the West..
Current developments in Live Ticker:
11 am – Current situation in Ukraine
Current situation in Ukraine
Source: Infographic World
10:30 am – Russian defense says it foiled oil pipeline attack
According to officials, Russian air defenses repelled a Ukrainian attack on the Durschba oil pipeline during the night. The governor of the Russian Oblast of Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, announced the destruction of three Ukrainian military drones. An attack has been carried out targeting the pumping station.
10am – Kremlin restricts accreditation of journalists
The Kremlin attaches conditions to the accreditation of journalists working in Western media. State news agency TASS quoted Presidential Office spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that the decision to join major forums in Russia depends on the “behaviour” of Western media. The International Economic Conference is currently underway in St. Petersburg. Journalists from countries Russia describes as unfriendly are denied accreditation.
6:30 am – Van Donny criticizes the federal government for its Ukraine policy
The former mayor of Hamburg and ex-federal minister Klaus von Donny has strongly criticized the central government and the SPD’s course in the Ukraine crisis. “I think the current priorities of the federal government and the West are wrong,” the social democrat said in an interview with the German Press Agency on his 95th birthday next Friday. “The priority should be protecting ourselves from the effects of climate change (…) Instead, we’re buying tanks for Ukraine because we’re not helping prevent a preventable war.”
Climate change is the real threat, “not Putin,” said Van Donny, who served as a state and federal minister under presidents Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt in the late 1960s and 1970s. Russian President Vladimir Putin never intended to attack Europe. “He didn’t want Ukraine in NATO, he didn’t want it on his border. He wanted to negotiate about it, but the West didn’t want to.” That is why the West has some responsibility.
11:26 pm – Report: Stoltenberg to remain NATO chief for another year
Jens Stoltenberg is expected to remain NATO Secretary General for another year. Two people familiar with the process told Reuters. Stoltenberg has been in office for nine years and is due to step down in September. The Norwegian enjoys broad support in the Western military alliance and is a successful NATO leader, said one informant who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“(President Joe Biden’s) administration has become comfortable with the idea of Stoltenberg staying in office for another year,” said a senior US government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. “At this time there does not appear to be a consensus within the Alliance regarding his successor.” Biden believes Stoltenberg has done a great job at a difficult time.
11:01 pm – Zelenskyy: Every restored meter is very important
Every meter regained by Ukrainian forces is very important, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his midnight video address after a meeting with senior military commanders. “The most important thing is our progress.”
18:53 – President of South Africa on peacekeeping mission in Ukraine
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on Ukraine and Russia to ease up on the start of the peacekeeping mission. “This war must end, peace must be negotiated,” Ramaphosa said after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev on Friday. “There has to be a mitigation from both sides.”
Ramophosa and other African heads of state arrived in Ukraine on Friday morning. On the eve of their arrival, the Ukrainian capital was again hit by Russian missiles.
Volodymyr Zelensky (left) talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Kiev. Ramaphosa on Friday called on Ukraine and Russia to defuse their conflict
Source: AFP/SERGEI SUPINSKY
The group plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Saturday as part of its peace efforts. Ramaphosa announced in May that both Zelensky and Putin had agreed to take over the African peacekeeping mission.
African countries have been hit hard by the sharp rise in grain prices as a result of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and other effects on world trade. Both Ukraine and Russia are international producers of wheat and other agricultural commodities.
17:46 – Russia sends its first nuclear weapons to Belarus
According to President Vladimir Putin, Russia has sent the first nuclear weapons to Belarus. “The first nuclear weapons have been sent to the territory of Belarus,” Putin said at an economic forum in St. Petersburg. In doing so, he confirmed the deployment of nuclear weapons in the neighboring country, which was announced by Moscow in March. “These are the first ones, and we’ll be completely done with the process by the end of the summer, by the end of the year.”
Tactical nuclear weapons, which are all about deployment, can cause devastating damage if deployed. However, they have a shorter range than so-called long-range strategic weapons.
Current situation in Ukraine
Source: Infographic World
Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko allowed Russia to use his country as a launching point for an offensive against Ukraine. Putin’s announcement that tactical nuclear weapons would be stationed in Belarus fueled fears of a nuclear escalation in the Ukraine conflict.
The Russian president has said that those who believe that nuclear weapons will cause strategic defeat for Russia must be deterred. The Belarusian Armed Forces began training on nuclear-capable Russian missile systems in April.
4:56 pm – Putin: There is no reason to use nuclear weapons
According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, he still sees no reason to use nuclear weapons. Theoretically, this is possible if Russian territory is threatened, he told an economic forum in St. Petersburg. Nuclear weapons will only be used if the existence of the Russian state is threatened.
4:19 pm – Stoltenberg: Ukraine has not received an invitation to join the NATO summit
NATO will not invite Ukraine to attend the Lithuanian summit in July, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had hoped. “We will not discuss the call for the Vilnius summit,” alliance secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels. Instead, a new NATO-Ukraine Council is set to meet for the first time with Selenskyj in Vilnius.
The US and Germany are currently resisting calls to join Ukraine. Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) said in Brussels that allowing a country to go to war was “out of the question”. The 31 NATO countries can only issue a unanimous invitation. Instead, the new council should, as Stoltenberg put it, implement negotiations on transatlantic security “at eye level.” Until the attack on Ukraine, NATO had such a platform to negotiate with Russia.
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