Pistorius wants more tanks for the Lithuania Brigade on the border with Russia. The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was attacked again. More information in the news blog.
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Russia extends sentence of jailed Navalny ally
7:59 p.m.: A Russian court has extended the prison sentence of a jailed opposition politician and ally of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny by two years. The highest court in the semi-autonomous Republic of Bashkortostan has increased Lilia Chanysheva’s “extremism” sentence from seven and a half to nine and a half years, Navalny’s team explains in online services. Chanysheva’s husband Almas Gatin explains on Telegram that the authorities are taking “revenge” on his wife.
Chanysheva was the head of Navalny’s office in Bashkortostan from 2017 until her imprisonment in 2021. Last year she was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. “My wife took care of the republic, took care of the citizens. All her work was legal and there were no complaints,” her husband writes.
Chanysheva is one of the few Navalny allies still in Russia and also one of the few well-known women in the Russian opposition.
Report: Pistorius wants to order additional tanks for the Lithuania brigade
7:27 p.m.: According to a report in the newspaper “Die Welt”, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) wants to procure additional battle tanks for the planned stationing of the Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania. Accordingly, the Ministry of Defense informed the Bundestag’s budget committee that 35 more Leopard 2 main battle tanks with the most modern A8 equipment level should be ordered from industry. So far only 18 pieces have been ordered to offset the corresponding taxes to Ukraine.
According to “Welt”, the ministry does not comment on this and refers to the confidentiality of arms transactions. “If battle tanks are actually ordered for the brigade in Lithuania now, that would be the right step – even if it is a later one given the timeline,” CDU budget politician Ingo Gädechens told the newspaper. In addition, the financing of the project is still open.
The delivery time for a Leopard 2 is therefore around two years. The brigade in Lithuania is scheduled to officially enter service in 2025 and be operational by 2027 at the latest. It is intended to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank against possible Russian attacks.
Cameron appeals for help for Ukraine in the USA – and meets Trump
7:20 p.m.: Great Britain’s Foreign Minister David Cameron called for further support for Ukraine during a visit to the USA. “I come here with no intention of lecturing anyone, telling anyone what to do, or interfering in the political process and other things in the United States,” the British foreign minister said.
He comes as a friend of the USA and is firmly convinced that further support for Kiev is in America’s own security interests. “If we give the Ukrainians the support they deserve, they can win this war,” he warns. Cameron says he has also planned various meetings with representatives and senators from the US Congress.
He also met with former President Donald Trump. The conversation took place on Monday in Florida, reports the British news agency PA. Cameron himself said after a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington that the conversation with Trump corresponded to the usual practice that government representatives also meet with local opposition politicians when traveling abroad before elections.
Zelensky visits frontline positions in northeastern Ukraine
5:52 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited several defense installations on the front lines in northeastern Ukraine. As the presidential office in Kiev announced, Zelensky visited army positions in the Kharkiv region, which is under massive pressure from the Russian army. “The Russians must see that we are ready to defend ourselves,” Zelenskyj explains on the online service Telegram.
Zelensky further explains: “I want our people to know that Ukraine is prepared if the enemy attacks.” The Kharkiv region is “very important.”
