There are contradictions about a possible summoning of the German ambassador. The number of dead children in Odessa continues to rise. More information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
Ammunition for Ukraine: Lithuania joins Czech Republic’s initiative
8:59 p.m.: Lithuania will join and financially support the Czech initiative to procure artillery ammunition for Ukraine attacked by Russia. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė announced in Vilnius that she promised this to her Czech counterpart Petr Fiala in a telephone conversation. The Prime Minister of the Baltic EU and NATO country does not initially provide any further information.
The Czech Republic is urgently collecting financial support for the plan to purchase large quantities of artillery ammunition for Ukraine from non-EU countries. “Lithuania will contribute to all international efforts that bring Ukraine closer to their and our victory,” writes Šimonytė on X.
Railway bridge in Russia damaged by explosion
5:21 p.m.: According to official information, a railway bridge was damaged in an explosion in the Russian region of Samara on the Volga. “There are no deaths or injuries,” the FSB secret service in the Samara region said, according to the state news agency Tass.
The area around the bridge was cordoned off by security forces. According to initial information, the cause of the explosion was an explosive device. The Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR confirmed the explosion in the afternoon. Without directly assuming responsibility for the action, the HUR described the bridge as a militarily important infrastructure object. Moscow used it to transport military trucks and explosives by rail.
Rail traffic on the route between the city of Chapayevsk and the suburb of Zvezda has been temporarily suspended. Both the fencing and the supporting structure of the bridge on a bank of the Chapayevka River were damaged.
Precarious situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant: IAEA chief plans meeting with Putin
2:34 p.m.: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, wants to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. As Grossi continues in Vienna, he wants to talk to the Kremlin chief about, among other things, the tense security situation in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe is currently supplied with only a single power line for cooling the nuclear material, says the Director General during a press conference on the sidelines of a meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors. “This is a very, very precarious situation.” Grossi wants to leave for Russia on Tuesday.
Russian troops occupied the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in early March 2022. Since then, nine of the original ten lines that supplied the system near the front with power have failed due to the war. A team from the IAEA is constantly on site to monitor the situation in the largely decommissioned power plant. The experts reported on military activities near the nuclear power plant at the weekend. “The physical integrity of the power plant remains at risk,” says Grossi.
Russia’s newest tank too expensive for war, according to arms manager
2:27 p.m.: According to the manufacturer, Russia’s newest main battle tank Armata is too expensive for use in the war against Ukraine. “In terms of functionality, it is far superior to existing tanks, but it is too expensive and that is why the army is unlikely to use it now,” said the head of the state arms holding Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, to the state news agency Ria Novosti. The Armata T-14 was first presented to the public in 2015 at the military parade in Moscow. According to media reports, the tank has not yet entered series production due to various technical problems.
According to Chemezov, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin from his days as agents in the GDR, the Russian armed forces have now taken the Armata into service. However, the costs are too high for use in Ukraine. “Today we need money to make new tanks, new weapons, possibly cheaper ones,” says Chemezov. Therefore, it is appropriate to buy cheaper T-90 tanks for the current conflict. The Armata was actually supposed to replace the T-90.
NATO countries hold joint military exercises in Poland
10.50 a.m.: Soldiers from several NATO countries want to cross the Vistula in Poland as part of a joint military exercise. The exercise, called Dragon 24 (“Dragon”), takes place near the town of Korzeniowo, about a hundred kilometers south of Gdańsk. According to the Polish armed forces and NATO, a total of around 20,000 soldiers from nine NATO countries are involved, including 15,000 from Poland. The crossing of the Vistula with the construction of a pontoon bridge is a test of the cooperation of the armed forces on land, at sea, in the air and in cyberspace. A pontoon bridge consists of several floating bodies lying on a body of water, onto which a jetty or a roadway is mounted.
