Olaf Scholz categorically rejects sending German soldiers to Ukraine. Putin friend Dmitri Medvedev insults Macron. More information in the news blog.
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Ukrainian ex-ambassador Melnyk on Taurus decision: “I’m lost in spit, man!”
7:51 a.m.: The former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his decision not to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine in an interview with “Wirtschaftswoche”. “I’m in awe, man! I’m just angry and stunned,” said Melnyk.
For ten months, the Ukrainians have been fighting with compelling arguments to convince the Chancellor to release the cruise missiles. “Until the last minute, the Ukrainians hoped that common sense would overcome stubbornness. All in vain,” criticized Melnyk Scholz.
Melnyk was Ukrainian ambassador to Germany from 2015 to 2022. During that time he often attracted attention through harsh criticism, for example calling Scholz “an insulted liverwurst”.
Former Russian diplomat: Navalny’s return was a mistake
7:29 a.m.: Former Russian ambassador Boris Bondarev said in an interview with “Spiegel” that Alexei Navalny’s biggest mistake was to return to Russia. “I don’t know if his team wanted to make him a kind of Nelson Mandela or if they were expecting mass protests, but they badly miscalculated,” he said. A politician must remain free in order to be able to pursue his political activities. In prison he is no help, but a burden.
The Russian opposition now needs a clear idea of what it wants to achieve, a positive agenda. “It must be clear not only which system they want to replace, but which system they want to build,” he demanded. At the moment he doesn’t see any politician who could implement this.
Boris Bondarev was Russian Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2019 to May 2022. When the Ukraine war began, he broke away from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since then he has been living under police protection in an unknown location in Switzerland as he has to hide from retribution from the Russian regime.
Supposedly Ukrainian attack on Kursk repelled
5:24 a.m.: The Russian military leadership reported a Ukrainian drone attack on Thursday night. The air defense systems in the Kursk region detected the missile and shot it down, it said on the Russian Defense Ministry’s Telegram channel. The information cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine: Russia throws many soldiers into battle for Krynky
5:12 a.m.: Russian troops are throwing soldiers into the battle for the village of Krynky in waves without the use of armored vehicles, Nataliia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the Southern Operational Command, said on Wednesday. Krynky is a small village in Kherson Oblast on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. Before the war broke out, fewer than 1,000 people lived there. The heavy fighting around the town has been going on for weeks.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had claimed that Russia had already taken Krynky, but Ukraine’s Southern Operations Command denied this on February 21. Humeniuk said, according to the Kyivindependent newspaper, that Russia made only one unsuccessful attempt to storm the village during the day because it was unable to relocate and reinforce its troops. She added that attacks are likely to increase once the rotation occurs.
Heusgen does not give up hope for “Taurus” delivery
4.30 a.m.: Despite the clear no from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, continues to hope for a German delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. “I am not giving up hope that this “no” is not final, especially since the arguments presented are not valid: South Korea has the Taurus in use without Bundeswehr soldiers and the Ukrainians can also handle modern weapons,” Heusgen told the editorial network Germany ( RND/Thursday).
