The Kremlin continues to use the broadcast of alleged conversations between high-ranking German officers about arms sales to Ukraine as evidence of the West's aggressiveness towards Russia. This exchange, whose authenticity was confirmed by Berlin, “once again shows the direct involvement of the collective West in the conflict in Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press. “The recording itself shows that attack plans against Russian territory are discussed in detail and specifically within the Bundeswehr,” he said.
The German ambassador to Russia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday after alleged exchanges between several German officers about arms deliveries to Ukraine were spread on Russian social networks.
Ambassador Alexander Graf Lambsdorff arrived at the ministry on Monday morning without commenting to journalists, Russian news agencies reported.
Germany accused Vladimir Putin on Sunday of wanting to “destabilize” the country through information warfare and spying on confidential military talks with Ukraine, as the chancellor faces pressure to deliver missiles to Kiev.
The broadcast on social networks from Russia of the audio recording of a recent video conference of high-ranking German officers on the subject of arms deliveries to Ukraine sparked a crisis between the two countries and a shock in Berlin on Friday.
The Russian head of state wants to “destabilize us and unsettle us,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.
On the Moscow side, number two in the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvedev, remains true to his role as a barker. On Sunday he accused Germany in a Telegram of “preparing for war against Russia.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday called on the world to help Kiev defeat “Russian evil” as the death toll from a drone strike on the port city of Odessa rose to 12.
The strike in a city apartment building partially destroyed several floors early Saturday morning. According to Ukrainian authorities, she killed five children in particular, including two babies under one year old. “Marc: who wasn’t even three years old; Elizaveta: eight months; and Timothy: four months,” President Zelenskyy listed in Telegram. “Ukrainian children are Russia’s military targets,” he denounced.
Rail traffic was stopped on Monday in the Russian Samara (Volga) region after an “explosion” on a railway bridge, Russian news agencies reported, citing emergency services. The regional railway said in a press release that the incident, in which “there were no injuries”, was caused by “the intervention of unauthorized persons”. But rail traffic in the area is at a standstill.
“An explosive device damaged a pillar of the railway bridge” over the Chapayevka River, on a section connecting the town of Zvezda with that of Chapayevsk, a source quoted by the official TASS agency said.
Since Moscow launched its offensive against Ukraine in February 2022, numerous sabotages of railway tracks in Russia have been reported. Moscow repeatedly blamed Kiev for this.
Follow the latest developments in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.