5:40 pm: Ukraine – Biden consults with the main representatives of the G7, NATO and the EU
US President Joe Biden has called on several key representatives from allies and partners to coordinate additional support for Ukraine. According to information from Washington, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, participated in a telephone conference with Biden.
The President of the EU Council, Charles Michel, as well as the heads of state and government of Great Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania and the French Minister for Foreign Affairs were also involved. The US government wanted to provide more details about the conversation later.
5:35 p.m.: Lithuania: First details on Bundeswehr parking coming soon
According to Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas, more information about plans for stationing a Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania will be announced soon. “Next week I will meet with German representatives and next week the details will start to be published,” he said in Vilnius, according to the BNS agency. “However, it will still be a few more months before we and the German side have worked out a plan that is absolutely detailed in every detail.” This concerns Lithuania and not the German side, which has done its homework.
5:30 p.m.: Zelensky inspects Leopard tanks during a visit to the front
According to official information, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also inspected the Leopard 2 tank during a visit to troops in the Kupyansk sector of the front. In a video posted on his Telegram channel, Zelensky can be seen rewarding soldiers against the backdrop of a battle tank.
“A Westwagen is a Westwagen,” one of the soldiers praised the German-made tank in conversation with Zelensky. In addition to the Leopard tanks, Zelensky also analyzed the CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles. Both were deployed for fighting in northeastern Ukraine, in the Kupyansk sector of the front, the video caption said. The tanks delivered by the West since this spring were intended to help Ukraine retake occupied territories.
16:10: Moscow: Ukraine’s combat potential has been significantly weakened
According to Moscow Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Russian armed forces were successful in the Ukrainian war. The combat potential of the Ukrainian counteroffensive was significantly weakened and severe blows were inflicted on the enemy, Shoigu said at a meeting of the military leadership in Moscow. His information could not be verified.
Shoigu also said that recent Ukrainian attacks in the Bakhmut and Soledar areas of the Donetsk region were repelled. Ukrainian attempts to break through Russian defense lines in Robotyne and Werbowe in the Zaporizhia region also failed, he said. Shoigu contradicted Ukrainian statements that there had been successful advances in the country.
3:40 pm: Agreement on rapid grain exports
Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania have agreed on a plan to speed up cereal exports. Grain from Ukraine will then be brought through Poland to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda and will only be checked there for pests and plant diseases from Wednesday, government officials said. From Klaipeda the grain can then be exported around the world. No further details were provided.
3:30 pm: Zelensky visits troops in the Northeast
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to visit troops in northeastern Ukraine. He did not reveal the exact location, only saying on X (formerly Twitter) that he was in the Kupiansk-Lyman region. He met with commanders and brigades to discuss the situation. Photos were also released showing him meeting soldiers in a dimly lit room. His office released a video showing Zelensky shaking hands and being briefed by commanders. He asked the troops not to lose the motivation with which they so firmly defended the sovereignty of the country and future generations.
3pm: Report – Putin may soon announce his willingness to run for re-election
According to a media report, Russian President Vladimir Putin may soon declare that he will run again in next year’s elections. That would pave the way for the soon-to-be-71-year-old man to remain in power until at least 2030. Putin could announce his participation in the 2024 elections at a conference in November, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported on Tuesday, citing people close to the presidential office. However, there were also other scenarios for Putin at the conference, the newspaper wrote. The final decision rests with Putin himself.
The spokesman for the Russian presidential office says he is not aware of such a plan. He had no information that the signal to start the electoral campaign would be given in November. “I don’t have any relevant information,” Dmitri Peskov said on Tuesday.
12:11 pm: Ukraine is negotiating credit for the agricultural sector with the World Bank
Ukraine has begun negotiations with the World Bank for a $700 million loan to support struggling agriculture. The Ministry of Agriculture reports that this should overcome financing difficulties this year and next. The Ukrainian economy is dominated by agriculture. However, the Russian war of aggression is imposing a heavy burden on the sector.
12:10: Shoigu – No additional mobilization planned
Russia is not planning any additional deployment for its Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The army has enough soldiers, Shoigu said, according to state news agency RIA. This year alone, 335,000 reported.
11:55 am: Warsaw and Kiev reach a breakthrough in negotiations on grain imports
Poland and Ukraine have achieved a breakthrough in their dispute over Ukrainian grain exports. In a joint agreement with Lithuania agreed on Tuesday, the countries agreed to speed up the transit of exports to African and Middle Eastern markets through Poland. From Wednesday, exports that will be sent through Lithuanian ports will no longer be controlled at the Polish-Ukrainian border, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus told journalists.
Thus, Lithuania will assume “full responsibility” for the inspection of the goods. Poland will continue to build transit corridors “because it is good for Polish farmers, for Ukraine, for the European Union and for the whole world”.
Since the beginning of the war of aggression, the classic export route for Ukrainian cereals through the Black Sea has been blocked. The EU has imposed trade restrictions on Ukraine for land transport in order to protect farmers in transit countries – including Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. Grain from Ukraine was allowed to be transported across countries, but was not sold there. When the restrictions expired, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia extended the ban, causing diplomatic tensions with Kiev.
10:32 am: The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr still doesn’t see Russia finished
The Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, Carsten Breuer, believes that a further escalation of the current war in Europe cannot be ruled out and therefore calls for an expansion of the defense capabilities of Germany and NATO. The question of what comes next remains, he said in a speech on German Unity Day in Brussels.
Breuer highlighted that, in his opinion, there were signs of Russia’s attack on the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and the war of aggression in mainland Ukraine that began in 2022. But at that time you were stuck in a comfort zone and didn’t want to believe it.
The consequence of the developments is that we now have to support partners who are seen as possible new frontline states, explained the highest-ranking German soldier. The Federal Republic is doing this, for example, by creating a Bundeswehr brigade for Lithuania.