The essentials in brief:
- Pope reports help with prisoner exchange
- Putin plans to announce annexations as early as Friday
- Baerbock on sham referendums: “The opposite of peace”
- “Brain drain” in Russia
- Finland is closing its border to Russian tourists
Pope Francis has reported on his efforts to exchange prisoners in Ukraine. At a meeting with Jesuits in Kazakhstan, the 85-year-old did not specifically explain when he had helped and whether his mission was ultimately successful. Francis told the clergy of the Jesuit order, to which he himself belongs, that people and officials from Ukraine keep visiting him and reporting on the war.
“A military chief also came to take care of prisoner exchanges,” the pope said. “They brought me a list of more than 300 prisoners. They asked me to do something to facilitate an exchange. I immediately called the Russian ambassador to ask if anything could be done, if a prisoner exchange could be expedited .”
At the end of June, the Ukrainian and Russian armed forces exchanged almost 300 prisoners of war. This was described at the time as the largest exchange of prisoners since the outbreak of war in February. The Pope, who sees the war of aggression against Ukraine as a “Third World War,” had already met the Kazakh Jesuits the week before last. His statements only became known today.
Putin announces annexations tomorrow
As early as this Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to annex four occupied Ukrainian territories in violation of international law. “A ceremony to sign agreements on the accession of new territories to the Russian Federation will be held at 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. CEST) in the Grand Kremlin Palace,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Meanwhile, separatist leaders from four Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine have arrived in Moscow. After the so-called “referendums” they want to take part in the annexation of these areas by Russia. The heads of the pro-Russian administrations in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and in the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia, Cherson and Luhansk are to be received by the Russian president. They had formally asked Putin to include the four regions in the Russian Federation.
Baerbock on sham referendums: “The opposite of peace”
The German Foreign Ministry Annalena Baerbock has described the so-called referenda in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine as part of a Russian dictated peace. In the mock referendums, people were sometimes forced to vote at gunpoint, said Baerbock at a conference on crisis prevention in Berlin.
“This is the opposite of free and fair elections,” she criticized. “As long as this Russian dictate applies in the occupied territories, no citizen is free and safe.”
New US sanctions against Russia
According to the United States, it is preparing new sanctions against Russia. The government in Moscow will have to pay a high price for the sham referendums in the occupied parts of Ukraine, said the coordinator of punitive measures at the State Department, James O’Brien. We are working with allies and partners to this end. The focus of the punitive measures continues to be on military supply chains and vulnerable areas in the Russian economy.
Mobilization: Russia loses many of its brightest minds
According to British estimates, the flight of tens of thousands of Russian men because of the partial mobilization has led to an enormous intellectual bloodletting for Russia. “The better-off and the well-educated are over-represented among those who are trying to leave Russia,” the Defense Ministry in London announced, citing intelligence findings. If one also takes the conscripts into account, the domestic economic effects are likely to be enormous, they say.
The authority points to the lower availability of workers and a rapid “brain drain”, i.e. a loss of skilled workers in the technology sectors, for example. “In the seven days since President (Vladimir) Putin announced “partial mobilization,” a significant exodus of Russians seeking to avoid conscription has begun,” it said in London. Exact numbers are unclear. But the number of those who left the country probably exceeds the strength of the invading army with which Russia attacked Ukraine in February. According to estimates, Moscow had deployed around 150,000 soldiers on the border with the neighboring country before the deployment.
Russia makes it difficult to travel to Kazakhstan
In view of the mass flight of Russian conscientious objectors to the Central Asian neighboring country of Kazakhstan, Russian authorities now want to filter out conscripts at the border. In the next few days, a temporary mobilization center will be opened at the Karausek border crossing in the Astrakhan region of Russia, the regional administration said.
Russian refugees in Kazakhstan
At the border, a mile-long queue of men of draft age had formed, it said. At the border crossing, the passports of those leaving the country would in future be compared with the draft lists. Anyone who falls under the mobilization criteria and does not have an official deferment or an exit permit from the military is not allowed to leave the country.
Finland is closing its border to Russian tourists
In Finland, significantly tightened visa rules for travelers from Russia will come into force at midnight. The events surrounding the leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea and the sham referendums in Ukraine have accelerated the government’s decision, said Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.
The Finnish radio station Yle reports that it is not a complete entry ban. Exceptions should apply so that Russians can continue to come to Finland, for example to meet close family members, to work or to receive medical care. The big difference will now be that Russians can no longer travel to Finland for tourist purposes – and from there to other Schengen countries. Finland has a border with Russia that is around 1,340 kilometers long, making it by far the longest of all EU countries.
US grants Czech Republic military aid of more than 100 million euros
The Czech Republic receives more than 100 million euros in military aid from the United States. “We see this gift as an expression of recognition of how the Czech Republic has helped Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict,” stressed Defense Minister Jana Cernochova in Prague. The Czech Republic has been a member of NATO since 1999. The US Embassy in the Czech Republic has confirmed that $100 million will come from a program called Foreign Military Financing. The funds can only be used to buy US armaments. Additional funds equivalent to more than six million euros will be made available for equipping a cyber protection center.
Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova
US chargé d’affaires in the Czech Republic, Christina Agor, thanked the country for its “enormous leadership” in supporting Ukraine. According to the Czech Republic, it has so far delivered weapons and ammunition worth more than 160 million euros to Ukraine. According to media reports, these included tanks, attack helicopters and wheeled howitzers. Officially, the liberal-conservative government does not comment on the details.
Selenskyj asks again about German air defense
The Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyy used his phone call with Chancellor Olaf Scholz to press for further arms deliveries from Germany. “On the subject of defense, I emphasized that we are waiting for a missile defense system from Germany,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address. He was “grateful to Germany for its willingness to help with air defense”.
The Ukrainian President added that he had discussed other defense issues in detail with Scholz and that there were “a lot of them”. Political, financial and energy issues were also discussed, including “the delivery of gas to Europe and the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline.” Scholz and Selenskyj had called each other on Wednesday.
Report: BND informs Ukraine about Russian positions
The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) apparently also forwards intelligence information about Russian positions and troop movements that can be used militarily to Ukraine. According to the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” and the ARD television program “Kontraste”, these are reconnaissance findings of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) that came from satellite images, intercepted radio messages or mobile phone calls. However, the data would only be transmitted with a delay.
The reports cited references to Russian ammunition depots and photos of a Russian airfield with the exact location and number of aircraft. The data could then flow into Ukrainian war planning and help the Ukrainian army prepare for military operations. However, the data would be passed on with a delay of up to a few days. Therefore, they are “not immediately” usable for the planning and control of deadly attacks.
Pentagon promises more military aid
The US plans to supply Ukraine with another $1.1 billion worth of weapons. These include 18 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, ammunition and radar and drone defense systems, the Pentagon said. The equipment should be delivered in six to 24 months.
HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) missile system in California
The government in Washington says it wants to order new weapons instead of using army stocks. Along with that amount, the US has provided $16.2 billion worth of aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.
Detention after recitation of a poem against partial mobilization
In Russia, three young men have been held in custody for two months for reciting a poem at a protest against partial mobilization. It was “Kill me, militiaman!” by Vladimir Mayakovsky. The human rights organization OVD-Info announced that they were being investigated for “incitement to hatred with the threat of violence”. If charged and convicted, they face six years in prison.
During protests against the partial mobilization, the police take rigorous action against demonstrators – here in Moscow
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists for deployment in Ukraine. The decision had sparked protests across the country and Russian men fleeing to neighboring countries.
France sends relief supplies by ship
A ship with 1,000 tons of aid for Ukraine has left Marseille in southern France. There are numerous rescue vehicles, medication and medical equipment, food and mobile auxiliary bridges on board. They will be transported to the Romanian port city of Constanta, from where the goods will then be shipped overland to the Ukraine. French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna spoke of the country’s largest aid operation for Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February.
kle/rb/ww/se/mak (AFP, AP, dpa, epd, KNA, Reuters)
This article will be continuously updated on the day of its publication. Reports from the combat zones cannot be independently verified.
