About ten thousand Russians have received a visa for Germany since the beginning of the war Allegedly more than 800,000 new Russians in Donbass in recent years The news about the war in Ukraine in the stern ticker.
Since the Russian war of aggression began, many Russians have left the country because they oppose the war in Ukraine or fear repression. Since then, around ten thousand Russians have received visas for Germany.
11.05 a.m .: Around ten thousand German visas have been issued to Russians since the beginning of the war
Since the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, around ten thousand Russians have received visas for Germany. From the beginning of March to the end of May, around 3,560 corresponding Schengen visas were issued, the Foreign Office told the “Welt am Sonntag”. In addition, there are 5,530 national visas that allow longer stays.
Since May 18, 43 Russian nationals have also been promised admission for humanitarian reasons, the Federal Ministry of the Interior told the newspaper. From the beginning of the war up to this point there had been four. In May, the federal government agreed internally on facilitating the admission of Kremlin critics from Russia who are particularly at risk.
10.45 a.m .: Ursula von der Leyen to talks about EU membership application in Kyiv
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to hold talks on Ukraine’s EU membership application. Among other things, the top German politician wanted to discuss open points in the application for admission with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The European Commission is expected to publish its assessment next Friday on whether Ukraine should be granted candidate status for EU membership. The decision on whether Ukraine will be granted candidate status lies with the EU states and must be taken unanimously.
Ukraine’s expectations of rapprochement with the EU are huge. The President of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefantschuk, recently made it clear in the European Parliament that the morale of the Ukrainian people is also at stake: “We need this incentive, we need this accession candidate status. The Ukrainian people need to hear that from Europe,” he said. President Zelenskyy keeps pushing and recently said that the EU could take a historic step and prove that words about the Ukrainian people’s belonging to the European family are not just empty words.
Within the EU, however, this question is highly explosive – it is a challenge for the EU Commission to take the interests of all countries into account when making its recommendation. States such as Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Italy and Ireland, are strongly in favor of making Ukraine a candidate for the EU as quickly as possible. There has recently been little open rejection of such a path, but some states are at least skeptical. These include France and the Netherlands. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has not yet taken a clear position, but he has emphasized that he will not accept any special rules for Ukraine’s accelerated EU accession.
9.47 a.m .: Allegedly more than 800,000 new Russians in the Donbass in recent years
According to the Russian news agency Tass, more than 800,000 people have received Russian citizenship in the past three years in the separatist areas of eastern Ukraine. Just under one percent of the applications from residents of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk were rejected, Tass reported on Saturday, citing the Ministry of the Interior in Moscow. In April 2019, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin issued a decree that made it easier for Ukrainians in Donbass to become Russian citizens.
According to critics, the many new Russians serve as a tool for the Kremlin to expand its influence in eastern Ukraine. Russian passports are also to be distributed in areas that Russian troops have occupied since the war began at the end of February this year. In this way, the Cherson and Zaporizhia regions, for example, are to be tied more closely to Moscow. The Russian ruble is also to be introduced there as a means of payment.
9.40 a.m.: Fierce fighting for the Ukrainian city of Sieverodonetsk
According to the British government, Ukrainians and Russians are fighting violently in the streets around the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievjerodonetsk. Both sides are likely to suffer a high number of casualties, the British Ministry of Defense wrote on Saturday in its regular intelligence update on the situation in the Ukraine war.
The strategically important industrial city of Sieverodonetsk is the last major city in the Luhansk region that is not yet fully under Russian and pro-Russian control. They have been fighting for weeks.
The British also reported that the Russian air force had been using dozens of old, imprecise anti-ship missiles against land targets since April due to a lack of modern weapons. The Kh-22 missiles date back to the 1960s and were actually designed to destroy aircraft carriers with a nuclear warhead.
If they are instead used in a ground attack with a conventional warhead, they are very inaccurate and could cause significant collateral damage and civilian casualties, the update said. Russia is probably using these inefficient weapon systems because the armed forces lack more modern and accurate weapons.
8.50 a.m .: Biden criticizes Selenskyj
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ignored warnings of a Russian invasion shortly before the start of the war, according to US President Joe Biden. There was “no doubt” that Russia would “cross the border,” Biden said at an event in Los Angeles on Friday. “Zelenskyj didn’t want to hear that, and neither did many others.”
“I know a lot of people thought I was exaggerating,” he said, referring to US warnings of a possible Russian attack. However, the US government had data to support its assessment.
2.45 a.m .: Zelenskyj: Russia wants to destroy “every city” in Donbass in eastern Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of wanting to destroy “every city” in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. “Russia wants to devastate every city in Donbass, every single one, without exaggeration. Like Volnovakha, like Mariupol,” said Zelenskyy in his video address on Friday evening, referring to two war-torn cities in southern Donbass. However, the Ukrainian military is doing everything “to stop the attacks of the occupiers”.
Fierce fighting continued on Friday, particularly in eastern Donbass, particularly in the embattled city of Sievarodonetsk in the Luhansk region. According to Governor Serhiy Hajday, the Russians destroyed an important sports hall in the city on Friday: “One of the landmarks of Sieverodonetsk was destroyed. The Ice Palace burned down,” he explained.
