Gerhard Schröder renounces supervisory board posts at Gazprom Oligarch assets worth 10 billion euros frozen in the EU The developments in the Ukraine war in the stern ticker.

Day 91 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: With massive artillery and air strikes, Russian troops have driven out the Ukrainian defenders from several towns in the east of the country in the past few days, and the Ukrainian front is beginning to falter. For Moscow, the complete conquest of the Ukrainian administrative regions of Donetsk and Luhansk is an important war goal. In Luhansk, this goal has almost been achieved.

10 a.m.: According to the ECB, the war in Ukraine is burdening financial stability in the euro zone

According to the European Central Bank (ECB), the war in Ukraine is having a negative impact on financial stability in the euro area. According to the ECB’s Financial Stability Report, the Russian attack has led to higher energy and commodity prices. This poses a threat to economic growth and inflation. The ECB sees a number of potential future threats. She also refers to the uncertain further course of the war and to the expected normalization of monetary policy. Companies in the euro area that have not yet recovered from the pandemic are particularly threatened by insolvency. Highly indebted companies could also face problems if interest rates rise. According to the ECB, the profit prospects for European banks have clouded over. However, only a few of the financial institutions have direct involvement in Russia.

9.10 a.m .: According to Selenskyj, Ukraine is fighting for the entire territory

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy does not want to give up Ukrainian territory in exchange for peace. “Ukraine will fight until it has its entire territory back,” Zelensky said at an event hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Davos. He was digitally connected to the discussion on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Zelenskyy also said he is ready for talks if Russia withdraws to the areas it was in before the war began in February. But he will only speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin himself. “I can only speak to the president directly, no intermediaries, no intermediaries,” Zelensky said. For that, Putin has to leave his bubble. Russia is not currently negotiating seriously.

8.30 a.m .: Hungary declares a state of emergency because of the war in Ukraine

Hungary is extending the Corona emergency that is about to expire. The reason for the successor plan is not the pandemic, but the war in Ukraine, as Hungarian President Viktor Orban announced on Tuesday. The announcement followed the amendment of the Basic Law in Parliament. According to this, the government is now able to declare a state of emergency in the event of an armed conflict or a humanitarian catastrophe in a neighboring country. In such situations, the government is allowed to rule by decree and suspend certain laws. This gives the Hungarian leadership “the opportunity to react immediately and protect Hungary and the Hungarian families with all possible means,” said Orban.

In 2020, the Hungarian government announced a state of emergency for the first time. Criticism came from home and abroad. The state of emergency officially expires on May 31st.

5.03 a.m .: US billionaire Soros warns of the end of “civilization” in the Ukraine war

US billionaire George Soros has warned of the end of “civilization” because of the Ukraine war. The Russian “invasion may have been the start of World War III, and our civilization may not survive it,” Soros said Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We must mobilize all our resources to bring the war to an early end.” “The best and maybe only way to preserve our civilization is to defeat Putin as soon as possible,” he said. He praised US and European support for Ukraine. At the same time he was harsh on Germany.

Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies is “largely due to the mercantilist policies of former Chancellor Angela Merkel,” he said. “I think Putin was very clever in blackmailing Europe by threatening to turn off the gas supply,” Soros added. He is the enemy of many populists in Eastern Europe, especially Hungary, Turkey and Russia. The billionaire is a Jew of Hungarian origin who, with his foundations, supports, among other things, movements that are directed against authoritarian governments.

5.25 a.m .: Ukraine reports rockets on Zaporizhia, concentration of troops in Donbass

According to the authorities, the city of Zaporizhia in eastern Ukraine was hit by several rockets early on Wednesday morning. “Today, May 25, at 05:13, Russian forces fired four ballistic missiles at Zaporizhia,” the oblast administration announced on its Telegram channel. One of the missiles was intercepted by air defenses. The rescue workers are on site to get an idea of ​​the situation, the damage and possible victims of the attack.

Meanwhile, the military experts at the US war research institute Institute for the Study of War (ISW) report in their latest analysis of Ukraine that the Russian military is concentrating forces from different directions in the heavily contested Luhansk region. The reserves needed for an offensive would be withdrawn from the areas around Kharkiv, Izyum, Donetsk and Zaporizhia. In the last week, the Russian troops in the Luhansk region managed to gain more territory than in the whole of May, the analysts said.

4.45 a.m .: Oligarch assets worth 10 billion euros frozen in the EU

In the course of the Ukraine war, Russian oligarchs lost access to luxury yachts, real estate and other assets worth almost 10 billion euros. According to information from the German Press Agency, this is based on figures from the EU Commission. On April 8, the value was still 6.7 billion euros. The EU Commission wants to present a legislative proposal this Wednesday that should make it possible to confiscate frozen Russian money. This money could then be used to rebuild Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine war, the EU has put a number of Russian oligarchs on the sanctions list because they are accused of supporting the war. A good month later, the first balance was drawn: the EU states had frozen assets of 29.5 billion euros by then – 6.7 billion euros came from the assets of oligarchs. Added to this were the frozen assets of the Russian central bank.

1.04 a.m .: Ukrainian interior minister assumes 20,000 suspected war crimes

In the three months of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, around 20,000 suspected war crimes have been reported, according to Kiev sources. Police investigators alone registered 13,500 such acts, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj said on Ukrainian television on Tuesday. “We work with foreign prosecutors, joint investigative teams and experts, but most of the work is done by Ukrainian law enforcement officials.” Their evidence will later be sent to international bodies to bring suspected Russian war criminals to justice, the minister said. In a first trial, the Ukrainian judiciary sentenced a young Russian soldier to life imprisonment as a war criminal.

12:24 a.m .: Gerhard Schröder is giving up his position on the board of directors at Gazprom

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) has given up a position on the supervisory board of the Russian energy company Gazprom. Schröder announced on Tuesday on the online platform LinkedIn that he had “abandoned the nomination for Gazprom’s supervisory board a long time ago”. He added: “I have also communicated this to the company.” As a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the ex-chancellor had come under massive pressure because of his activities for Russian energy companies. Schröder had long been nominated for a post on Gazprom’s supervisory board, which he was originally scheduled to take up in June. Gazprom confirmed Schröder’s nomination on Tuesday, causing a stir.