Ukrainian President Zelenskyy sees his country ready for a counter-offensive to recapture Russian-occupied territories. Indonesia presented a peace plan at an international security forum. The developments in the live blog.
Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has proposed a peace plan for Ukraine. Subianto called on defense and military officials from around the world gathered at the Shangri-La Dialogue Defense Meeting in Singapore to issue a statement calling for a cessation of hostilities. He proposed a multi-point plan calling for a ceasefire “at the current positions of both parties to the conflict” and the establishment of a demilitarized zone. The demilitarized zone should be observed and monitored by a United Nations-based peacekeeping force, Subianto said, adding that a UN referendum should be held “to determine objectively the wishes of the majority of residents in the various disputed areas.”
Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin are also taking part in the Shangri-La security forum in Singapore.
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine is ready to launch its long-awaited counter-offensive to recapture the territories occupied by Russia. In an interview with the “Wall Street Journal” Zelenskyj said: “We firmly believe that we will be successful”. He does not know how long the offensive will last and how it will develop. “But we will do it and we are ready.” The government in Kiev hopes that a counteroffensive to retake territory will change the dynamics of the 15-month war. Zelenskyy said last month that Ukraine would have to wait for more western armored vehicles to arrive before launching the counteroffensive.
In the Russian border region of Belgorod, according to the authorities, there has again been massive shelling from the Ukrainian side. Two people were killed and six others injured. Heavy projectiles fell on private property in a village near the border town of Valuiki, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Friday evening. Two children were among the injured. He also published a photo of a burning property. Gladkow spoke of an unsafe situation in the region due to the shelling that had been going on for days.
According to Russian information, the border town of Schebekino, from which many people had fled, was particularly hard hit by the artillery fire. It is still not safe to return there, said Gladkow. The Russian Defense Ministry said more than 120 Ukrainian “terrorists” and “saboteurs” had been killed in the region. Ukraine denies direct responsibility for the attacks. Russia has been attacking the neighboring country from Belgorod for more than 15 months.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz loudly defended himself against troublemakers at a Europe festival organized by the SPD and defended aid for Ukraine. One group yelled, among other things, “War mongers”, “Make peace without weapons”, “Get lost!”. “Dear screamers,” Scholz shouted in front of the town hall in Falkensee near Berlin. Putin is “the warmonger” “that you shout out here if you had any sense in your brains”. The chancellor made it clear that he sees no alternative to supporting Ukraine with weapons.
The rating agency Moody’s pushed its rating for the creditworthiness of Belarus even deeper into the junk zone. Moody’s announced that the credit rating would be downgraded to “C” from the previous “CA”. The outlook is “stable” after previously “negative”. The reason is the Western sanctions against the country in connection with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The punitive measures are likely to harm the state’s growth potential in the long term.
The federal government wants to support Ukraine with 66 troop transporters. According to the authorities, two people were killed and others injured when a Russian shelled a village in the Zaporizhia region. The live blog from Friday to read.
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