2023-06-21 12:29:00
Day 483 since the beginning of the war: An explosion in a Russian gunpowder factory kills several people. The death toll after the dam rupture is increasing. All information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
UN organization calls for Marshall Plan for Ukraine
2.30 p.m.: According to a UN organization, Ukraine’s industry and agriculture will be severely affected for years to come by vast quantities of landmines. On Wednesday in Geneva, the UN development program UNDP called for a kind of Marshall Plan for the country against which Russia has been waging a war of aggression for almost 16 months. The head of the landmine clearance programme, Paul Heslop, compared the situation to post-World War II Europe. Up to 275 million euros are required per year over a period of at least five years.
The Marshall Plan was a program launched by the United States after World War II to rebuild Europe. Heslop said the amount of landmines in Ukraine is difficult to estimate. Both warring parties used anti-tank mines, and Russia also used anti-personnel mines. Anti-personnel mines explode when they are touched – for example by children who want to pick them up or by farmers who till their fields. Russia has not signed an international agreement outlawing them.
Before the Russian attack, Ukraine was the largest supplier of grain to the World Food Program (WFP), Heslop said. The WFP works there with 150,000 farmers. Production must be restarted as soon as possible. Thousands of experts are actually needed to check the fields. Now many farmers inspected the soil themselves, sometimes at the risk of their lives: they installed detectors in front of tractors and hoped to find mines themselves.
Von der Leyen has no doubts about Ukraine joining the EU
1:46 p.m.: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says she has “no doubt” that Ukraine will one day join the EU. The German politician said on Wednesday at a reconstruction conference for Ukraine in London. Kyiv accelerated its reform agenda with “impressive speed and determination,” said the Commission President.
Ursula von der Leyen: The EU Commission President assumes that Ukraine will one day join the European Union. (Source: Henry Nicholls/dpa)
Baerbock promises more millions in aid to Ukraine
1:44 p.m.: Germany intends to provide Ukraine with additional humanitarian assistance of 381 million euros this year. The money is intended for generators, food and tents, for example, said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) on Wednesday at a reconstruction conference for Ukraine in London. Since the start of the Russian war of aggression, German aid for Kiev has totaled 16.8 billion euros.
In the long term, however, money is not enough, added the Foreign Minister. “We are helping Ukraine to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency,” she said. In this way, the reconstruction of Ukraine can be shaped in a green and thus permanent and sustainable way.
Earlier at the conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $1.3 billion in additional funding for Ukraine. Blinken said $520 million alone is earmarked for repairing Ukraine’s power grid to make it cleaner and more resilient. Together with energy market reforms, Ukraine could become a major energy exporter.
Selenskyj: The offensive is slower than hoped
1:44 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has admitted difficulties in the counter-offensive against the invading Russian troops. Progress on the battlefield is “slower than desired,” he said in a BBC interview published on Wednesday. “Some people think this is a Hollywood film and are expecting results now, but it’s not,” said Zelenskyy.
The military push is not easy, as 200,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory have been mined by Russian forces. According to the government, the Ukrainian armed forces continued their counter-offensive with attacks on Russian positions in the south. In other sections of the front, they had secured recent gains in territory, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar. In the east, the troops would withstand a full-scale Russian attack.
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