The outlet, sourcing German media organization German Welt, cites that anonymous Ukrainian officials have reported that Ukraine’s application for eleven IRIS-T air missile defense systems is currently being held up by Germany’s Federal Security Council.
The council is led by German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who in recent weeks defended his country’s record of delivering weapons to Ukraine, saying that Germany began sending weapons to Ukraine as soon as the war began in February.
Germany’s ministry of economy had previously approved of Ukraine’s application for the defense systems and passed the decision onto the Federal Security Council, German Welt reported
Agence France-Presse reports:
In a speech in Romania, the 59-year-old ultra-conservative leader also defended his vision of an “unmixed Hungarian race” as he criticised mixing with “non-Europeans.” Orban has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, but maintains an ambiguous position on the conflict.
Before Moscow sent in troops, he had sought close ties with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. And last week, he said Europe had “shot itself in the lungs” by imposing sanctions against Moscow over the military operation.
“We’re sitting in a car with four flat tyres”, he said on Saturday, of efforts to stem the bloodshed. He went on to add, “A new strategy is needed, which should focus on peace negotiations instead of trying to win the war.”Orban said “only Russian-US talks can put an end to the conflict because Russia wants security guarantees” only Washington can give. The EU, he added, “should not side with the Ukrainians, but position itself” between both sides.The sanctions “will not change the situation” and “the Ukrainians will not come out victorious”, he said, adding, “The more the West sends powerful weapons, the more the war drags on.”
Orban claimed the “war would never have broken out if Donald Trump were still head of the United States and Angela Merkel were the German Chancellor.”
Hi everyone, this is Maya Yang and I’ll be taking over the blog for the next few hours with the latest updates. Stay tuned.
Three people were killed and 19 others were injured when 13 Russian missiles hit a military airfield and railway infrastructure in Ukraine’s central region of Kirovohrad, the regional governor has said.
A soldier and two security guards were among those killed at an electricity substation, Andriy Raikovych said on television.
Raikovych said the strikes had disrupted the electricity grid and that one district of the regional capital, Kropyvnytskyi, had been left without power as a result, Reuters reported.