A war between Ukraine and Russia is apparently becoming more and more likely.
By Paul Ronzheimer
BILD learned: The Foreign Office is working on an evacuation plan for the relatives of the German embassy employees in Ukraine. According to the plan, they should be taken out of the country if the situation deteriorates further.
In the USA, the plans are already becoming more concrete. US media report that the bringing out of embassy employees should start on Monday.
US sends military aid
Amid the serious tensions with Russia, the United States sent new military aid to Ukraine on Saturday night.
The cargo plane landed at an airport in Kiev, the US embassy there said on Twitter. There were 90 tons of cargo on board, including ammunition “for front-line defense”. This support was ordered by US President Joe Biden (79).
The embassy released images showing the plane being unloaded. It was the first of several deliveries, it said. This “demonstrates the strong commitment of the United States to Ukraine’s sovereign right to self-defense.”
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (71) and his US colleague Antony Blinken (59) only met on Friday for crisis talks in Geneva.
Most recently, the Kremlin sharply criticized the delivery of light anti-tank weapons from Great Britain to Ukraine. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania now also want to send US-made anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine.
The United States also announced a NATO military maneuver: According to US information, the exercise in the Mediterranean called “Neptune Strike 22” should begin next Monday and last twelve days. The US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman will also be involved in this. US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said the maneuver was not related to fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Germany did not supply any weapons
► Russia had previously announced various naval maneuvers with a total of 140 warships in the coming weeks (e.g. in the Mediterranean, Pacific and Atlantic). Several exercises are already underway on Russian territory.
Ukraine had also repeatedly asked Germany for arms deliveries. The federal government has so far stuck to its no. Ukrainian Ambassador Melnyk said: “The seriousness of the situation demands an immediate rethink and change of course from the traffic light government on the issue of arms deliveries to Ukraine.”
► Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (56, SPD) made it clear in the “Welt am Sonntag”: “Weapons deliveries would not be helpful at the moment – that is the consensus in the federal government”. The SPD politician announced that in February “a complete field hospital would be handed over, including the necessary training, all co-financed by Germany with 5.3 million euros”.
The United States and its western allies have been demanding a withdrawal of Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border for weeks. In return, Moscow is demanding security guarantees and an end to the eastward expansion of the western military alliance NATO.