Is there an escalation? China is becoming increasingly involved in the Ukraine war. Donald Trump also speaks out. News ticker on diplomacy.
- Before Biden speech in Warsaw: CDU foreign politician warns – “We are already a war goal”
- sanctions against Russia: Putin laughs at Western measures
- Beijing’s “Peace Initiative” im Ukraine war: China calls on affected countries to “stop”
- Taiwan conflict: China links allegations to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
- This News ticker to the negotiations surrounding the Ukraine war is continuously updated.
Update from February 21, 7:54 p.m.: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev on Tuesday. At a joint press conference, she promised her host further military, financial and civilian support from Italy. When it comes to arms deliveries, Italy is concentrating on air defense. Nobody should look aside during the Ukraine war. A defeat by Ukraine would be the “prelude” to the invasion of other European countries, Meloni said.
Meloni traveled to Kiev from Poland on Tuesday. There she drove first to the suburb of Bucha, where Russian troops had massacred civilians at the beginning of the war of aggression a year ago. Together with Mayor Anatolij Fedoruk, she visited the Orthodox Church there, according to the Italian government. Accompanied by Attorney General Andriy Kostin, she laid flowers in memory of the victims.
After that, Meloni visited the suburb of Irpin and saw the damage from the Russian bombing raids there. Meloni’s first trip to Kiev had been expected for a long time. On Monday she met Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw. According to her office, she had also phoned US President Joe Biden after his return from Kiev.
Update from February 21, 6:25 p.m.: US President Joe Biden has praised the country’s strength after his visit to Ukraine. “A year ago, the world was preparing for the fall of Kiev,” Biden said on Tuesday evening in the Polish capital, Warsaw. He came back from a visit to Kiev and can report that Kiev is strong. The Ukrainian capital stands “proud”, “upright” and “free”. This is reported by fr.de.
Ukraine-News: Borrell demands new supplies of ammunition for the Ukrainian army
Update from February 21, 2:18 p.m: The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is calling on the EU states to supply more ammunition to Ukraine. Borrell said on Tuesday (February 21) that he had asked the defense ministers in a letter to hand over ammunition that they had in stock or were about to receive. Ukraine should be a priority in the need. It is currently a matter of weeks and not months.
The background is concerns that Ukraine could be short of urgently needed ammunition types in the near future – and a feared new offensive by the attacker. “Should Russia succeed, it will be very difficult and costly to reverse,” says a document circulated among EU countries. .
According to the paper, Russia fires an average of 20,000 to 60,000 rounds of artillery ammunition per day, while Ukraine only fires 2,000 to 7,000 rounds per day.
Ukraine war: Putin’s agitators react to Biden’s visit to Kiev
Update from February 21, 2:18 p.m: The US President’s visit to Ukraine was seen internationally as an important signal. But politicians in Moscow react disparagingly to Joe Biden’s visit. Former Kremlin boss Dmitry Medvedev, for example, spoke of “loyalty to the neo-Nazi regime.” Russian propaganda constantly tries to portray the Ukrainian leadership as neo-Nazis. More Russian reactions to Biden’s Kiev trip here.
Before Biden’s speech in Warsaw: CDU foreign politician warns – “We are already a war goal”
February 21 update at 1:26 p.m: It is important for Germany not to become a party to the war, “but we are already a war goal,” said the CDU foreign politician Roderich Kiesewetter to the rbb broadcaster. He also expressed the expectation that US President Joe Biden would seek “even more support” from NATO partners in his announced speech in Warsaw. Biden will “certainly make it very clear that this is about a systemic dispute and I think that he must also send the signal to our civil society why we are supporting Ukraine in this war.”
Union parliamentary group leader Johann Wadephul also said that Biden should reaffirm the West’s determination in Warsaw to support Ukraine “until success”. In addition, he should on the peace initiative announced by China come in, he told dem Editorial Network Germany (RND).
Ukraine war: Meloni meets Zelenskyj in Kiev
Update from February 21, 1:05 p.m: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni traveled to Ukraine to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to TV channel TG24, she is expected in Kiev on Tuesday morning (February 21). On Monday evening, Meloni called US President Joe Biden, who had just returned from there. According to the official statement, the two spoke about the close cooperation between Italy and the USA in supporting Ukraine.
After ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi made critical statements about Zelensky, Meloni reaffirmed her government’s “firm” support for Ukraine in mid-February. Berlusconi’s right-wing conservative Forza Italia party is part of Meloni’s ultra-right government.
Ukraine war: Putin laughs at Western economic sanctions
Update from February 21, 12:06 p.m: Western sanctions against Russia have not destabilized the country – according to Vladimir Putin. The anti-Russian sanctions would aim to make the people of Russia suffer. “They are humanists like that,” said the Kremlin chief in his “State of the Nation Address,” referring to Western politicians. According to Putin, “Russia’s economy and administrative system have turned out to be much stronger than the West expected.”
Ukraine war: Trump criticizes Biden’s course on “Truth Social”
Updated February 21, 11:30 a.m: Donald Trump reacted indirectly to Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kiev. “If you follow and understand Biden’s moves in Ukraine, he is systematically, but perhaps unknowingly, bringing us closer to a situation that could soon become World War III. How crazy is that?” wrote Trump, Biden’s predecessor as US President, now on the social media platform he co-founded Truth Social.
Ukraine war: Baerbock calls on China not to deliver weapons to Putin
Update from February 21, 10:59 am: Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock appeals to Beijing not to supply Moscow with weapons for its attack on Ukraine. She made it clear to the Chinese delegation at the Munich Siko that China, as a member of the Security Council, is responsible for world peace, said the Greens politician in Brussels. This also includes “dual-use goods”, according to Baerbock. “I underlined this intensively in my discussions.”
First report from February 21st: Beijing – At the Munich Security Conference 2023 (Siko), China caused a stir: the government had announced a proposal for a “political solution” to the Ukraine conflict. Wang Yi said Beijing is against attacks on nuclear power plants, against the use of biochemical weapons and ready to work with “all parties”.
However, the top diplomat still did not want to speak of a war – China’s peace initiative at the Siko was still surprising.
Beijing’s peace plan: China calls for an end to the Ukraine war – “stop”
According to Foreign Minister Qin Gang, China is now “deeply concerned” about the Ukraine conflict. This threatens to “intensify” and “even get out of control,” he said in a speech on global security on Tuesday (February 21). The concept paper comes according to the news agency dpa by head of state and party leader Xi Jinping.
Qin also called on the “affected countries to stop pouring fuel on the fire as soon as possible and stop blaming China”. This Tuesday, the head of the Kremlin and aggressor in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, also wants to give a “state of the nation address”.
Taiwan conflict: China links allegations to Vladimir Putin’s invasion
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday (February 20) that China may be considering arms sales to Russia. Referring to the island of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory, Qin said countries should “stop creating a riot by shouting ‘Today Ukraine, Tomorrow Taiwan.'”
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