German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has supported the emplacement of long-range missiles in Germany to deter Russian aggression, which she says poses the greatest risk to Germany’s security and peace in Europe.
His comments come amid a debate within Germany’s three-party coalition over plans to deploy U. S. nuclear-capable weapons in the country.
It comes as Ukraine announces the fifth Russian drone attack on the capital, Kyiv, as it continues its full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
Here are the progress of the Russian war in Ukraine on July 21, 2024
Russian fighter jets prevented two U. S. strategic bombers from crossing the Russian border over the Barents Sea, toward the Russian Defense Ministry.
In a statement, the ministry sent MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighter jets to intercept the planes.
“As the Russian fighter jets approached, the US strategic bombers adjusted their flight path. . . and then moved away from the border of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said.
In the past, Russia has reported similar incidents in which its planes collided with military aircraft from NATO countries flying near its border, amid major tensions sparked by Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry says Moscow’s invading forces have captured (or, in Kremlin terminology, “liberated”) two frontline villages in Ukraine.
The small villages – Andriivka in the Luhansk region and Pishchan in the northern Kharkiv region – are separated by less than 20 kilometres.
The ministry said Russian army units had “occupied more favorable lines and positions” as Moscow continues to advance with terrible slowness in its offensive to the east.
Kyiv was the target of a fifth Russian drone attack overnight, but Ukrainian air defense systems managed to destroy all weapons before they reached the city, the Ukrainian military said.
No casualties or injuries were reported, according to Serhiy Popko, head of the Ukrainian capital’s military administration.
“These systematic attacks . . . with drones demonstrate once again that the invader is actively looking for an opportunity to attack Kyiv,” Popko said.
“They are testing new tactics, new approaches to the capital, seeking to reveal the location of our air defense,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
In the face of major overnight drone and missile attacks across Russia, which also targeted other Ukrainian regions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated calls for long-range weapons to be provided to both civilians and troops.
“Our far-reaching functions deserve a fair reaction to Russian terrorism. All of us in this area are opposed to the defense against terrorism,” Zelenskyy said.
A total of five other people were wounded by Russian drones or shelling overnight, three in the partially occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine and two in the northeastern Kharkiv region, officials said.
Drone strikes in particular have been a significant feature of the standoff in Ukraine, where Russia has employed Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze drones” or locally produced variants of the weapon.
Germany’s most sensible diplomat, Annalena Baerbock, has offered her help to station long-range missiles in Germany as President Vladimir Putin’s Russia expands its arsenal.
“We want to protect ourselves and our Baltic partners who oppose this with increased deterrence and more long-range weapons,” Baerbock, a member of the Green Party, told Funke Media Group newspapers.
He said that although Germany sought another relationship with Russia, the country under Putin posed the greatest risk to Germany’s security and peace in Europe.
At the NATO summit in Washington on July 9-11, the White House and the German government announced that the United States would support the temporary deployment of missile systems in Germany that could be successful in Russia. These come with nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles. , SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles and newly developed hypersonic missiles.
A 1988 treaty between the United States and the former Soviet Union would have banned such missiles, but that deal collapsed five years ago. The United States last placed missiles in Germany in the bloodless period.
Germany’s Green Party has its roots in part with the peace movements of the late 20th century, but its politicians have been forced to abandon some pacifist notions in the face of recent global events.
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tj/fb (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)