Day 383 since the start of the war: Putin calls reports of Ukrainian involvement in the Nord Stream blast “nonsense”. Russia has attacked Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. All information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
According to reporters: Russian army uses phosphorus bombs near Bakhmut
8.40 p.m.: Phosphorus bombs were used in Russian attacks on an uninhabited area near the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, according to AFP journalists. As the reporters reported, on Tuesday afternoon at around 4:45 p.m., two shells were fired five minutes apart over a road in an uninhabited area at the southern exit of the village of Chasiv Yar, about 15 kilometers from Bakhmut. Explosions released small glowing balls of phosphorus that slowly fell straight down, igniting football-field-sized vegetation on either side of the road. You can read more about the alleged use of the phosphorus bombs here.
Ukraine announces new Ramstein meeting on arms shipments
7:56 p.m.: Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has announced a new meeting in the so-called Ramstein format on arms supplies for his country. This should take place on Wednesday, the 56-year-old said on Facebook on Tuesday after a meeting with Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren. At the meeting in the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa, Ollongren Kiev announced the delivery of two Alkmaar-class ships by 2025. The Netherlands would also take over the training of the sailors.
In connection with a similar announcement by Belgium and ships already delivered by Britain, Reznikov wrote of a “ship coalition”. Earlier, at the Ramstein meeting, western states in a so-called “tank coalition” promised Ukraine the supply of main battle tanks.
Involvement of Ukrainians in Nord Stream blast according to Putin “nonsense”
7:29 p.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin has called reports that Ukrainian activists were involved in the explosions at the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea “total nonsense”. Such an action of this depth and on this scale could “only be carried out by specialists,” Putin said in a television interview on Tuesday. “This also includes the support of a state that has the appropriate technology.”
Specifically, Putin did not want to comment on the authorship of the explosions. But you always have to question who might have an interest in it. “And who is interested? The USA could theoretically have an interest in preventing Russian energy sources from entering the European market,” said the Kremlin chief.
According to Putin, a Gazprom ship also discovered evidence of the presence of another explosive device on the gas pipeline. This is about 30 kilometers away from one of the explosion sites. At the pipe junction, something was detected that experts believed “could be an antenna to receive a signal to detonate an explosive device.”
A week ago, several media outlets reported that investigations into the incident led to several leads “to Ukraine.” However, experts have expressed serious doubts about the published information. Here you can read more about it.
Russian fighter jet collides with US drone
6.15 p.m.: A US reconnaissance drone has crashed over the Black Sea after colliding with a Russian fighter jet. Two Russian Su-27 fighter jets intercepted the MQ-9 Reaper drone in a “dangerous and unprofessional” manner over international waters on Tuesday morning, the US Forces Regional Europe Headquarters in Stuttgart said. Read more about it here.
Putin: Russia is fighting for its survival in Ukraine
3:49 p.m.: According to President Vladimir Putin, Russia is fighting for its own existence in Ukraine. “For us, this is not a geopolitical task, but a task for the survival of the Russian state,” Putin told employees of an aircraft manufacturer in Buryatia in the east of the country on Tuesday. Conditions must be created in order to be able to develop the country and its children. The West is trying to bring Russia to its knees, primarily with economic sanctions.
The European Union and the US have already passed several packages of sanctions against Russia in response to the war of aggression against Ukraine. With regard to the sanctions, Putin emphasized that the Russian economy had shown itself to be surprisingly robust and resilient. The West must have thought Russia would collapse within two or three weeks. “That didn’t happen.”
