LIVE – War in Ukraine: Scholz urges Westerners to strengthen kyiv’s air defense

Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russian bombing of its energy infrastructure had led to Ukraine’s electricity production being halved since the winter. “Russian missile and drone strikes have already destroyed 9 gigawatts of capacity. Last winter’s peak electricity consumption was 18 gigawatts. So half of it doesn’t exist today,” he said. he declared during his trip to Berlin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said having more air defense systems to protect Ukraine’s cities and energy infrastructure would be “the answer” to stopping the Russian invasion.

“It is the terror inspired by missiles and bombs that helps Russian troops advance on the ground,” said Volodymyr Zelensky during a trip to Berlin. “As long as we do not deprive Russia of the possibility of terrorizing Ukraine, (Vladimir) Putin will have no real interest in seeking a fair peace,” he added, assuring that “air defense is the answer”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged Western allies to strengthen Ukraine’s badly needed air defense in the face of Russian shelling.

“What the Ukrainian army needs most today is ammunition and weapons, particularly for air defense,” he said, recalling in particular that Berlin has decided to deliver a third anti-aircraft defense system Patriot. “I would like to ask everyone here today to support our Ukrainian air defense initiative with everything possible,” he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz affirmed that there would be “no military victory, nor peace dictated” by Vladimir Putin in the war he is waging against Ukraine, during an international conference in Berlin in the presence by Volodymyr Zelensky. “Promoting this awareness is the challenge of the peace summit which will meet this weekend in Switzerland,” the leader said, adding that the allies would support Ukraine “as long as necessary”.

In Berlin, Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He will also meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz there and take part in a conference on the reconstruction of his country.

Sri Lanka encouraged job searches abroad after the outbreak of an economic crisis in 2022, but is now struggling to find its nationals who, sometimes victims of false promises, are fighting in Ukraine on one side or on the other side of the forehead. Without news for months, distraught families are urging the authorities to help them.

“What we are asking is to help bring back our husbands”, explains Renuka Karunaratne, 49 years old. Her husband was deceived by a perfidious intermediary, to whom she says she paid $10,000, a practice denounced by many families.

The peace summit in Ukraine is due to bring together more than a hundred countries and organizations in Switzerland, with one major absentee: Russia. Here is what we know about this event which is due to start on Saturday.

A Russian military plane crashed in North Ossetia, in the Caucasus, during a training flight. Both crew members on board were killed, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The accident “did not cause any damage to the ground”, according to the same Source.

The “preliminary” cause of the incident is “a technical failure”, assured the ministry, which announced that a commission of inquiry was going to the site to shed light on the circumstances of the crash. North Ossetia, bordering Georgia in the mountainous Caucasus region, is located approximately 800 km from the front line in Ukraine.

Here is the key information from the last 24 hours:

• Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin last night, where he will meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz and take part in a conference on the reconstruction of his country. “Chancellor Scholz and I will discuss further defense aid, expansion of Ukraine’s air defense system and joint production of weapons,” he wrote on X. Germany recently allowed Ukraine to use German weapons to strike targets in Russia, something it has until now been reluctant to do, like other Western countries.

• The G7 leaders are meeting from Thursday to Saturday in Italy in a context of strong international tensions. US pushes G7 to give Ukraine up to $50 billion in loans guaranteed by interest on 300 billion euros in Russian central bank assets frozen by EU and G7 countries . But many questions remain, including who would issue the debt and what would happen if the assets were released in the event of a peace deal.

• Subsequently, Switzerland will host a summit on peace in Ukraine, without Russia or China, on Saturday and Sunday. The objective? “Inspire a future peace process”, according to kyiv. This “High Level Conference on Peace in Ukraine”, which is to be held in the Burgenstock hotel complex, will bring together representatives of more than 90 states and organizations.

• Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reiterated yesterday that he favors peace negotiations in Ukraine if they include Russia, during a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The Brazilian president will go to Geneva on Thursday for a meeting of the International Labor Organization (ILO), will take part in the G7 summit in Italy, but will not go to Switzerland for the conference on peace in Ukraine which will be held without Moscow.

Hello and welcome to this live broadcast dedicated to monitoring the war in Ukraine. There you will find the latest information from Tuesday June 11.