Minister of Culture Roth in Odessa

Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth arrived in Odessa on Monday for a two-day visit. The Green politician is the first member of the federal government to visit the port city on the Black Sea after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Roth is in Odessa at the invitation of the Ukrainian Minister of Culture Olexandr Tkachenko.

The city has an incredible amount of culture, Roth said at the start of the trip. “We want to show that we’re there,” Roth said, “we want to show the culture being attacked.” She wants to find out in Odessa what the face of the war looks like beyond the question of heavy weapons. Offers of humanitarian aid are still rarely mentioned in the debates. The city is not only considered a cultural metropolis, but is also of strategic importance.

Roth has already campaigned several times to support Ukrainian artists in their country and refugee cultural workers in Germany as well as Ukrainian cultural institutions. In Odessa she will meet, among others, the governor of the Odessa Oblast, Maksym Marchenko, and the mayor of the city, Hennady Trukhanov. The Minister of State for Culture also wants to visit the Odessa Film Studio, the city’s Philharmonic Theater, as well as the opera, ballet and the Odessa Scientific Library. (dpa)

According to the Ukrainian army, it has managed to push back the Russian fleet more than 100 kilometers from the country’s Black Sea coast. The Russian fleet had been “deprived of total control over the north-west of the Black Sea,” the Ministry of Defense in Kyiv said on Monday via the online service Telegram. However, Russia is trying to regain control of the sea area, and the cities on the coast are still threatened by Russian missile attacks. In addition, the Russian fleet continues to block civilian shipping, the ministry said.

In response to Ukraine’s successes in the Black Sea, Russian forces should have deployed coastal defense systems to the Crimean peninsula and the Russian-held area around the city of Kherson. In addition, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, additional Russian forces were stationed on Russian-occupied Snake Island. The information could not initially be verified independently. (AFP)

80,000 euros for families of fallen Russian soldiers

The families of every soldier of the Russian National Guard killed in Ukraine or Syria are to receive almost 80,000 euros. President Vladimir Putin has signed a corresponding decree, reports the Tass news agency. (Reuters)

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, up to 75 million tons of grain could be stuck in Ukraine by the autumn. Kyiv needs anti-ship weapons that could ensure the safe passage of its exports, says Zelenskyy in the capital.

However, the idea of ​​a third-country navy guaranteeing the passage of Ukrainian grain exports through the Russian-ruled Black Sea was also discussed with Great Britain and Turkey. However, the best guarantee for this is the arming of Ukraine, Zelenskyj told journalists. (Reuters)

According to US media insiders, Russia is threatening to withdraw its accreditation if the treatment of Russian journalists in the United States does not improve. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova threatened countermeasures should Russian reporters not be able to work freely in the US, say three insiders with knowledge of Zakharova’s meeting with US media in Moscow. If the situation does not change, US journalists would have to leave the country.

Zakharova did not respond to a request for official comment. According to the RIA agency, representatives from the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Associated Press, NPR and Alhurra TV attended the meeting. Initially, there were no comments from the US media. Some western media left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Others, including the Reuters news agency, stayed in the country and continue to report from there. (Reuters)

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has the majority in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Sieverodonetsk. But Ukraine has the ability to defend itself, Zelensky said at a press conference. If Russia breaks through in Donbass, it will be difficult for Ukraine. From the Donbass, Russia could attack strategic industrial targets in central Ukraine. (Reuters)

Russia wants to push Ukrainian forces further away from its borders in the face of announced western deliveries of longer-range weapons. “The greater the range of the delivered systems, the further we will remove the Nazis from the line from which the Russian-speaking countries and the Russian Federation could be threatened,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced at a press conference.

The US and UK have agreed to supply state-of-the-art M142 Himars and M270 multiple rocket launchers to reach targets up to 80 kilometers away. Since the invasion began on February 24, Russia has repeatedly said it wants to rid Ukraine of “Nazis.” (Reuters)