Also on Sunday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is planning a television speech on the war in Ukraine, which will be broadcast in the evening. Whether and when the chancellor, whom Zelenskyy invited for May 9, wants to travel to the Ukrainian capital remains unclear.
There had been disagreements between Kyiv and Berlin for weeks because a visit by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Ukraine was not wanted in the meantime. Steinmeier and Selenskyj cleared up the irritations in a phone call last week.
Göring-Eckardt: Moldova needs prospects
The small ex-Soviet republic of Moldova – a neighboring country to Ukraine – is also concerned that the Russian war will escalate. During a visit to Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt emphasized the importance of prospects for EU membership. Moldova needs quick help, said the Green politician after a meeting with Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita of the German Press Agency. “The stability of Moldova is very central to the conflict that we are currently experiencing in Europe.”
In the Transnistria region, which has broken away from Moldova, pro-Russian separatists have been reporting alleged attacks for several weeks – most recently there were explosions on Saturday night. Moldovan and Ukrainian observers, on the other hand, accuse Russia, which has soldiers stationed in Transnistria, of deliberately provoking the situation there in order to destabilize it.
Blinking: Putin is twisting history
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of historical revisionism with regard to the commemoration of the end of the war in 1945. “President Putin is trying to twist history to justify his unprovoked and brutal war against Ukraine,” Blinken said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people “valiantly defend their country, their democracy and the legitimate future of Ukraine” in a free and peaceful Europe.
There is a “sacred duty” to those who died in World War II, Blinken continued. That means “telling the truth about the past and supporting all those who stand up for freedom in our time”. As war raged again in Europe, it was necessary to increase resolve to resist those who were now trying to manipulate historical memory.
Human rights expert makes harrowing verdict
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has described the scale and seriousness of human rights abuses as a result of Russia’s war of aggression as staggering. After a four-day visit to Kyiv on Saturday, Dunja Mijatović wrote in a statement that people in Ukraine had witnessed appalling atrocities. “Each of them deserves justice and must not be forgotten.”
In her letter, Mijatović warned: “Human rights do not end in war, they do not fade into the background.” International law must also be respected by everyone in all circumstances. Mijatović called for expanding humanitarian aid to victims of the war and maintaining support for crime prosecutions.