LIVE – War in Ukraine: Scholes urges West to strengthen Q’s air defences

Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian bombing of its energy infrastructure had cut Ukraine’s electricity production in half since the winter. “Russian missile and drone attacks have already destroyed 9 gigawatts of capacity. Last winter’s peak power consumption was 18 gigawatts, so half of that is not there today,” he said during a visit 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 a Russian invasion.

“Terror inspired by missiles and bombs is what enables Russian troops to advance on the ground,” Volodymyr Zelensky said during a visit to Berlin. “As long as we don’t deprive Russia of the opportunity to threaten Ukraine, (Vladimir) Putin will have no real interest in seeking a just peace,” he added, promising that “air defense is the answer.”

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

“What the Ukrainian army needs most today is ammunition and weapons, especially for air defense,” he said, recalling in particular the Patriot’s decision to provide Berlin with a third anti-aircraft defense system. “I want to ask everyone here today to support our Ukrainian air defense initiative in all possible ways,” he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed that Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine “will not dictate military victory or peace” during an international conference in Berlin chaired by Volodymyr Zelensky. “Promoting this awareness is the challenge of this weekend’s peace summit in Switzerland,” the president said, adding that allies would support Ukraine “as long as necessary.”

In Berlin, Volodymyr Zelensky shook hands with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. There he meets President Olaf Scholz and participates in a conference on the reconstruction of his country.

Sri Lanka encouraged people to seek work abroad after the economic crisis in 2022, but has struggled to find its nationals fighting on one side or the other side of Ukraine, sometimes plagued by false promises. After months without news, grieving families are pleading with authorities to help them.

“All we ask is to help get our husband back.”49-year-old Renuka Karunaratne explains. Her husband was defrauded by a treacherous middleman to whom he claims he owed $10,000, a move condemned by many families.

A peace summit in Ukraine is set to bring together more than a hundred countries and organizations in Switzerland, without one key participant: Russia. Here’s what we know about the event, which kicks off on Saturday.

A Russian military plane crashed during a training mission in the Caucasus region of North Ossetia. The Russian Defense Ministry said both crew members on board the plane were killed. The crash “did not cause any damage to the ground”, according to the same source.

The ministry assured that the “preliminary” cause of the incident was a “technical fault” and announced that an investigation team was heading to the site to shed light on the circumstances of the accident. North Ossetia is located in the mountainous Caucasus bordering Georgia, about 800 km from Ukraine’s front line.

Here are the highlights from the last 24 hours:

• Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Berlin last night, where he will meet with President Olaf Scholes and participate in a conference on restructuring his country. “President Scholz and I will discuss further security assistance, the expansion of Ukraine’s air defense system and the joint production of weapons,” he wrote in X. Germany recently authorized the use of German weapons to attack targets in Russia. Just like any other western country should do.

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

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

• Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday reiterated his support for peace talks in Ukraine that include Russia., during a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Brazil’s president will travel to Geneva on Thursday for a meeting of the International Labor Organization (ILO), attend a G7 summit in Italy, but will not travel to Switzerland for a peace conference in Ukraine, which will be held without Moscow. .

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