Uncredited/South Korean Ministry of National Defense via AP/dpa
Cruise missiles mean NATO enters war: ATACMS tactical missile system during training in Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a strong warning to NATO not to allow Ukraine to use long-range and cruise missiles against targets inside Russia. If this happens, it will be a “clear entry” of the countries supplying the weapons into a war with Russia. The missiles require specialists from the country of manufacture to program their target coordinates. Putin said on Russian TV on Thursday that Ukrainian military officers are not capable of doing this. He threatened an “appropriate response” without specifying details.
Last Friday, US President Joseph Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were keen to discuss, among other things, the possibility of authorising missile strikes in Washington. Starmer told reporters on his flight to the US that Britain did not want a conflict with Russia, but that Ukraine must be able to defend itself and that London was doing its part to make that happen. Various politicians in Berlin’s traffic light government have also spoken out in favour of such strikes with the help of Western missiles, including Michael Roth (SPD), Marcus Faber (FDP) and Anton Hofreiter (Alliance 90/The Greens). However, a decision is not expected this weekend. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and US Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken have said the UN General Assembly, which will meet in New York on September 22, would be a better opportunity to do so.
Meanwhile, in Berlin, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and his Lithuanian colleague Laurunas Kassinas signed a government agreement on the conditions for the stationing of a German Bundeswehr brigade in the Baltic NATO country. According to information from Berlin, the contract regulates a number of practical issues, including the tax obligations of soldiers, the establishment of German schools and childcare centers at two Lithuanian station locations, and the integration of family members into the Lithuanian labour market. This is already regulated by EU law and goes beyond. The plan is to have a fully operational German brigade of up to 5,000 men (and women) in the Lithuanian cities of Rūdninkai and Rukla from 2027. An advance party of about 20 troops is currently preparing for deployment, and another 200 troops are expected to arrive in Lithuania in early October. Rūdninkai is located about 30 km from the Belarusian border, inland from Rukla.
In Ukraine, Odessa was the target of a drone strike for the first time in a while on Friday night. About 20 private buildings sustained minor damage, according to Ukrainian authorities. Earlier, an explosion was reported in the port city of Yuzhne, near Odessa. In the Donbass, Russian forces have captured or are approaching several other small towns south of Pokrovsk. Reports from an evacuation helper in the city of Ukrainsk, near Pokrovsk, have raised concerns among Ukrainians. On Thursday, he was surprised to see Russian soldiers as he was loading civilians onto a minibus, but he and his passengers were allowed to drive on unmolested. The standard story is that the Russian soldiers shot every civilian they encountered. The aide asked, “Can we call this guy OK?” Well, I don’t know.”
