War briefing in Ukraine: Europe “is no longer in peace” with Russia, explains the German Chancellor | Ukraine
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that Europe “was not at war … but more in peace” with Russia. “Let me put it in a sentence that can be a little shocking at first glance … We are not at war, but we are no longer in peace either,” Merz said at a media event in Duesseldorf. Russia’s war is “a war against our democracy and a war against our freedom,” said Merz, adding that Moscow’s intention was to undermine unity in the block. He also referred to his recent approval of an EU plan aimed at unlocking Russian assets to finance Ukraine’s war effort, saying that this decision could provide military support for Ukraine for three to five years.
In addition, the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Pistorius, speaking at the opening of a permanent logistical support zone in Rukla in Lithuania, said that Germany is committed to strengthening deterrence, with around 2,000 soldiers to serve in Lithuania in the middle of 2026.
Viktor Orbán, Hungary, said on Monday that Ukraine was not a sovereign country because he brought the accusations that Hungarian recognition drones violated his air space. “Ukraine is not at war with Hungary; it is at war with Russia. It should be concerned with drones at its eastern border,” said Hungarian Prime Minister during an interview on a popular right -wing podcast with his supporters. “I believe my ministers, but let’s say that he would have in fact stolen a few meters there, so what? Ukraine is not an independent country. Ukraine is not a sovereign country, Ukraine is funded by us, the West gives him funds, weapons,” said Orban. On Friday, Zelenskiy said that the recognition drones that had violated Ukraine’s airspace could have flyed from Hungary to verify the industrial potential of Western border areas.
Ukraine proposed to build a joint air defense shield with allies to protect themselves against threats from Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday after a series of aerial space incursions that caused an alarm on the eastern side of NATO. “Ukraine offers Poland and all our partners to build a spouse and fully reliable shield against Russian air threats,” he said in an address to Warsaw Security Forum delivered via a video link. “Ukraine can counter all kinds of Russian drones and missiles and if we act together in the region, we will have enough weapons and production capacity.”
The United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden said on Monday that they would help Denmark increase its anti-drone security during two European summits in Copenhagen this week. Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, said that the extent of the recent drone incursions was such that “the entire Western transatlantic community” was to realize “it is war”.
A Russian night drone strike killed a family of four in the northeast region of Sumy on Tuesdaysaid the head of regional military administration. Oleg Grygorov said Russian forces had struck a residential building in the village of Cherchchyna, in the Krasnopillia community. “A couple with two young children lived in this house. Unfortunately, no one managed to escape,” wrote Grygorov on the Telegram platform.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces were prevailing in what he said was a “right battle” in Ukraine. “Our fighters and commanders are attacking, and the whole country, all of Russia, is leading this right battle and works hard,” said Putin in a video published on the Kremlin website. “Together, we defend our love for the fatherland and the unity of our historical destiny, we fight and we prevail.”
By separately, Putin called on Monday 135,000 men for a routine military service, the largest fall conscription training in the country since 2016. Russia calls men aged 18 to 30 for compulsory military service every spring and fall. Conscripts should serve for a year in a military base in Russia, so as not to fight in Ukraine, although it was reported by conscripted men sent on the front line. Russian annual conscription campaigns are not linked to mobilization, in which Russian men are written to fight in wartime.
Also on Monday, Putin signed a law to withdraw Russia from an anti-rate European convention. Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe, an international instructor on human rights, in March 2022, although it was technically part of its European convention for the prevention of torture. The historical agreement aims to strengthen the rights of those deprived of their freedom and allows monitors to visit prisons and detention centers.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has now been without off -site power for six days, said the head of the UN Atomic Atomic Dog Rafael Grosi on Monday on Monday. The southeast factory of Ukraine has been under Russian control since the first weeks of the war, and each party has repeatedly accused the other of bombing it and compromising nuclear security. The IAEA said that the external power lines providing the factory fell last week for the 10th time of the emergency conflict and generators were put into service.
The Council of Europe awarded its 2025 rights of rights to Ukrainian journalist on Monday and activist maksym butkevych rights, which was released last year after being captured by Russian forces. Butkevych, co-founder of the independent radio station of Hromadske and Zmina Human Rights Center in kyiv, joined the Ukrainian army in March 2022, then was detained in June and found guilty of war crimes by a court of Luhansk to the east of the eastern 2023 march. was released during an exchange of prisoners from October 2024.
