Kursk governor calls for quicker evacuation – DW – 08/11/2024

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner has voiced his support for stationing long-range US missiles in Germany, saying that the deployment will be an important deterrent in the face of Russian aggression.

“Germany has been within range of Russia’s nuclear-capable missiles for years. It is therefore of paramount importance to us that we establish a balance of deterrence,” Lindner told the Funke media group in comments published on Sunday.

Berlin and Washington announced in July that long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 air-defense missiles would be deployed in Germany from 2026, drawing threats of a response in kind from Moscow.

The plan has met with criticism from several parties, including the Social Democrats (SPD) of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who want the issue to be debated in parliament.

Lindner, whose business-friendly Free Democrats form part of Germany’s three-way coalition government, also highlighted the importance of the US for Europe’s defense in general no matter who is in the White House.

“I am not resigned to the fact that the trans-Atlantic partnership is weakening,” he said. “Even with difficult dialogue partners, we will have to do everything we can to convince the US that engagement in Europe is in its own interests.”

Lindner’s remarks reflect fears in Europe that the US could reduce its defense support if Donald Trump — who has often complained that Europeans have been freeloading on US defense— wins November presidential elections.

An overnight Russian missile attack near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, has killed a 35-year-old man and his 4-year-old son, Ukraine’s emergency service has said.

The bodies of the two were found among rubble by rescue teams after fragments of a missile hit residential buildings in the district of Brovary next to Kyiv, a Telegram posting said.

Three other people, including a 13-year-old child, were seriously injured, the emergency service said.

The attack comes as fears rise in Ukraine that Moscow might retaliate with increased air raids for Kyiv’s ongoing incursion into the Russian Kursk region.

Kursk regional governor Alexei Smirnov said 13 people had been injured in Kursk city, two of them seriously, when debris from a downed Ukrainian missile fell on a building during the night.

The acting governor of Kursk oblast in Russia, Alexei Smirnov, said on Saturday night that he had “instructed” the head of the Belovsky district of the region — in southwestern Kursk, near the border to the Sumy region of Ukraine — to “speed up” the implementation of orders to evacuate civilians. 

Russian authorities have been scrambling to relocate people this week amid a surprise Ukrainian incursion into parts of Kursk. Russia’s government has also been keen to describe the incursion as an escalation.

Although Ukrainian forces are not thought to control any of the territory, they appear to have established a disruptive presence that stretches quite far into the area, at least based on what analysts can observe via satellite.  

Russian media, including the state-owned TASS news agency, on Saturday quoted the region’s emergency situations ministry as saying that “more than 76,000 people” had been “temporarily relocated to safe places.” 

Russia also said on Friday that it was sending additional military equipment and personnel to the area over the weekend. 

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and military administration officials said early on Sunday that air defenses were operating in Ukraine’s capital overnight. 

“Air defense units operating, air raid alert continues,” Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 

Witnesses in Kyiv said they heard explosions, though these sounds could have been air defense systems at work rather than hits. 

It was not immediately clear if the attack had caused any damage or injuries. 

The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said the capital was still threatened by Russian ballistic missiles. 

Ukraine’s air force said Kyiv, the surrounding region and all of eastern Ukraine were subject to air raid alerts.

msh/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters, DPA)