FAZ early thinkers: Does the Ukraine war unite London and Berlin?

1. Heavy Weapons for Ukraine

2. A New Beginning for Berlin and London?

3. Lauterbach explains the failure of compulsory vaccination

1. Heavy weapons for Ukraine

Patrick Schlereth

Editor on duty at FAZ.NET.

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Tanks are now defensive weapons too: NATO is changing its line on arms deliveries to Ukraine.

Defensive?

The NATO countries have always said they only want to deliver defensive weapons to Ukraine.

After a meeting of foreign ministers, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared this distinction to be obsolete on Thursday.

All weapons used by Ukraine in its defense are defensive, he said.

Also, tanks, artillery, and ballistic missiles capable of sinking Russian warships are now considered defensive systems.

Findings of the BND:

The change of direction may have been favored by the Russian preparations for an offensive in the Donbass and the images of the massacre in Bucha.

According to media reports, the Federal Intelligence Service has found that the atrocities in Bucha were committed by Russian troops or paramilitaries.

The UN General Assembly has suspended Russia's membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council - a resolution to this effect was passed by the General Assembly on Thursday in New York.

Shortly after the vote, Russia itself declared its membership terminated.

Sanctions:

The EU's fifth package of sanctions will come into force with the publication of the legal text in the EU Official Journal – this is scheduled for today.

The most important part of the package is the import ban on Russian coal, which, however, is only to take effect after a period of 120 days.

Poland prevented the negotiations from being concluded earlier.

According to diplomats, the country initially did not want to accept that the transitional period for the import ban on Russian coal should be four months at the request of countries like Germany - and not three months as originally planned by the Commission.

more on the subject

2. A new beginning for Berlin and London?

Chancellor Scholz visits the British head of government, EU Commission President von der Leyen travels to the war zone, and Frankfurt allows a pro-Russian demonstration under strict conditions.

New relationship:

Olaf Scholz (SPD) is meeting Boris Johnson in London today for the first time as German Chancellor – after four months in office.

Since the Brexit, the relationship between Germany and Great Britain had cooled off, in the Ukraine war one could find each other again.

While the German government was recently identified as a brake on arms deliveries and a gas embargo, the talk in London was of "different speeds, but the same goals".

Solidarity visit:

Ursula von der Leyen is expected to visit Kiev today, where she will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, among others.

The EU Commission President is the first Western leader to visit Ukraine since the atrocities in Bucha became known.

A donor conference convened by the Commission President and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is planned for Saturday in Warsaw, at which money is to be collected for the millions of people fleeing the war.