German president says Putin waging ‘war against unity of Europe’

BERLIN: The war Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging against Ukraine is also “a war against the unity of Europe”, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday.

“We must not let ourselves be divided, we must not let the great work of a united Europe that we have begun so promisingly be destroyed,” he said in a speech in the western German city of Paderborn.

“This war is not just about the territory of Ukraine, it is about the double shared foundation of our values and our order of peace,” he said.

But defending these values also means being prepared to “accept significant disadvantages”, he warned, without giving further details.

“Are we ready for that? We are all facing this question -- today and in the days, weeks and months to come,” he said. “Russia is not only questioning the borders, it is not only occupying the territories of an independent and sovereign neighbouring state, it is even challenging the statehood of Ukraine,” he added. Meanwhile, North Korea accused the United States on Sunday of manufacturing biological weapons in Ukraine, echoing a Russian claim dismissed by the United Nations in March.

Moscow ally Pyongyang in February said US policy was the “root cause of the Ukraine crisis”, and this month formally recognised two self-proclaimed pro-Russian separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, prompting Kyiv to cut diplomatic ties with North Korea.

Washington “set up many biological labs in tens of countries and regions, including Ukraine, in disregard of the international treaties”, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Sunday, citing what it said had been “detected” by Russia.

Moscow in March accused Washington of funding research into the development of biological weapons in Ukraine, which has invaded by Russia nearly five months ago.

Washington and Kyiv denied the existence of laboratories intended to produce biological weapons in Ukraine, with the United States saying the allegations were a sign that Moscow may use such tactics itself.

Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General of Disarmament Affairs, also said in March that the UN “was not aware of any biological weapons program in Ukraine”. A Ukrainian official said Sunday that the country´s southern region of Kherson, which fell to Russian troops early in their February invasion, would be recaptured by Kyiv´s forces by September.

“We can say that the Kherson region will definitely be liberated by September, and all the occupiers´ plans will fail,” Sergiy Khlan, an aide to the head of Kherson region, said in an interview with Ukrainian television.

The Ukrainian army, emboldened by deliveries of Western-supplied long-range artillery have been clawing back territory in the southern Kherson region in recent weeks.

“We can say that a turning point has occurred on the battlefield. We see that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are prevailing in their most recent military operations,” Khlan said.

“We see that our armed forces are advancing openly. We can say that we are switching from defensive to counteroffensive actions,” he added. He said that Ukrainian strikes on two key bridges in the region, as well as attacks on Russian arms depots and command posts were part of preparatory work for a ground offensive.

“Now the key issue is getting more precision artillery strikes on the frontline to knock out the orcs (Russians) from their current positions.”

He added that Russian forces had not repaired the damaged Antonivka bridge and were experiencing difficulties as a result of moving heavy weapons towards Kherson city.

Russian forces seized the region´s main city, also called Kherson, on March 3. It was the first major city to fall following the start of Moscow´s military operation in Ukraine in late February.

The region, important for Ukrainian agriculture, lies next to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014.