A Russian ship fired “signal munitions” at a German military helicopter in the Baltic Sea, the German foreign minister has revealed.
Annalena Baerbock briefly mentioned the incident on the sidelines of a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels, but did not provide any details or say when the incident occurred.
The helicopter was undertaking a reconnaissance mission when the Russian ship fired shots, German media reported.
It is not clear what kind of “signal munition” was used or whether the Russian ship was military or civilian.
Ships commonly carry signal flares for emergency situations.
German authorities remained tight-lipped over the incident, with spokesmen for the defence ministry and the military both declining to comment.
A spokesman for the Luftwaffe, the German air force, told the regional radio station NDR 1 Radio MV that it was not aware of any such incident.
Ms Baerbock said that ships bypassing sanctions related to Russia’s war in Ukraine frequently sailed through the Baltic Sea.
She also announced that Baltic Sea patrols would be increased to monitor pipelines and data cables after several acts of suspected sabotage by Russia and its allies in recent months.
Ms Baerbock disclosed the apparent incident in the Baltic Sea at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West, and shortly after she suggested sending German troops to Ukraine to enforce a potential future ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv.
Speaking to reporters during the Nato meeting, she said she could imagine international troops being sent to Ukraine to oversee a peace deal.
When asked if this could include German troops, she said, “the German side will support everything that serves peace in the future … with all its strength”.
The German chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, rejected his minister’s suggestion on Wednesday, saying the idea was “out of the question” for him.
Confrontations between Russia and Nato escalating to shots being fired are rare.
In 2021, Russia claimed to have fired warning shots at HMS Defender while it was patrolling in the Black Sea. The Ministry of Defence denied that any such confrontation had taken place.
03:56 PM GMT
Today’s live coverage has ended. Here’s a roundup of the day’s events
Today’s live coverage has ended. Here’s a roundup of the day’s events:
-
Olaf Scholz rejected his foreign minister’s suggestion that German troops could be sent to Ukraine to oversee a future ceasefire deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
-
US secretary of state Antony Blinken suggested Ukraine should force younger people to fight Russia, saying “hard decisions” had to be made about lowering the conscription age from 25 to 18.
-
Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned the West not to test Moscow’s resolve, saying there will “come a moment when we will see no other choice but to resort to even stronger military means”.
-
Tucker Carlson returned to Moscow to interview Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, saying that the recording would be out soon and warning that Joe Biden is driving the US “ever closer” to all-out nuclear war with Russia.
-
The German foreign minister said that a Russian ship had fired “signal munitions” at a German military helicopter in the Baltic Sea.
03:50 PM GMT
Russia ‘preparing for assault on Kherson’
Russian forces are preparing for an assault on Kherson and have collected 300 boats for the mission, according to Ukrainian officials and media.
Kherson was occupied by Russia from March to November 2022, when Ukraine pushed Moscow’s forces out of the city and over the Dnieper River.
The two armies have faced off against each other over the water ever since, but Ukraine’s military on Wednesday said Russian forces had been recently conducting small-scale assaults aimed at gaining a foothold for a larger offensive.
Kherson’s regional military administration also said Ukrainian military command was aware of around 300 boats that Russia had collected for the mission and that troops had been practising water landings.
02:34 PM GMT
Pictured: Ukrainian troops in action in Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia
01:57 PM GMT
Scholz rejects own minister’s plan to send troops to oversee ceasefire
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected his own minister’s suggestion that German troops could be sent to Ukraine to oversee a future ceasefire deal between Moscow and Kyiv.
Answering questions from MPs in the German parliament, Mr Scholz said the idea of Berlin sending soldiers to Ukraine was “out of the question” for him.
Annalena Baerbock, his foreign minister, said at a Nato meeting of foreign ministers on Wednesday that she could imagine international troops being sent to Ukraine to oversee a peace deal.
When asked if this could include German troops, she said, “the German side will support everything that serves peace in the future … with all its strength”.
Talk of European troops enforcing a ceasefire in Ukraine has increased since the US election victory of Donald Trump, who is considering a plan that would see European troops patrol a frozen 800-mile-long buffer zone between the Ukrainian and Russian armies.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the weekend that deploying European troops to Ukraine “could not be ruled out”.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson last week called for British and European troops to be sent to Ukraine in the event of an armistice.
01:02 PM GMT
Ukraine must force younger people to fight Russia, US says
Ukraine needs to make “hard decisions” about conscripting troops to fight against Russia, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
“Ukraine has hard decisions to make about further mobilisation, but these are necessary decisions,” Blinken said after a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
“This is critical, because even with the money, even with the munitions, there have to be people on the frontlines to deal with the Russian aggression,” he added.
“Getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary. Right now, 18-25 year olds are not in the fight.”
With Russia making steady advances across the frontline, the US last month urged Ukraine to lower its conscription age from 25 to 18 to replace those killed or wounded on the battlefield.
Ukraine has been unwilling to conscript under-25s, with officials worried about the demographic challenges the country faces.
12:41 PM GMT
Ukraine detains 16-year-old girl suspected of aiding Russia
Ukraine’s security service [SBU] said on Wednesday that it had detained and charged a 16-year-girl with high treason for helping to orchestrate a Russian air strike.
The SBU said Russia tasked the girl with passing on the locations of air defence systems in the northern Chernigiv region.
It alleged that she carried out reconnaissance during taxi rides and passed over sensitive information via encrypted online messenger services.
She was arrested while taking photographs of a defence facility, it added.
“The SBU seized a mobile phone with evidence of intelligence and subversive activities in favour of Russia,” the service said in a statement.
12:30 PM GMT
Pictured: David Lammy attends Nato meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels
12:19 PM GMT
Do not test our resolve, Russian deputy foreign minister warns
Russia’s deputy foreign minister has warned the West not to test Moscow’s resolve, saying there will “come a moment when we will see no other choice but to resort to even stronger military means”.
In an interview with CNN, Sergei Ryabkov said that there was a lack of common sense and “restraint in the West, in particular the US, where people seemingly underestimate our resolve to defend our core national security interests”.
He also said played down the possibility of peace talks with Ukraine.
“Chances for a compromise at the moment are zero. The moment people in Kyiv begin to understand there’s no way Russia will go the way they suggested – there might be openings and opportunities.”
11:45 AM GMT
Russia behind 100 ‘suspicious incidents’ across Europe, Czech foreign minister says
Up to 100 “suspicious incidents” across Europe can be attributed to Russia, the Czech foreign minister has said.
“This year there were 500 suspicious incidents in Europe. Up to 100 of them can be attributed to Russian hybrid attacks, espionage, influence operations,” Jan Lipavský said ahead of a meeting with his Nato counterparts in Brussels.
Mr Lipavský added that Europe “needs to send a strong signal to Moscow that this won’t be tolerated”.
Europe has over recent years experienced a spate of incidents from cyberattacks to sabotage to arson, which security officials believe could be the work of Russia trying to sow chaos amongst Ukraine’s allies.
11:19 AM GMT
Russian soldiers told to commit suicide rather than surrender, Ukraine says
Ukrainian military intelligence has claimed that Russian soldiers are being instructed to commit suicide rather than surrender.
According to the Ukrainian MoD’s main intelligence directorate, paper instructions were given out to Russian troops by their commanders that told them to “respect your honour to the end” and kill themselves when facing a critical situation.
The instructions said that “soldiers of Great Russia” should “remain calm and confidently pull the trigger”. If no ammunition is available, they are advised to use a grenade.
Unverified videos of Russian troops, often wounded, committing suicide have circulated on social media in recent months.
09:58 AM GMT
Tucker Carlson returns to Moscow to interview Lavrov
Tucker Carlson has returned to Moscow to interview Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, while warning that Joe Biden is driving the US “ever closer” to all-out nuclear war with Russia.
Appearing in front of the Kremlin in a video posted on X on Wednesday morning, the former Fox News host said that the Biden’s administration’s policy towards Russia had reached its “apogee” in the weeks since Donald Trump’s election.
He said the US military personnel had fired missiles into mainland Russia, a reference to reports suggesting Western troops were required to help Kyiv fire US-supplied Atacms missiles across the border last month.
He went on to say that he had interviewed Moscow’s foreign minister in order to share the Russian perspective on the war and that the recording would be released “very soon”.
Mr Carlson said he had attempted to interview Volodymyr Zelensky, but that his efforts were “thwarted” by the US government who told the Ukrainian president he could not do it.
He interviewed Vladimir Putin in February, in which the Russian leader gave a description of Slavic history since the founding of Kievan Rus’ in the 9th century as a response to why he ordered the Ukraine invasion.
09:41 AM GMT
Ukraine denies order to hold Kursk until Trump takes office
Ukraine has denied ordering its soldiers to hold the Kursk region of Russia until Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.
In a BBC report on Sunday, the broadcaster quoted Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk as saying they had been told to hang on to the territory until Mr Trump takes office so that it could be “exchanged” during potential future negotiations.
“The main task facing us is to hold the maximum territory until Trump’s inauguration and the start of negotiations,” one soldier said. “In order to exchange it for something later. No-one knows what.”
However the head of Ukraine’s centre for countering disinformation has said that reports of such an order were false and that Ukrainian forces in Kursk “are conducting combat missions that align with the broader strategic goals of the front line”.
09:21 AM GMT
Pictured: Russian grad rockets being fired towards Ukrainian positions
09:06 AM GMT
Russian attacks kill 6 in Kherson and Donetsk regions
Russian attacks on the Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Donetsk killed at least six people and injured 16 over the past day, Ukrainian media reported.
Artillery shelling of the town of Kostyantynivka in Donetsk killed a 52-year-old man and injured four others, local authorities said. Another person was killed during an attack on the front line city of Pokrovsk, they added.
One more civilian was killed in Kotlyne and other in Dachne, Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said.
Kherson’s governor said that two people were killed in strikes across his region, and that 20 houses were damaged.
08:53 AM GMT
Pictured: Ukrainian soldier operates US-supplied self-propelled gun
08:30 AM GMT
Nato: Protecting Ukrainian infrastructure is a priority
Nato member states have agreed that providing Ukraine with air defence systems to defend its infrastructure from Russian air attacks must be a priority, the alliance’s secretary general said on Wednesday.
“There was a clear agreement around the table last night that to help Ukraine, particularly with its infrastructure, has to be a priority,” Mark Rutte told reporters on Wednesday.
“I’m confident that allies will follow up in the coming days and weeks in making sure that whatever they can supply to Ukraine will be supplied,” he added.
Mr Rutte was speaking at a meeting of Nato foreign affairs ministers in Brussels, Belgium.
08:16 AM GMT
Ukraine shoots down 29 Russian drones
Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday that it had shot down 29 out of 50 drones that Russia launched at the country overnight.
The force said it lost track of 18 drones, likely due to Russian electronic countermeasures, and that one drone headed towards territory occupied by Moscow.
The air force also said that Russia fired a X-59/69 guided air-to-surface missile at Ukraine from the Kursk region.
08:15 AM GMT
Welcome to our live coverage
Welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. We’ll keep you up to date with events as they happen.
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
