Kursk Governor calls for faster evacuations – DW – November 8, 2024

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner has said he supports the deployment of U.S. long-range missiles in Germany, saying it would be an important deterrent against Russian aggression.

“Germany has been within range of Russian nuclear-capable missiles for many years. Establishing a balance of deterrence is therefore of utmost importance to us,” Lindner said in comments published by the Funke Media Group on Sunday.

Germany and the United States announced in July that they would base long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6 air defense missiles in Germany from 2026, drawing similar threats of retaliation from Moscow.

The plan has been criticised by several parties, including Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), who want the issue to be debated in parliament.

Lindner, leader of the pro-business Free Democrats in Germany’s three-party coalition government, also stressed the importance of the United States to Europe’s overall defense, no matter who is in the White House.

“I refuse to accept that the transatlantic partnership is weakening,” he said. “We must do everything in our power to convince the United States, even with difficult interlocutors, that it is in its own interest to engage with Europe.”

Lindner’s comments reflect European concerns that the United States could cut defense aid if Donald Trump, who has frequently complained that European countries are free-riding on U.S. defense spending, wins the presidential election in November.

Ukrainian emergency services said a 35-year-old man and his four-year-old son were killed in an overnight Russian missile attack near the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

According to a Telegram post, shrapnel from the missile hit a house in the Brovary district near Kiev, and rescuers found two bodies in the rubble.

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

The attack comes amid growing fears in Ukraine that Moscow may retaliate with stepped-up air strikes against Kiev’s ongoing incursions into the Russian-held Kursk region.

Kursk Oblast Governor Alexei Smirnov said a Ukrainian missile was shot down overnight, wounding 13 people, two of them seriously, in the city of Kursk.

Alexei Smirnov, acting governor of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, said on Saturday night that he had “instructed” the head of the Belovsky district in southwestern Kursk Oblast, near the border with Ukraine’s Sumy Oblast, to “accelerate” the implementation of evacuation orders for civilians.

Russian authorities have been scrambling to evacuate residents this week after Ukrainian forces made a surprise advance into parts of Kursk, an incursion that the Kremlin has been keen to portray as an escalation of tensions.

While Ukrainian forces are not believed to control any parts of the territory, they appear to have established a disruptive presence deep inside the region, at least as far as analysts can see via satellite.

Russian media, including the state-run TASS news agency, reported Saturday that the region’s emergency affairs ministry said “more than 76,000 people” had been “temporarily evacuated to safer places.”

Russia said Friday it would send additional military equipment and personnel to the region over the weekend.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko and military officials said early Sunday that air defense forces had been active in the Ukrainian capital overnight.

“Air defence forces are active, air raid warnings remain in effect,” Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Witnesses in Kiev said they heard an explosion, but this was not an attack and may have been an air defense system operating.

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

Kiev’s junta chief, Serhiy Popko, said the capital remained under threat from Russian ballistic missiles.

The Ukrainian Air Force said an air raid warning had been issued for Kyiv and the surrounding area, as well as all of eastern Ukraine.

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