Bavaria wants German health system prepared for war
'We therefore need a comprehensive 'civil operational plan Germany'' geared toward addressing a wide range of emergencies, including military aggression, Gerlach stressed.
According to the Bavarian health minister, in such a scenario Germany's healthcare system would have to be prepared to provide services to more than 80 million civilian residents, as well as wounded military personnel.
'The state must set clear standards. This goes for the EU level, the federal and the regional [levels],' the official told the newspaper. She also emphasized the need to ensure Germany's and the EU's ability to produce all the medicines and drugs they may need.
Given likely personnel shortages in hospitals in case of a large-scale military conflict, Gerlach suggested that the German government should consider imposing mandatory civilian service, along with the military draft.
Moscow has consistently denied allegations that it intends to attack any NATO or EU member countries, labeling such claims as 'nonsense' designed to scare people and justify increased defense budgets.
Additionally, Russian officials have strongly criticized the EU's recent moves toward militarization and the portrayal of Moscow as an adversary, arguing that such actions only escalate tensions and undermine peace efforts in the Ukraine conflict.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
7 minutes ago
- Russia Today
Don't worry about WW3
US President Donald Trump has declared that the world is no longer facing the prospect of the Ukraine conflict escalating into World War III. Trump has repeatedly said that global tensions peaked when relations between Moscow and Washington hit their lowest point during former President Joe Biden's tenure. He has also accused his predecessor of provoking the Ukraine conflict by backing Kiev's NATO ambitions despite Moscow's legitimate concerns. In a podcast with radio host Mark Levin published on Wednesday, Trump said that when he came into office earlier this year, the Ukraine conflict was 'raging' and 'heading to World War III.' However, he argued that now 'you're not going to have that anymore.' 'That's the nice part. You're not going to have to worry about that,' Trump said, admitting that it remains to be seen how exactly the conflict will be resolved. Since returning to office, Trump has taken a markedly different approach toward Russia compared to Biden. He has reopened high-level diplomatic channels with Moscow and communicated directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, Trump hosted Putin in Alaska for the first face-to-face talks between the American and Russian leaders since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Monday, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky and several European leaders arrived in Washington for talks with Trump. Trump described his talks with Putin as 'very productive' and said the meetings have made a settlement more realistic. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that there is now 'light at the end of the tunnel and an opportunity for lasting peace.' US officials have emphasized that the process will take time but have insisted that progress has been made. Russia has consistently described the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war waged by the West. Moscow has accused NATO of seeking to escalate the confrontation and has warned that the deployment of Western troops in Ukraine could risk triggering a world war. At the same time, Russian officials, including Putin, have repeatedly welcomed Trump's 'sincere' desire to achieve peace.
Russia Today
21 minutes ago
- Russia Today
Retreating Ukraine boasts it ‘knows how to kill Russians'
The Ukrainian military's skill at killing Russians should be enough to have it admitted to NATO, Kiev's ambassador to Poland, Vasily Bodnar, has claimed. Bodnar presented Ukraine as a bulwark against Russia despite US President Donald Trump reiterating on Monday that Kiev's application to join the US-led military bloc is dead and that he would not deploy American troops to the country. 'If Russia attacks NATO countries tomorrow without Ukraine on NATO's side, it would be much more difficult than with Ukraine. That's why Ukraine should be seen as an added value to NATO: it is fighting and knows how to kill Russians, whereas you do not yet,' Bodnar told Polsat News in an interview published on Monday. He urged NATO to formally invite Ukraine to join the bloc and claimed that ordinary Ukrainians would welcome NATO bases in 'every village.' Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned Bodnar's remarks and accused Kiev of rejecting a prisoner swap that could have involved around 1,000 POWs. Meanwhile, the Russian army has continued to gain ground throughout 2025, as Ukraine struggles to replenish its forces with new conscripts. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Moscow has no intention of attacking NATO members unless attacked first. The Kremlin has also stressed that it would not tolerate Western troops on Ukrainian soil, even under the guise of peacekeepers, and has cited Ukraine's NATO aspirations as one of the root causes of the ongoing conflict.
Russia Today
an hour ago
- Russia Today
No European security without Russia
Collective security in Europe cannot be resolved without Russia's participation, as Moscow will 'firmly' defend its own legitimate interests, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday. Kiev and its Western European backers have increasingly demanded 'security guarantees' as a precondition for any potential peace deal with Russia. While several NATO states have voiced their readiness to deploy so-called 'reassurance forces' to Ukraine, Moscow has repeatedly warned that it will not accept troops from the US-led military bloc in the country. 'We cannot agree with the proposal that security issues, collective security, be resolved without the Russian Federation. This will not work,' Lavrov said. Russia does not overstate its interests, but we will ensure our legitimate interests firmly and harshly. Lavrov added that the West, and primarily the US, now 'perfectly' understands that discussing security issues without Russia is 'a road to nowhere.' Kiev's negotiating team had proposed developing security guarantees that involved all the permanent members of the UN Security Council during the early Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul in 2022, soon after the escalation of the conflict, Lavrov said. Russia, China, the US, France, the UK and some other individual countries were to be involved, and each interested party's security guarantees were to be ensured on an equal basis, he said, adding that Moscow had supported this approach. However, then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had 'arrived and forbade his proteges in Kiev from signing anything, and demanded that military actions be continued,' according to Lavrov. Now, while US President Donald Trump is increasingly pushing diplomacy to end the conflict, Kiev's Western European backers 'are just trying to keep the US as a participant, less and less successfully,' Lavrov said. According to the top diplomat, the European NATO states want to get Washington to continue to supply arms, so that they can 'continue to pump the Kiev regime full of these weapons.'
