Around 20,000 evacuated in Cologne after unexploded WWII bombs found

Euronews

3 days ago

More than 20,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the German city of Cologne on Wednesday as experts try to defuse three unexploded US bombs from World War II.
Authorities on Wednesday morning started evacuating about 20,500 residents, as well as workers and hotel guests, from a central area within a 1,000-metre radius of the bombs, which were discovered on Monday during preparatory work for road construction. They were found in the Deutz district, across the Rhine River from Cologne's historic centre.
Disposing of such bombs sometimes entails large-scale precautionary evacuations such as the one on Wednesday, although the city described this as "the largest operation since the end of World War II".
Those evacuated were directed to shelter points in exhibition halls and college buildings, while office workers in the affected area were advised to leave their offices before 8 am or to avoid the area altogether.
The city said residents who refused to leave their homes could face hefty fines.
"If you refuse, we will escort you from your home — if necessary by force — along with the police," the authorities said.
Cologne's central station is shut during the defusal work while shipping on the Rhine is also suspended. The city's famous UNESCO-listed cathedral and its Philharmonic Hall are among the sites temporarily closed to the public until the end of the day, when the bomb defusal is expected to be completed.
The city said it planned to deploy bomb disposal technicians to defuse the bombs on site before transporting them to secure ammunition containers for dismantling and disposal.
Experts believe that approximately 1.3 million tonnes of explosives were dropped on German cities during World War II. The number of bombs that failed to detonate remains uncertain, with estimates ranging from 5% to 20%.
Similar discoveries have triggered other evacuations over the years. In 2024, 1,606 bombs were discovered and rendered harmless in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
"Every bomb that we find and neutralise is a service to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren," North Rhine-Westphalia's Interior Minister Herbert Reul said in April at a conference presenting the state's latest annual statistics on unexploded devices.
During the second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday, Ukraine handed over to Russia a list of its forcefully deported children.
Kyiv wants Moscow to return them to Ukraine, reiterating its commitment to bring the forcefully deported children back as one of the key aspects of a possible ceasefire and a peace deal in the long term.
The head of the Ukrainian delegation Rustem Umerov said, 'If Russia is genuinely committed to a peace process, the return of at least half the children on this list is positive'.
The Russian delegation chief Vladimir Medinsky showed the list, which contains the names of 339 abducted Ukrainian children.
The Kremlin representative accused Ukraine of "staging a show on the topic of lost children aimed at kind-hearted Europeans." In his words, Kyiv is trying to "squeeze out a tear by raising this issue."
According to Medinsky, each name on the list will be 'worked out'.
'Whether there are children with similar surnames and first names somewhere in our institutions, further applications from parents or legal relatives should be attached to this,' he added.
"It's not that they are in our facilities. It means that (the whereabouts) of these children is unknown. Maybe (they are) in Ukraine, maybe somewhere else, maybe in Norway,' Medinsky said.
Euronews sources familiar with this aspect of the negotiations say Moscow knows exactly where every child on that list is.
Kyiv and Moscow have never raised the issue of Ukrainian children forcefully deported by Russia in a direct format.
Ukraine has been able to verify Russia's deportation of over 19,500 children to date. These are the children for whom detailed information has been collected — their place of residence in Ukraine and their territorial location in Russia are known.
Only 1,350 have been returned, and each return is mediated by a third-party state, notably by Qatar, South Africa and the Vatican.
The Russian delegation was therefore surprised, as it didn't expect to get the list of names from Kyiv during the direct talks in Istanbul on Monday.
Euronews sources familiar with the matter said Moscow said it was ready to return 10 children, but that Kyiv has a "different position and expectations" when it comes to "demonstrating good faith in proceeding with the peace process".
When asked why Kyiv didn't present a more extensive list, given that 339 names are less than 2% of the total number of forcefully taken children, Euronews sources explained it was a decision based on previous experience.
'There is a risk that Moscow would try to buy time claiming it takes longer to check the names, while trying to change the identities of Ukrainian children further, making it impossible to track,' the source said.
Russia is deliberately erasing the identity of the illegally deported children, according to Ukraine's deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa.
The names and IDs are being changed, especially when it comes to younger kids, who have been forced into adoption in Russia.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank (ISW) stated that stealing the children was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's priorities, referring to the revelations of Ukrainian human rights activists.
The ISW uncovered Kremlin documents dated 18 February 2022, which laid out plans to remove Ukrainian children from orphanages in occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions and bring them to Russia under the guise of 'humanitarian evacuations'.
Euronews sources familiar with this aspect of negotiations said that Kyiv's list also contains the names of the children who have not yet been moved to Russia and remain on the temporarily occupied territories.
'These are not only children who have been physically moved to the territory of Russia, but also those who are now trapped under Russian occupation and control while remaining on Ukrainian territories, temporarily occupied by Russia,' they said.
When Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul for the first time on 16 May, they agreed on the prisoners of war exchange, which took place within 10 days after the talks.
Another POW swap was agreed upon at the second round of talks on Monday, when Ukraine passed on the list of the deported children to Russia.
Kyiv now hopes Moscow will return the abducted kids as soon as possible, without further delays.
Without much progress on the military side of the negotiations, this is an opportunity for Moscow to demonstrate its "goodwill" on the humanitarian aspect.
"If they want to show it, they will find the way to demonstrate their good faith without further delays and prove it quickly," Euronews sources said, reiterating that Moscow knows where these children are.
Russia also can do it with the mediation of Qatar, South Africa or the Vatican, the countries which have assisted Kyiv in the past with the return of the Ukrainian children.
In its "peace memorandum" proposal, Moscow has not toned down any of its maximalist demands regarding battlefield and territorial concessions, and still demands that Ukraine cede its territories, including those it has never controlled.
With pressure from the US and new, tougher sanctions looming, Moscow must decide whether to proceed on the humanitarian track with Kyiv, given that this is the only aspect of the direct talks that has yielded tangible results since the negotiations resumed.
The next, third round of negotiations is expected to take place at the end of June.