Russian attack destroys Ukrainian prison in Zaporizhzhia – DW – 07/29/2025
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Int'l Business Times
an hour ago
- Int'l Business Times
Ukrainian Drones Spark Fire At Sochi Oil Depot
An Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in Sochi, the Russian resort that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic which is 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border, authorities said Sunday. Ukraine has regularly hit Russian oil and gas infrastructure in response to attacks on its own territory since Russia began its offensive in February 2022. "Sochi suffered a drone attack by the Kyiv regime last night," the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said on Telegram. He said drone wreckage hit an "oil tank, which caused a fire" during the night-time attack. Sochi's mayor, Andrei Proshunin, said there were no victims and that the fire was put out several hours later. Images, broadcast by Russian media but whose authenticity AFP could not verify, showed flames and a thick plumes of black smoke rising from the site. Air traffic was briefly suspended at Sochi airport, Russia's air transport regulator Rosaviatsia said. Ukraine authorities have not commented on the fire. Air strikes on Sochi are relatively rare compared to some other Russian cities. However, Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people there late last month, according to local authorities. Kyiv has said it will intensify its air strikes against Russia in response to an increase in Russian attacks on its territory in recent weeks, which have killed dozens of civilians. The Russian defence ministry said meanwhile that three Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in the Leningrad region, which includes the Baltic port of Saint Petersburg. Overnight strikes by Russia inside Ukraine also left several people injured, authorities said. One missile wounded seven people in a residential district of Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Three other people were injured in the northeastern Kharkiv region, she added, while authorities also reported injuries in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south. "The Russians continue to wage war not against Ukrainian forces, but against Ukrainian civilians," Svyrydenko said. Last week, US President Donald Trump gave his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a 10-day ultimatum, until next Friday, to end the conflict in Ukraine. The air strikes and fighting have not abated, however, and the Kremlin has rejected the idea of a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine, which it sees as a gift to Kyiv's troops.
DW
9 hours ago
- DW
Germany updates: Welfare payments up by €4 billion last year – DW – 08/03/2025
Payments of basic state welfare benefits grew by several billion euros in 2024, according to the German government, Retailers are reporting a surge in shoplifting. Read more on these and other stories from Germany. The German state paid out some €46.9 billion ($54.4 billion) in basic welfare benefits last year, a rise of €4 billion over 2023, the government has said. Experts say the rise was partly caused a significant increase in standard rates in 2023 and 2024 due to inflation adjustments. Just over half the payments went to German citizens. Non-German recipients included several hundred thousand Ukrainians who have fled Russia's full-scale invasion of their country. Meanwhile, a retail association says shops are billions of losses per year due to shoplifting. This type of theft is on the rise and nearly all incidents remain unprosecuted, they incurred losses of some €3 billion ($3.5 billion) through shoplifting in 2024, a fifth more than in 2022, according to the German Trade association (HDE), the umbrella body for the German retail sector. Speaking to the t-online website, HDE managing director Stefan Genth noted a growing problem with highly professional criminal gangs. "Groups of offenders drive [..] through inner cities, steal valuable products — perfume, shoes, electronics — and sell them on the gray market," Genth said. He said there were also more aggressive individual offenders who attacked shop staff if they were detected. Genth also said that almost all offenses went unreported. "Retailers make a complaint to police, only for state prosecutors to drop the case for reasons of efficiency. As a consequence, many retailers are frustrated and don't report thefts to the police," he said, adding: "For that reason, the number of unreported cases is extremely high: 98% of shoplifting offenses are not registered." Genth called for changes to laws, more investment in security and more powers for the judiciary. He also said that his association had so far found no connection between the increasing number of self-service checkouts and the rising shoplifting rate. Germany paid out about €46.9 billion ($54.4 billion) to recipients of state welfare benefits in 2024, a rise of €4 billion compared with the previous year, the government as said. The information was provided the Social Affairs Ministry in response to a parliamentary question from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament. About €24.7 billion (52.6% of the total) went to German citizens and €22.2 billion (47.4%) went to non-German nationals, according to the data — roughly the same distribution as in 2023. The latter group included several hundred thousand Ukrainians who have fled to Germany following Russia's full scale invasion that started in 2022. The Ukrainian nationals received altogether €6.3 billion. The rise in welfare payments has been in part attributed to a large increase in standard rates due to inflation adjustments, as well as to a rise in accommodation and heating costs. The anti-immigration AfD criticized the payments to non-German nationals, saying they were "spiraling out of control." "Foreigners should generally be denied access to citizen's income [Bürgergeld]," said AfD Bundestag member René Springer. It's worth noting, however, that millions of non-German nationals work in the country, paying into the system via taxes and obligatory social program payments. from DW's newsroom in the former West German capital of Bonn! Many Germans are worried that their welfare system will not be able to survive for long in times of global instability. And while the country remains Europe's biggest economy, retailers are reporting a surge in shoplifting. Follow us for stories on how Germany is coping with the myriad of challenges faced by many countries today, as well as a general roundup of major talking points in Bonn, Berlin, and beyond.
DW
11 hours ago
- DW
Long-distance arms: German money for Ukraine's combat drones – DW – 08/03/2025
Germany is investing more in the production of Ukrainian weaponry, particularly long-range drones. What is possible, and what are the limits? Apartment buildings in flames and clouds of smoke over the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv: Almost every day, Russia attacks the country with drones and rockets. In response, Ukraine is defending itself, including by striking targets deeper inside Russia. It's quite possible that in these long-distance attacks, drones produced with German funds are being used. "This is the beginning of a new form of military-industrial cooperation between our countries, one that has great potential," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in late May when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Berlin. The two countries' defense ministries signed an agreement back then: Germany would finance long-range weapons but they are to be produced in Ukraine. Two months later, not many details about the arrangement have become public. "The process is ongoing," Mitko Müller, a senior spokesperson for Germany's Ministry of Defense, told DW in late July. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In June 2024, Denmark became the first NATO member state to get involved in the Ukrainian arms industry. German arms manufacturers are represented in Ukraine, with Rheinmetall, an arms manufacturer headquartered in Düsseldorf, likely the most visible. The industrial giant is expanding its presence there and is engaged in a number of joint ventures. For example, tanks are being manufactured and repaired there and an ammunition factory being built. "We are seeing a huge change in Germany's approach toward Ukraine, a complete opening up," Ihor Fedirko, the chief executive of the Ukrainian Council of Defense Industry (UCDI= told DW. Direct investments by the German government into Ukrainian drone and missile production are still a relative novelty. According to , a German newspaper, Germany intends to fund around 500 An-196 Liutyi drones, one-way attack, unmanned aerial vehicles. Ukrainian media reports suggest that each drone costs around $200,000 (€175,000). The drone was developed as a result of previous cooperation between Turkey and Ukraine. The An-196 Liutyi "was already quite advanced in its development and testing," military expert Gustav Gressel, formerly a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, explained. A very high proportion of these drones are shot down though, Gressel continued, because they fly fairly slowly, at similar speeds to comparable Russian models. Apart from funds, Ukraine is also hoping for German know-how. "We lack deep-tech technologies," Fedirko explains, referring to cutting-edge engineering. "This affects the component base. Equipped with this kind of knowledge, we could modernize more thoroughly and become more efficient," he said. Germany has these technologies. Currently Ukraine is asking all of its allies for technology that would enable long-range weapons, Fedirko continued. "We're talking about a range of between 500 and 1,000 kilometers," he explains. "Some of them [the weapons] — for example, the deep-strike Liutyi, can already get to targets more than 2,000 kilometers away." Many German defense companies getting more active in Ukraine are startups, mostly based in Bavaria. One example is Quantum Systems, a firm specializing in aerial data and making unmanned aerial systems to collect it. Fedirko describes this as a "best-case scenario" of the kind of cooperation Ukraine wants. Founded in 2015, Quantum Systems has been supplying its Vector reconnaissance drones to the Ukrainian army since 2022. A special feature of the Vector is its ability to take off and land vertically. "We are the only Western company producing reconnaissance drones where they are most urgently needed: on-site in Ukraine," says Sven Kruck, co-chief executive at Quantum Systems. His company employs around 200 people in Ukraine, and it's growing; a second production plant is scheduled to open in September. In mid-July, Quantum Systems announced that it would also acquire a 10% stake in Frontline, a Ukrainian drone manufacturer. It will have the option to increase that stake to 25% over the next year. "Frontline specializes in technical solutions for reconnaissance and strike operations. Its systems are currently used by 41 military units in Ukraine," Kruck explained. "We see potential for cooperation, especially in the development of drone defense." However, he added, his company doesn't plan to get into combat drones. Combat drones are being made by another German company, Helsing. The Bavarian firm has already delivered thousands of drones to Ukraine and, last February, announced a new contract for over 6,000 HX-2 strike drones. According to online publication Defense industry Europe, the HX-2 is "an electrically propelled X-wing precision munition with a range of up to 100 kilometers." Its use of advanced computing also makes it more resistant to electronic warfare. Helsing did not respond to DW's enquiries asking for further details. However, as much as the Ukrainians might be pleased about German funding and investments into drones, demand still far outstrips supply. Gressel argues that Ukraine needs bulk supplies of good quality. These can only be produced cost-effectively inside Ukraine itself. The same argument applies to missiles, such as the Taurus cruise missiles, a weapon the Germans are currently unwilling to supply. However, Gressel suggests that cooperation with German companies might enable some parts to be supplied. That could increase the range of Ukraine's own Neptune cruise missiles, with more energy-efficient engines that could fly further on the same amount of fuel and more accurate sensors, which would help land-based targeting. However, a decision on supplies like that has yet to be made. Germany is not only more willing to invest in Ukraine but also to share knowledge. At the start of the war, there were fears that modern German technology could fall into Russian hands and doubt about the reliability of the Ukrainian military personnel, Gressel explains. That's one of the reasons why Ukraine initially received older weaponry. But that's changed. This is partly due to the fact that Ukraine now produces modern weapons itself and can compete with other manufacturers. "German companies are learning things here that you never get to simulate in peacetime," Gressel notes. For example, Ukraine's combat zone is absolutely packed with jammers, jamming devices and air defense systems, the sort of thing you'd never get anywhere else, not on a NATO training ground, in simulations in Germany, nor in the US. The defense industry recognizes this, Gressel says. Quantum Systems' Kruck can confirm that. "Drone development is a game of cat and mouse," he told DW. "Only those who are on site can adapt to all the constant changes. Our insights from Ukraine flow directly into our product development, which we make available to all our customers worldwide." He sees his company's work in Ukraine as a "flagship project" and wants to encourage others to emulate it. The UCDI's Fedirko would like to see this kind of cooperation go even further. "Germany is a country with typical European bureaucracy," he admits. "So it takes time to get things done. But when the Germans say they're doing something, we Ukrainians know it will get done." 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