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ANGELA MERKEL

Merkel warns ‘no military solution’ to Ukraine conflict

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday there is "no military solution" to the Ukraine conflict after President Petro Poroshenko asked for NATO naval support in his country's standoff with Russia.

Merkel warns 'no military solution' to Ukraine conflict
Merkel speaks at the German-Ukrainian business forum in Berlin on Thursday. Photo: DPA

Blaming Russia for the tensions, Merkel said: “We ask the Ukrainian side too to be sensible because we know that we can only solve things through being reasonable and through dialogue because there is no military solution to these disputes”.

Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships on Sunday, accusing them of illegally entering its waters in the Sea of Azov and detaining their crew, in a dramatic spike in tensions that raises fears of a wider escalation.

Kiev accused Russia, which annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 
2014, of launching “a new phase of aggression”.

Poroshenko asked Germany and other NATO countries in comments to Bild 
newspaper on Thursday to “relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to 
assist Ukraine and provide security”.

SEE ALSO: Ukrainian president calls on Germany for help in growing conflict

Ukraine is not a NATO member but has established close ties with the US-led 
military alliance, especially since the 2014 Crimea annexation.

Merkel, speaking at a German-Ukrainian business forum, said she would 
discuss the conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a G20 summit in 
Argentina this weekend.

She said a bridge from the Russian mainland to Crimea that Putin opened in  May had already restricted shipping access to the Sea of Azov and therefore to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

“The full blame for this goes to the Russian president,” she said.

“Now what I want is that the facts of what happened are put on the table, 
that the (crew) are released, and that no confessions are coerced like we have 
seen on television.”

“I would also support keeping things calm, but we must also ensure that a city like Mariupol that relies on access to the sea … is not simply cut off so that large parts of Ukraine can no longer be easily reached.”

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UKRAINE

Germany to support defence of Polish airspace

Germany on Monday said it had reached an agreement to help Poland protect its skies following a deadly rocket strike close to the border with Ukraine.

Germany to support defence of Polish airspace

Berlin would “send Patriot anti-aircraft systems to Poland and support the securing of Polish airspace with Eurofighter (jets)”, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Germany to buy F-35 fighter jets in military shopping spree

Two people were killed last week when a missile landed in the Polish village of Przewodow, six kilometres (four miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Warsaw and NATO have said the explosion was likely caused by a Ukrainian air-defence missile launched to intercept a Russian barrage, but that Moscow was ultimately to blame because it started the conflict.

Before the deal was agreed, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said he “welcomed the German proposal with satisfaction”.

Blaszczak said on Twitter he would propose for the systems to be “stationed close to the border with Ukraine”.

Germany has already sent Patriot anti-aircraft units to Slovakia, where Berlin hopes to keep them deployed for longer than currently planned.

The air-defence systems should remain in Slovakia “until the end of 2023 and potentially even beyond”, Lambrecht told the Rheinische Post daily.

“It is our utmost responsibility that NATO does not become a participant in this conflict,” while strengthening its air defences, she said.

READ ALSO: Germany and Spain to train Ukraine troops under EU programme

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