Angela Merkel condemns the war in Ukraine for the first time

On the ZDF, ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks in a Berlin theater for her first public intervention since the end of her mandate. The one who passed the torch to Olaf Scholz before the start of the war in Ukraine strongly condemned the conflict: “This is a brutal war that violates international law and for which there is no excuse”. Angela Merkel, who had not wanted to speak until then, was critiqued for Germany’s dependence on Russian gas and for its caution with Vladimir Putin.

Also in Germany, the army is training new reservists. Many young people come to train in the use of weapons while the Ukrainian conflict has led to a new enthusiasm for defence, whether among the reservists, but also in the professional army. At the Romanian border, Ukrainian trucks, many of which transport wheat from the country to Europe, are blocked. More than 80 hours of waiting for some, customs officers face traffic that has quadrupled since the start of the conflict.