Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Politics

Russia trying to "extinsguish civilisation" in Donbas - Germany's Baerbock

A police officer hides from a shelling as he checks a school during an evacuation of local residents between shelling, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the town of Marinka, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 31, 2022. REUTERS/Anna Kudriavtseva

Russia has adopted a strategy of flattening settlements from a safe distance in Ukraine's Donbas region, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said, making it all the more important for Berlin to send Kyiv defensive weapons.

In a speech to the German parliament on Wednesday, she said Russia was fighting a war to "depopulate and extinguish civilisation" in the eastern Ukrainian region.

"City by city, village by village, Russian troops are destroying them from a safe distance," she said. "First the missiles, then the warplanes with artillery, and then, when everything is flattened, the tanks roll in."

Germany needed to send more artillery, drones and air defence weapons to help Ukraine defend itself from this onslaught, she added.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt, editing by Rachel More)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.