The Latest Breaking News from ARD

The searches were linked to an investigation against the chairman and former treasurer

Any threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons is "unacceptable" but Germany will continue to support Ukraine and try to prevent an escalation in the war between Russia and Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told ARD television on Wednesday.

Ukraine news from March 28: Joe Biden refuses to backtrack after saying Vladimir Putin ‘cannot remain in power’.

Ukraine is willing to become neutral and compromise over the status of the eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, after a Ukrainian negotiator said the next round of face-to-face talks with Russia would be held in Turkey on March 28-30. Read…

Biden says US and allies have ‘raised the costs’ on Russia over its aggression, as credit card giants Visa and Mastercard halt Russian business operations

The package of banking sanctions that the European Union is imposing will hit Russian President Vladimir Putin's government harder than excluding Russia from the SWIFT payments system, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

Speaking to the German broadcaster, ARD, Mr Stoltenberg said: "Every indication indicates that Russia is planning a full-fledged attack against Ukraine"

Europe looks to be gradually leaving the pandemic behind, with Germany poised to become the latest in the region to unwind restrictions that have disrupted life for two years.

Germany cannot rule out using the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a means of pressure against the Kremlin in case of further Russian aggression towards Ukraine, a senior official from the party that leads Germany's coalition government told broadcaster ARD on Tuesday.