The United States put together a new weapons package. It also includes missiles that could solve Ukraine’s current Himars problem. Economics Minister Robert Habeck speaks out against fighter jet deliveries. What happened that night in the Ukraine war.
According to a report by the Reuters news agency, the United States is preparing a new arms package for Ukraine. The package, which is said to be worth more than two billion US dollars, also contains missiles with a range of 150 kilometers.
Military expert Phillips O’Brien explains on Twitter why this announcement poses completely new problems for the Russian army. The new missiles have a range that dwarfs what is currently available to the Ukrainian army. “All the weapons depots that the Russians positioned just outside of Himar’s range are now vulnerable. This should seriously hamper any Russian offensive.”
In the midst of the Russian invasion, which has been going on for almost a year now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to push ahead with his country’s planned EU accession. Kyiv is expecting “news” from an EU-Ukraine summit later this week, said Zelenskyy in his evening video address on Tuesday.
“We expect decisions from our partners in the European Union that (…) correspond to our progress. Progress, which is obviously there – even in spite of the large-scale war,” said Zelenskyy. He reiterated that reforms are being worked on in Kyiv.
On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of the neighboring country. The war has increased the desire among many Ukrainians to join the EU soon. The country has been a candidate for EU membership since June. Associated with this, however, are conditions, among other things, in the fight against corruption.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) has spoken out against the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine. In the ZDF program “Markus Lanz” on Tuesday evening, Habeck spoke of a “balancing act” between the “maximum support” of Ukraine without Germany itself becoming a party to the war. “And of course it’s not entirely clear where the line goes there.”
According to what he knows, Ukraine needs the maintenance of the west for the modern, western fighter jets, which could then “probably” go a step too far, said Habeck. It was right to supply main battle tanks to Ukraine. “But there is a difference between war tanks and fighter jets.”
France delivers twelve more Caesar howitzers to Ukraine. This was announced by France’s Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu during a visit by his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Resnikov to Paris. France has already delivered 18 of these howitzers to Ukraine and has now freed up several tens of millions of euros for the maintenance of the guns, Lecornu said. In addition, France is to provide Ukraine with a GM 200 air surveillance radar and fuel supplies.
Greece will not supply Leopard tanks to Ukraine because of tensions with Turkey. This was announced by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during a visit to Japan. “We will not give Leopard-2s for the simple reason that they are absolutely necessary to our defense strategy,” Mitsotakis said. Relations between Greece and Turkey are currently going through a very tense phase due to a dispute over sovereign rights in the eastern Mediterranean.
Russia has admitted that since last fall it has wrongly conscripted several thousand men into the army for the war against Ukraine. “More than 9,000 citizens who were illegally mobilized were brought back home – including those who should not have been called up for health reasons,” Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov said at a meeting with Putin.
Critical observers assume, however, that significantly more people were illegally recruited during the mobilization ordered by Putin last September – and may never have returned. Especially in the first few weeks, chaotic conditions in the district military replacement offices were described in many places. A total of 300,000 men had been drafted for the front across the country.
According to their own statements, the Ukrainian border guards have prevented more than 13,000 people from leaving the country since the Russian invasion last year. “In total, more than 9,100 people have been arrested at the green border since February 24,” said authority spokesman Andriy Demchenko. Most of them were picked up at the border sections with Romania and Moldova. As part of the general mobilization at the beginning of the war, a ban on leaving the country was imposed for conscript Ukrainians between the ages of 18 and 60, with a few exceptions.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius found out more about the Leopard 2 main battle tank on Wednesday during a visit to the Bundeswehr in Augustdorf in North Rhine-Westphalia will.
Also read: The Ukraine update of January 31st.
