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A Ukrainian soldier in a frontline position
Photo: Andriy Dubchak/AP
Amid heavy tensions with Russia, the US has sent fresh military aid to Ukraine.
On the night of Saturday, a US cargo plane landed at an airport in the capital Kiev, as the US embassy there announced in the short message service Twitter.
There were 90 tons of cargo on board, including ammunition "for front-line defense."
This support was ordered by US President Joe Biden.
The embassy released images showing the plane being unloaded.
It was the first of several deliveries, it said.
This "demonstrates the strong commitment of the United States to Ukraine's sovereign right to self-defense."
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US colleague Antony Blinken only met on Friday for crisis talks in Geneva.
Both politicians then spoke of open and constructive talks.
Great Britain has already sent arms, Latvia and Lithuania are announcing deliveries
Most recently, the Kremlin sharply criticized the delivery of light anti-tank weapons from Great Britain to Ukraine.
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania now also want to send US-made anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine.
The federal government has meanwhile announced that it will deliver a field hospital to Kiev, but continues to refuse arms deliveries.
In February, "a complete field hospital will be handed over, including the necessary training, all co-financed by Germany with 5.3 million euros," said Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht of the "Welt am Sonntag".
Germany has also already delivered ventilators and is treating seriously injured Ukrainian soldiers in Bundeswehr hospitals.
The federal government must do everything to de-escalate the crisis.
“Weapons deliveries would not be helpful at the moment – that is the consensus in the federal government,” emphasized the SPD politician.
The US and its western allies are demanding a retreat of the 100,000 Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border to the rear.
Russia, on the other hand, wants written security guarantees and an end to the eastward expansion of the western military alliance NATO.
svs/dpa
