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Destruction in Donetsk (January 16): According to the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, fighting in the region has intensified
Photo:
Alexei Alexandrov / dpa
That says Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed the U.S. and German decisions to supply main battle tanks to his country as the formation of an international tank coalition.
In his daily video address, he thanked both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden for their commitment to boosting Ukraine's defenses with battle tanks (you can read about exactly which weapons the West now wants to deliver here).
"I thank all our allies for their willingness to provide us with modern and urgently needed tanks," said Zelenskyy on Wednesday evening.
"The way we are all working together to strengthen freedom, protect Ukraine and Europe is a historic achievement by the leaders at work now."
It is important to train the Ukrainian tank crews quickly and to deliver the main battle tanks to Ukraine as soon as possible.
However, progress is also needed on other military issues, Zelensky said.
Above all, his country now needs long-range missiles, combat aircraft and more artillery.
"It's a dream, it's a task," he said.
»An important task for all of us.«
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar commented on the current fighting situation in Ukraine.
Russia has increased military pressure in the battle for the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, she said.
"The enemy is intensifying their pressure in the Bakhmut and Wuhledar sectors."
Maljar also explained that Russia is sending a large number of soldiers into battle, as well as a lot of military equipment and weapons.
Moscow is recording "considerable losses," but is not giving up.
On Wednesday, Ukraine admitted that it had withdrawn from the fiercely contested town of Soledar in the region.
It is only about 15 kilometers north-east of the town of Bakhmut, which the Russian army and the Wagner mercenaries have been trying to take for months.
More reactions to the tank deliveries to Ukraine
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius
wants to talk to the arms industry quickly about closing equipment gaps in the Bundeswehr that are caused by arms deliveries to Ukraine.
"We are now doing everything we can to ensure that things are quickly replenished," said the SPD politician on Wednesday evening in the ARD "Tagesthemen".
He wants to hold talks with the armaments industry very soon, probably as early as next week.
Pistorius admitted: "In recent years - and that goes back a long way - we have accumulated a lot of replacement deficits." There were also gaps due to the sale of weapons during the Ukraine war.
What matters now is reliable and binding agreements with the industry.
"Because one thing is clear: the gaps that are now emerging should and must be closed quickly."
Pistorius also advocated strengthening the industry.
»We need more armaments industry in Germany, but, I think, also in concert in Europe.«
The defense policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, Wolfgang Hellmich
, sounded similar .
"We have to get together with the defense industry very quickly to go into production on the replacement for the Leopard tanks," he told the "Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland" (RND).
Hellmich therefore urges government funding for the armaments industry in order to cover the increased need for weapons caused by the war.
»We have to come together with start-up financing and long-term purchase guarantees because the security of our country requires it.«
The
armaments group Rheinmetall
said it was ready to supply large quantities of ammunition for the Leopard tanks that Germany and other countries would send to Ukraine.
"Rheinmetall is prepared and has significantly increased its ammunition capacities - and especially in the large caliber sector - as a precaution," the Düsseldorf-based company told the "Rheinische Post".
"We have invested heavily in this and will continue to do so by building new production facilities and recruiting additional staff." With the increased capacities, the group is able to meet the foreseeable increase in demand from the German armed forces and the armed forces of other Leopard user countries cover.
The
US government
has justified its change of heart on supplying main battle tanks to Ukraine.
"We've never ruled out tanks," said National Security Council communications director John Kirby.
Conditions on the battlefield in Ukraine have changed.
The decision to send Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine had been prepared "for several weeks," Kirby said.
It is the result of many discussions with the Germans and other allies about what Ukraine will need in the future.
Kirby also responded to a journalist's question as to how Russia's President Vladimir Putin could react to the promised deliveries of main battle tanks to Ukraine - also with a view to NATO countries such as Poland.
"All I can tell you is that we have seen absolutely no evidence that Mr. Putin has any intentions to attack NATO territory," Kirby said.
Moscow says so
The Russian Foreign Ministry has criticized the latest decision by Unesco: Shortly before, the UN cultural organization had declared the old town of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, which had been shelled several times during the war, as an endangered World Heritage Site.
Technical and financial assistance could thus be used to ensure the preservation of the threatened old town.
Odessa is located in southern Ukraine and is considered a cultural metropolis.
The Foreign Ministry in Moscow said the move was "politically motivated."
In addition, it was made "without taking into account the high standards of UNESCO".
From Moscow's point of view, the weapons in the Odessa port area should have been condemned.
"For some reason, however, this is not mentioned."
The weapons stationed in the port are used to ward off Russian attacks.
Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, the city has been repeatedly attacked with rockets and cruise missiles.
Most recently, the energy infrastructure was severely damaged, but residential buildings were also hit.
Ukrainian authorities are trying to protect works of art on site or bring them to safety.
what is happening today
Defense Minister Pistorius is expected today for his first visit to the troops in his new office.
He wants to meet soldiers at the Altengrabow military training area in Saxony-Anhalt.
According to his ministry, he gained insights "into the shooting and combat training of the logisticians of the armed forces base and the armored infantrymen of the army."
A press statement is scheduled for 11:20 a.m.
aar/dpa/Reuters