"First" weapon "wave" for Ukraine: 120 to 140 western tanks to stop Russia

First wave of tank deliveries to Ukraine expected.

Poland denies fighter jet talks

Brazil refuses to supply ammunition.

The news ticker.

• First wave:

  Kiev expects 120 to 140 western tanks.

• No talks:

  Poland denies talks to supply fighter jets for use against Russia.

• Brazil:

  Lula da Silva rejects Scholz.

  Brazil will not deliver ammunition for German main battle tanks to Ukraine.

• Fighter planes:

  Volodymyr Zelenskyj asks his country's allies in the Ukraine conflict for the delivery of fighter planes.

+++ 5.30 p.m .:

France will send twelve additional Caesar howitzers to Ukraine, the

reports , citing French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu.

After meeting his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiy Reznikov in Paris, Lecornu said they also discussed training Ukrainian pilots to use French fighter jets.

A decision on this has not yet been made.

Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine

Tanks, drones, anti-aircraft defenses: weapons for Ukraine

France will also send 150 army personnel to Poland to train up to 600 Ukrainian soldiers a month, he added.

When asked about the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine, he said

there was "no taboo" on the matter , according to the

Weapons for Ukraine: 120 to 140 western tanks on the way as "first wave"

+++ 4.15 p.m .:

According to the

news agency, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expects 120 to 140 western tanks within a “first wave”.

Kuleba went on to say that the first tranche of the German Leopard 2, the British Challenger 2 and the US M1 Abrams tanks will be delivered and that Ukraine also “actually expects” that deliveries of French Leclerc tanks will be agreed .

+

Can they be taken to Ukraine or not?

The delivery of heavy weapons is highly controversial in Germany.

© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa

Kyiv also wants to persuade other countries to supply tanks that, according to official information, are needed in a critical phase of the war.

"We continue to work on both expanding membership in the Panzer Coalition and increasing contributions from countries that have already pledged," he said.

According to a report in the

, Ukraine is planning a major counter-offensive to recapture areas in the south and east of the country that had been seized by Russia.

However, there are fears that Russia could launch a major offensive of its own in the coming weeks or months.

Fighter jets from Poland: Government denies talks with Ukraine

+++ 2.30 p.m .:

Contrary to recent reports, according to the government, Poland is not holding talks about the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

"There are currently no official discussions about the F-16 delivery," Wojciech Skurkiewicz, state secretary in Poland's defense ministry, told news

on Tuesday.

"The topic does not exist," he added.

While Germany and the US are currently refusing delivery, France and the Netherlands have not ruled out the delivery of fighter jets.

Fighter jets from France are possible for Ukraine – the pressure is increasing

+++ 11.25 a.m .:

According to Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, the West should keep all options open for arms deliveries in the Ukraine war.

"These red lines must be crossed," Nauseda said on Monday evening (January 30), referring to reservations about Ukraine's demand for longer-range fighter jets and missiles.

These weapon systems are an "indispensable military aid".

"In this crucial phase of the war, when the turning point is imminent, it is important that we act immediately," said the head of state of the Baltic EU and NATO country in an interview on Lithuanian television.

Weapons for Ukraine: Defense Minister wants to ask Macron for support

+++ 10.45 a.m .:

The Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov is expected in Paris on Tuesday (January 31) to meet with President Macron.

Kiev's allies debate providing fighter jets for war against Russia after US President Joe Biden ruled out providing F-16 fighter jets.

In statements aired on French television ahead of Biden's Washington speech, Macron stressed that such a move would depend on several factors.

These included the need to avoid escalation and assurances that the planes would "not touch Russian soil."

This is currently reported by the

.

Arms shipments to Ukraine: Europe waits

+++ 8.25 a.m .:

While the USA yesterday rejected Ukraine for a possible delivery of combat acts, the voices in Europe are still waiting.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently said during a visit to The Hague that "basically nothing is forbidden" when it comes to arms deliveries to Ukraine.

This is what the Ukrainian online newspaper

.

The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, also made a similar statement in The Hague. Poland, unlike Germany, also did not categorically rule out the delivery of fighter jets, as

reports.

However, the European allies agree on one thing: there should be no going it alone when it comes to fighter jets.

Arms for Ukraine: Brazil refuses to supply ammunition

+++ 7.20 a.m .:

Brazil will not provide any ammunition for the Cheetah anti-aircraft tanks or Leopard tanks supplied by Germany to Ukraine.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva clearly rejected such requests after talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in Brasilia.

"Brazil has no interest in transferring the ammunition to be used in the Ukraine-Russia war," he said in a joint press conference.

“Brazil is a land of peace.

And that’s why Brazil doesn’t want any involvement in this war, even indirectly.”

US President Biden does not want to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine – clear “no”

Update from Tuesday, January 31, 5 a.m.:

According to President Joe Biden, the United States will not deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

When asked by a reporter whether the "US would make F-16s available to Ukraine," Biden replied "no" in Washington on Monday (January 30 local time).

So far, it has been said that the US government has not ruled out any particular weapon system and is aligning support with what Ukraine needs.

It will be “discussed very carefully”, it said recently from Washington.

Weapons and ammunition for Ukraine: Poland probably ready to deliver fighter jets

+++ 9:55 p.m .:

In order to support the Ukrainian defense against Russia, Poland would be ready to deliver several F-16 fighter jets under certain circumstances.

This was announced by the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, on Monday via the Telegram news platform.

However, Polish President Mateusz Morawiecki emphasized to the press that such a delivery could only take place in consultation with the NATO partners.

This is reported by the Ukrainian news portal

.

Tank deliveries to Ukraine: Great Britain and Norway give details

+++ 8:05 p.m .:

In order to support the Ukrainian counter-offensive against the Russian attacks, Norway wants to hand over part of its 36 Leopard 2 tanks produced in Germany to Ukraine “as soon as possible”.

The country's Defense Minister, Björn Arild Gram, announced this to the AFP news agency on Monday.

However, the Norwegian did not commit to a specific date for which the delivery of the modern tanks is planned.

Great Britain becomes clearer.

The 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks that the country has pledged to Ukraine should reach the country "this summer", the British defense secretary said on Monday, according to

.

Arms and tank deliveries to Ukraine: France and Australia announce cooperation

+++ 18:55:

In order to support Ukraine with the delivery of ammunition, France and Australia have agreed to work together.

The British

reports .

The plan is to produce "several thousand" 155mm projectiles, which are to be delivered to Ukraine in the first quarter of the year.

The cooperation was announced after a meeting between French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu and his Australian counterpart Richard Marles.

According to current plans, Australia will supply France with the propellant, while the French armaments company Nexter will produce the projectiles.

According to Marles, the cooperation is also a "statement on how important Australia and France assess the support of Ukraine in the current conflict".

Arms deliveries to Ukraine: Stoltenberg calls on South Korea to change course

+++ 3.45 p.m .:

With regard to the protection of “global security”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also asked South Korea to support Ukraine with arms deliveries during a visit to Seoul.

Although Japan and South Korea are already providing "important economic support for Ukraine" by providing the country with humanitarian aid, Stoltenberg emphasized, there is still an "urgent need for more ammunition" and more weapons.

That is why Stoltenberg called on the South Korean government to reconsider its ban on the supply of arms to conflict zones, as other countries had already done against the background of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Stoltenberg argued that Russian ruler Vladimir Putin is currently buying weapons from countries like North Korea and is preparing for an intensification of the war.

However, it is extremely important that Putin does not win this war.

Otherwise, the message to authoritarian leaders in Beijing, too, would be "that you can get what you want through the use of force," emphasized the NATO Secretary General.

Update from Monday, January 30, 1:20 p.m .:

Poland wants to significantly increase its defense spending in view of the Ukraine war.

This was announced by Prime Minister Morawiecki on Monday.

In an "unprecedented" step, Warsaw will spend four percent of gross domestic product "on the Polish army" this year.

The war in Ukraine is making Poland's arms advance "even faster," he said.

According to NATO data, Poland spent more than 2.4 percent of its GDP on defense last year.

The country was thus in third place within the alliance.

As Ukraine's direct neighbor, Poland has repeatedly advocated the delivery of heavy weapons to the country at war.

Weapons, tanks and fighter jets for Ukraine?

Scholz reacts annoyed to Selenskyj

First report from Monday, January 30, 10:54 a.m .:

Berlin/Kiev – It was the same video speech in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the West for the decision to supply main battle tanks and immediately asked for long-range missiles and fighter jets.

The debate in Germany also immediately developed in this direction, with Olaf Scholz (SPD) now finding clear words.

Meanwhile, support for arms deliveries to Ukraine is falling among the population.

Scholz has so far ruled out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine to defend against Russia.

"I made it clear very early on that it's not about combat aircraft and I'm doing the same here," said the Chancellor during a government survey on Wednesday (January 25).

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (CDU) and the Chair of the Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP), one of the strongest advocates in the battle tank debate, also rejected fighter jet deliveries.

Weapons in the Ukraine war: Scholz criticizes the debate about fighter jets

Nevertheless, there are also people in Germany who are less opposed to the delivery of fighter jets and long-range missiles.

, the CDU foreign policy expert Jürgen Hardt warned the federal government

not to draw red lines when delivering arms to Ukraine.

However, clear words came from the head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen.

"I believe that the delivery of fighter jets is adequate to better protect Ukraine against Russian attacks," he said on Sunday in

's

.

Scholz responded with criticism to such demands in the weapons debate.

The chancellor accused the people behind it of "domestic political motives" and spoke of an "outbidding competition".

Calls for heavier arms deliveries are also finding less and less support among the German population.

48 percent of respondents to a study by the market and opinion institute Ipsos stated that they were against the provision of weapons for the Ukrainian military.

In April 2022 it was still 55 percent.

(Talk to agencies)

List of rubrics: © Hendrik Schmidt/dpa