33 billion dollars in 2022… 3 billion in January… and once more 2 billion dollars in early February… The United States announced on Friday new military aid to Ukraine to help it fight the Russian invasion. This time around, it includes “crucial air defense capabilities to help Ukraine defend its population, as well as armored infantry vehicles”and ammunition for the Himars rocket launcher system, the Pentagon said in a statement.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told the press that the aid included small diameter ground-launched bombs made by Boeing and Saab that might fly up to 150 km and therefore threaten Russian positions behind. the front lines.
It is therefore mainly agreements made with American arms manufacturers. Since the confirmation by the West of sending tanks to Ukraine, everything points to an escalation of the conflict, driven by the inflexibility of the policy of occupation and invasion led by the Kremlin.
For their part, France and Italy will deliver a MAMBA medium-range surface-to-air defense system in the spring to help Ukraine “defending once morest attacks by drones, missiles and Russian planes”the French Ministry of the Armed Forces said on Friday.
“The supply of such a system responds to the urgency expressed by Oleksiï Reznikov, Ukrainian Defense Minister, to his French and Italian counterparts, to protect civilian populations and infrastructure once morest Russian attacks from the air”the statement added.
Faced with the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Friday that his country would defend “ as long as he might » the key city of Bakhmout (east), receiving in kyiv, the President of the European Council Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and other high representatives of the European Union.
The fight once morest endemic corruption in Ukraine
On this occasion, European leaders hailed in a press release the “ considerable effort provided by Ukraine despite the war, emphasizing “ progress » in the creation of institutions independent and efficient responsible for fighting once morest the corruption that plagues this country.
“We have repeated that the implementation of deep and coherent judicial reforms (…) remains essential” to allow the integration process to move forward, they nevertheless added, without mentioning a precise timetable.
“Ukraine is the EU, the EU is Ukraine”launched Charles Michel once more following the summit in kyiv, where warning sirens sounded twice during the day.
Rebuilding Ukraine with Russian Assets
Also, the EU said on Friday that it wanted to find a way to use Russian assets frozen in Western countries to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, a measure demanded by kyiv but legally complicated to implement.
“The EU will intensify (…) its efforts to use frozen Russian assets to support the reconstruction of Ukraine and for reparations purposes, in accordance with European and international law”European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
ZOOM – Germany authorizes delivery of Leopard 1 tanks
Berlin has authorized its manufacturers to deliver Leopard 1 combat tanks which they have in reserve to Ukraine, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Friday.
The latter gave no details on the number of armored vehicles concerned and the delivery schedule to Ukraine.
According to the German weekly The mirror29 Leopard 1 from the stocks of industrialists Rheinmetall and Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) might soon be delivered to the Ukrainian forces.
The Leopard 1s are the predecessors of the Leopard 2, armored vehicles long awaited by kyiv and of which Berlin agreed at the end of January to provide 14 units from the equipment of the German army, the Bundeswehr.
Since 2003, it no longer has a Leopard 1, replaced by the more modern and efficient Leopard 2s.
Compared to the Leopard 2, especially in its most modern variants.the Leopard 1” absolutely can’t keep up”agreed a spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense.
The German company Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft (FFG) told AFP that it has a total of 99 Leopard 1 A5 armored vehicles in stock which might be supplied to Ukraine.
“They are currently not all operational”the company said. “We currently estimate that we can deliver the first twenty Leopard 1 A5s following a refurbishment that would last approximately three months”she said, adding that the rest would gradually follow therefollowing.
At the same time, Norway announced that it will buy 54 new next-generation Leopard 2 tanks, with an option on 18 more, to replace its tanks of the same model but of an older type, the Norwegian government said on Friday.
Under construction for several years, this Leopard 2A7 order will renew the existing fleet of 36 aging Leopard 2A4s, some of which are to be donated to Ukraine.
(With AFP)
