Defense Minister Pistorius considers fighter jet deliveries to be unrealistic. Poland wants to deliver more tanks to Ukraine. The news ticker.
- Military aid to Ukraine: Defense Minister Pistorius excludes fighter jet deliveries
- Help from Belgium: Brussels is preparing a military package worth 92 million euros.
- Editor’s note: Read the latest developments from the Ukraine conflict in our news ticker. The information processed here Ukraine war come partly from the warring parties Russia and the Ukraine. They can therefore not be independently checked in part.
+++ 10.15 p.m.: Poland plans to send 60 more modern main battle tanks to Ukraine in addition to the 14 Leopard 2 tanks it has already promised, according to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Morawiecki explained this to the Canadian broadcaster on Friday CTV.
Poland “likes to lead by example,” the prime minister said, referring to the country’s decision to send 250 tanks to Ukraine last year. “At the moment we are ready to send 60 of our modernized tanks, 30 of them PT-91,” Morawiecki said, referring to the Polish PT-91 Twardy main battle tank.
Deliveries for Ukraine: Soldiers would need “about six months” to master fighter jets
+++ 8.45 p.m.: It would take Ukrainian pilots “about six months” to master the F-16 multirole fighter jet, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat said at a briefing on Friday. “Our pilots can learn to fly these planes in a couple of weeks. It will take them some time to master combat with these planes, about six months,” Ihnat said CNN quoted. “They would have to learn to use all kinds of weapons that modern aircraft carry.”
Fighter jets for Ukraine? Defense Minister Pistorius denied
+++ 6.30 p.m.: Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has rejected the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine. “I think that’s out of the question,” said the SPD politician to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “Fighter aircraft are much more complex systems than main battle tanks and have a completely different range and firepower. We would venture into dimensions that I would warn against at the moment.”
With a view to the recent decision to deliver Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Pistorius emphasized: “This delivery will not make us a party to the war.” Under international law, one is on the safe side, “that’s what all the experts tell us.” He added : “But we also know that Putin is not particularly interested in international law.” Germany is not an active war party – and it will stay that way.
Deliveries to Ukraine: Belgium prepares military aid package
+++ 3.30 p.m.: Belgium will send Ukraine a military aid package worth 92 million euros, according to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo kyivindependent stated at a joint press conference on January 27. The package will include anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank weapons, ammunition, grenades, machine guns, automatic rifles and light armored vehicles, Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder told the daily HLN is quoted.
However, Belgium will not supply tanks to Ukraine. “There are no more tanks in the Belgian defense stocks,” Dedonder previously told RTL.
President Zelenskyy thanks Poland for combat tanks
+++ 1:08 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the Polish leadership and people for the decision to supply main battle tanks to Ukraine. “Thanks to Andrzej Duda, Mateusz Morawiecki, Mariusz Blaszczak, Jacek Sewiera and the Polish people for the important decision to deliver 60 Polish tanks to Ukraine, including 30 of the famous RT-91 Twardy and 14 Leopard 2,” Zelenskyi wrote loudly UKrinform on twitter. The enemy don’t stand a chance this time. “Together we will win!” said Zelenskyj.
Kremlin sees the US as having an obligation: “The key lies in Washington”
+++ 11.50 a.m.: The government in Moscow said on Friday (January 27) that US President Joe Biden held the key to ending the conflict in Ukraine. Biden should urge Kyiv to come to an agreement, but Washington has so far been unwilling to do so.
“The key to the Kiev regime is largely in the hands of Washington,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at his daily briefing. “Now we see that the current leader in the White House doesn’t want to use that key. On the contrary, he chooses the path of continuing to pump arms into Ukraine,” he added, according to Archyde.com.
EU defends arms shipments to Ukraine
+++ 10.20 a.m.: Stefano Sannino, secretary-general of the European Union’s European External Action Service, has defended German and US shipments of military supplies to Ukraine and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of waging a war against NATO and the West. how Associated Press As reported, Sannino said at a press conference in Tokyo as part of an Asia-Pacific trip that Putin had “moved from a concept for special operations to a concept for a war against NATO and the West”. He said the German and American supplies of tanks should help the Ukrainians defend themselves in the war, not turn them into attackers.
Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in Germany for tank training
+++ 7.25 a.m.: The first Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in Germany for training on the Marder infantry fighting vehicle. The group landed in Cologne on Thursday (January 26) and should soon begin training on the weapon system, security circles told the German Press Agency in Berlin. The training is part of the military aid for Ukraine, which is also to be given 40 martens. The United States is sending Bradley armored personnel carriers to Ukraine.
“Direct participation” in the Ukraine war: Putin spokesman shoots at the West
Update from Thursday, January 26, 10:57 a.m: The decision of western countries, to deliver heavy battle tanks to Ukraine, is classified by the Russian government as “direct involvement” in the war. “In Moscow, we see this as direct involvement in the conflict,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said one day after Berlin and Washington announced the tank deliveries.
“The capitals of Europe and Washington are constantly making statements that the supply of various branches of arms, including tanks, in no way implies participation in combat operations. We see it completely differently,” says Peskow.
Western main battle tanks for Kyiv: Selenskyj thanks Scholz and Biden
First report from Friday, January 26th: Berlin/Kyiv – After the decision to supply tanks, Ukraine is pushing for more weapons from the West. So thanked President Volodymyr Selenskyj in his daily video address both Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden, but immediately added that his country now also needs long-range missiles, fighter jets and more artillery.
News about the Ukraine war: Kyiv is demanding more weapons from the West
Former Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk spoke up when the delivery of 14 Leopard 2 tanks was not officially confirmed yet. In an interview with the TV station n-tv the current Deputy Foreign Minister said that this could only be “the first step” and made a comparison with the Second World War: “At that time the Americans sent the Soviet Union more than 8,000 tanks and 14,000 fighter jets so that the Entente could start the war against Nazi Germany could win.”
Ukraine now also needs a reinforcement of its air force, it needs modern fighter jets, Tornados. “We would need warships to protect the coast. We would also need submarines.” And all of this has to be done much more quickly than before.
What happens now? “Honesty dictates that German and Ukrainian interests are not always congruent,” said defense expert Markus Kaim from the German Science and Politics Foundation German press agency. “It may be in Ukraine’s interest to liberate Crimea as well – but maybe not in Germany, because we will still have to live with Russia in the future.”
Is Ukraine overrated in the war against Russia?
Military historian Sönke Neitzel believes Ukraine’s strength in the war against Russia has been overestimated. “The notion that Ukraine is now launching a major offensive with 40, 50 main battle tanks and retaking all the lost territories is nonsense,” he said dpa. “As a result of the Russian mobilization, the balance of power has changed significantly.”
In his eyes, the real danger is not the outbreak of the Third World War, but a defeat for Ukraine. “None of us knows how the war will continue in the next few months, but it is quite possible that we will find out in retrospect: Too little, too late.” (cs/dpa)