Western countries plan to provide Ukraine with more ammunition. However, according to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, the amount is insufficient.
According to Resnikov, the country needs a million artillery shells and around four billion euros would probably have to be made available for this.
According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the main battle tanks promised by Germany and Portugal for Ukraine will be delivered by the end of March.
Ukraine considers the West’s plans for more ammunition to be insufficient. The country needs a million artillery shells and around four billion euros would probably have to be made available for this, said Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov on Wednesday at an informal meeting with the counterparts of the EU states in Sweden. The Leopard 2 tanks promised by Germany and Portugal are expected to arrive in Ukraine soon. Meanwhile, the Russian mercenary group Wagner claims to have the east of the embattled town of Bakhmut completely under control. It is also unclear whether the latest evidence in the case of the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions is really reliable.
The EU initially expects one billion euros for new ammunition
Before the meeting of defense ministers, the EU Commission and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell had proposed making an additional billion euros available for ammunition deliveries to Ukraine. The money is to come from the so-called European Peace Facility. It is a financing instrument through which the EU already supplies arms and equipment and supports the training of the Ukrainian armed forces. Ukraine, on the other hand, wants enough ammunition to be able to launch further counter-offensives against the attackers from Russia.
Leopard 2 tanks from Portugal and Germany in Kiev by the end of March
According to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the main battle tanks promised by Germany and Portugal for Ukraine will be delivered by the end of March. “I can tell you that I just found out that the 18 German Leopard 2A6 tanks and the 3 Portuguese ones can all come together to Ukraine this month (…),” said the SPD politician on the sidelines of the conference EU defense ministers meeting in Sweden. The tanks would arrive with trained crews and could then go to the theater of operations. Poland delivered the first four Leopard 2 Type 2A4 main battle tanks to Ukraine in February. Ten more are to follow this week.
The Wagner mercenaries are said to have conquered the east of Bakhmut
According to their own statements, the Russian mercenary group Wagner conquered the entire eastern part of Bakhmut. “Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is under the complete control of the private security company Wagner,” said Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in an audio recording distributed by his press service on Wednesday. The Ukrainian side has not yet confirmed this partial withdrawal. The information cannot be verified independently either. Kiev wants to continue to hold the “Bakhmut Fortress”, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized again in his daily video address on Tuesday evening.
Court: Sanctions against Prigozhin’s mother illegal
The General Court of the European Union annulled EU sanctions against the mother of Russia’s private army chief Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin. As the court announced on Wednesday in Luxembourg, a family relationship is not enough to justify punitive measures against them. At the time the sanctions were imposed, Violetta Prigozchina was apparently not the owner of companies with ties to her son, as claimed by the EU. The EU states had put Violetta Prigozchina on their sanctions list. They considered that it “supports actions and policies which undermine the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine”.
Uncertainty about new leads in case of exploded pipeline
The Ukrainian Defense Minister Resnikov denied that his ministry was involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. The fact that Ukrainian special forces are believed to be capable of such an operation is “a kind of compliment,” said Resnikov. “But that’s not our field of activity.” ARD, SWR and “Zeit” had reported that traces led in the direction of a pro-Ukrainian group. In their investigations into the explosions, the federal prosecutor’s office had a suspicious ship searched in January, as the authority confirmed on Wednesday.
Defense Minister Pistorius warned against jumping to conclusions. It could also have been a so-called false flag operation, in which the perpetrators could have intentionally laid false tracks. “It would not be the first time in the history of such events,” said Pistorius. At the end of September, a total of four leaks in the two pipelines from Russia to Germany were discovered after explosions near the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm.
Zelenskyy thanks Ukrainian women on Women’s Day
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his thanks on the occasion of International Women’s Day. “It seems to me that it is important to say thank you today. Thank you to all the women who work, teach, learn, save, heal, fight – fight for Ukraine,” the 45-year-old said in a video message released on Wednesday. On this day he wanted to remember all the women “who gave their lives for our state.” Zelenskyj said he would call his mother and thank his wife.
dpa/jpog