President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Poland’s initiative to supply Leopard main battle tanks to his country. “Thank you to President Duda, the Polish government and all our Polish friends,” Zelenskyj said in his daily video address on Wednesday night about the results of his meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian head of state Gitanas Nauseda in Lviv. Western-made tanks are “the work of our entire anti-war coalition and a new level of our potential”.
After the meeting, Duda said his country had made the decision to provide the Ukrainians with Leopard main battle tanks for a company as part of a coalition with allies. In Poland, as in Germany, a Leopard company is usually equipped with 14 main battle tanks. Duda went on to say that, on the one hand, the condition was “a slew of formal requirements and approvals.” On the other hand, Poland wanted an international coalition to which other countries would also contribute battle tanks. Nauseda, for his part, had stated that Lithuania wanted to supply more anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine.
The current developments in the live ticker:
Western tanks in Ukraine will soon be “rusty scrap,” according to former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. The armored vehicles will not save Ukraine’s collapsing “artificial state”, the vice president of Russia’s National Security Council said. At the Lviv meeting, which Medvedev believes will soon return to Poland as Lemberg, tanks such as the Leopard, modernized T-72s and even British tanks were “worshipped”. “But all this iron will definitely turn into rusty scrap soon,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev was considered a moderate politician during his time as President of Russia. Since the beginning of the Russian offensive war in Ukraine, he has been trying to make a name for himself with extreme views.
According to Ukrainian President Selenskyj, the occupation of the heavily disputed eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar, announced by Russia, is a propaganda maneuver. “The front in the Donetsk region is holding,” Zelenskyj said in his daily video address. “The fighting continues and we are doing everything we can to strengthen the Ukrainian defenses.”
“Now the terror state and its propagandists are trying to pretend that part of our city of Soledar – a city that was almost completely destroyed by the invaders – is some kind of property of Russia,” Zelensky said. With these claims of supposed success, Russia is trying to mislead its people and “support the mobilization”. In addition, the “advocates of aggression” should have more hope.
The Ukrainian General Staff had also denied Russian reports of Soledar’s capture. “The fighting continues,” a statement said.
On Tuesday, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed the small town in the Donetsk region had been nearly captured and about 500 Ukrainian soldiers were trapped. The Russian military leadership was silent. In an interview with the Interfax news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke only of “positive dynamics”.
Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian offensive war since the end of February 2022. Most recently, Moscow forces reportedly gained ground near Soledar and neighboring Bakhmut. Both cities are of strategic importance as they are part of the Ukrainian defensive wall for the conurbation between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
About ten and a half months after the outbreak of war, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov as the new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. The previous commander, Sergei Surovikin, who only took over last October, should become Gerasimov’s deputy, the ministry said in Moscow on Wednesday.
Shoigu also appointed two other deputies, General Oleg Salyukov and Colonel General Alexei Kim. Moscow justified the redeployment with an “extension of the scope of tasks to be solved” and the need for closer cooperation between the individual parts of the army.
The German SPD faction relies on diplomatic initiatives to reach a peace agreement in the war in Ukraine. “Because we know that wars usually don’t end on the battlefield,” says a draft position paper from the largest government faction, which will be decided at the annual meeting starting next Thursday. “Even if there is no longer confidence in the current Russian leadership for understandable reasons, diplomatic talks must remain possible.” That is why Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s calls to Russian President Vladimir Putin are right and necessary.
After the advance of Poland, the international discussion about the delivery of heavy battle tanks to Ukraine will certainly continue on Thursday. (sda/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
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