Zelenskyj: Moscow is fighting a “robbery war” – the nightly update without photos These monkeys have to fish in winter to survive

Eleven months after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has emphasized cooperation with the Allies. The eleven months of “Russia’s predatory all-out war” have brought Ukraine, the United States and all other allies as close as possible, Zelenskyy said in his daily video address Monday evening. His foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba made it clear that he counted on the delivery of Leopard main battle tanks in the near future. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

>> All current developments in the live ticker

Zelenskyj: We will overcome this evil

“We fight every day to protect our people, our borders and our values, and we have succeeded in stopping the spread of Russian aggression,” Zelenskyy said. He can now say with confidence that “this evil on Ukrainian soil” can be overcome. “Even if Russia has found a terrorist accomplice in the Iranian regime, which supplies weapons to the Kremlin.”

Zelenskyj also specified the term he used of a “predatory war”. He didn’t choose those words by accident. “There is a lot of looting throughout the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russian troops,” Zelensky said. “Everything they don’t destroy, they steal and take to Russia. All.” In addition, about two million Ukrainians were deported to Russia. After all, Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories, in violation of international law, is “the completion of its predatory policy.”

Kuleba: Are in the final push for Leopard main battle tanks

In the international wrangling over the supply of German-made Leopard main battle tanks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expected a solution to be found quickly. “There are only a few half steps left,” he said on Ukrainian television on Monday evening. The British have already delivered their main battle tanks, France has offered wheeled light tanks and is considering supplying Leclerc main battle tanks. “I have no doubt that the leopard will also come to us, we are already in the final sprint.”

Presidential Office: Ukraine needs hundreds of main battle tanks

According to Ukraine, it needs “several hundred” main battle tanks for the intended reconquest of the territories occupied by Russia. “Every tank that can fight should be at our front today,” Andriy Yermak, chief of the presidential bureau, wrote on the Telegram news channel on Monday. Recently, Kiev had received Soviet-style modernized tanks from the Czech Republic. Britain, Poland and Finland offered Western tanks to Kyiv, including German-made Leopards. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been postponing a decision on the delivery of Leopard main battle tanks for weeks.

Stoltenberg repeats the call for arms deliveries

In the debate on the supply of Western main battle tanks to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed NATO unity and once again called for more arms deliveries. Since the start of the war almost a year ago, there has been “an unprecedented level of support” in the alliance, including in Germany, Stoltenberg said on Welt TV channel on Monday. A consultation process is now underway on the type of equipment to be supplied to Ukraine. “My message is that the Allies must provide more, heavier equipment, equipment, combat systems to Ukraine. And that is absolutely necessary.”

Kiev: Heavy fighting near Bakhmut and Avdiivka

The Russian occupiers and Ukrainian defenders continued heavy fighting on Monday around Bakhmut and Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine. The Russian attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties, the Ukrainian General Staff said in Kiev in the evening. To conquer the entire Donetsk region, the Russian army attacked “regardless of their own losses”. The rendering could not initially be independently verified.

The Russian army, meanwhile, spoke of an intensification of fighting in the central region of Zaporizhia. After the advance of the Russian units in recent days, a regrouping and repositioning of units on the Ukrainian side has now been observed, the state agency TASS reports.

Prigozhin thanks Soledar fighters: heavier than Stalingrad

The head of the infamous Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, thanked his fighters for their efforts in the battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar. In a video clip distributed Monday, he recalled the past months in the war. “We have now had half a year of war, as neither your grandfathers nor great-grandfathers experienced,” said Prigozhin. Compared to the battles of Soledar, the Red Army’s 1942 battle for Stalingrad against the German Wehrmacht was “more like a holiday”. In response to complaints from Volgograd, as Stalingrad is known today, Prigozhin later stated that he respected the history of his ancestors.

During weeks of bitter fighting for the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, mercenaries from Wagner’s forces spearheaded the Russian attacks. The mercenaries suffered heavy losses in capturing the place. Prigozhin, a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had recruited thousands of prisoners for deployment in Ukraine in Russia.

What will be important on Tuesday

The international debate on the possible delivery of heavy battle tanks to Kiev is entering a new day. (sda/dpa)