UPDATE ON THE SITUATION – The delivery of long-range weapons to kyiv would lead to an escalation, the Kremlin warned on Thursday as Western announcements multiply.
New arms deliveries from Denmark, London and Sweden, warnings from the Kremlin, Wagner who would “things to learnfrom Ukraine… Le Figaro provides an update on the conflict in Ukraine this Thursday, January 19.
“Tanks must be delivered”, according to the EU
«Tanks must be deliveredto Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel said on Thursday after a visit to kyiv where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the eve of a crucial meeting in Germany of supporters kyiv military. “We hear your message. You need more air defense and artillery systems, more ammo“, pointed out Charles Michel on Twitter, saying that Westerners were “conscious” what “the next few weeks could be decisive for the futureof the war with Russia.
During a joint press conference with Zelensky in the afternoon, Charles Michel had earlier confirmed talks among EU member states for a tenth round of sanctions targeting Russia, to further limit its income and its ability to wage war on Ukraine. “We just had an agreement a few weeks ago on the ninth sanctions package and certainly the tenth sanctions package will be needed“, he said to the press.
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Possible delivery of German tanks to Ukraine: decision shortly, announces Berlin
Berlin on Thursday evening left the door open to the possibility of allowing the allies to supply Ukraine with German-made heavy tanks, saying that this “would clarify in the next few hours or tomorrow morning”. Ukraine’s allies will meet on Friday at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany, to decide on additional military aid to kyiv. Ahead of the talks, pressure mounted on Berlin to approve the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 tanks.
Poland and Finland have indicated that they are willing to supply such tanks to Ukraine, but that they need Germany’s agreement for this. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensly said he expected “strong decisions” of the meeting of supporters of kyiv scheduled for Friday in Ramstein. Ukraine again called on its Western allies on Thursday “to stop trembling in front of Putin” and to “considerably strengthen» their arms deliveries to face the Russian army.
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Westerners will deliver new weapons
Ukraine will receive new Caesar 155 mm self-propelled guns, made in France. This time, it will be all of the 19 copies ordered by Denmark from France and not all of which have yet been delivered to Copenhagen. The executive, backed by parliament,decided to donate all 19 French-made Caesar artillery pieces to the army to Ukraine“, announced the Minister of Defense Jakob Ellemann-Jensen in a press release. Eighteen Caesar guns, taken from the stocks of the French army, had already been delivered by Paris to Ukraine since the start of the conflict.
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The United Kingdom will send 600 additional Brimstone missiles to Ukraine to help it deal with the Russian invasion, the British Defense Minister announced on Thursday in Estonia. After a government meeting, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also announced at a press conference “the first decision to start delivering Archer artillery systems to Ukraineto help him against Russia. Sweden, which has broken with its doctrine of not delivering armaments to a country at war, will also send 50 CV-90 armored infantry combat vehicles as well as NLAW portable anti-tank missiles, the government announced.
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Washington announces new tranche of military aid to Ukraine
The United States on Thursday announced a new round of military aid to Ukraine totaling $2.5 billion, including hundreds of armored vehicles of various types, but no heavy Abrams tanks. This new tranche provides for the shipment of 59 Bradley armored vehicles, which will be added to the 50 light armored vehicles of this type promised on January 6, and 90 Stryker armored personnel carriers “which will provide Ukraine with two armored brigades”, the Pentagon said in a statement. The US Army will also deliver to Ukraine 53 anti-mine armored vehicles (MRAP) and 350 M998 transport vehicles, the famous Humvee.
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But this new tranche does not include any heavy tanks, such as the Abrams, which the United States is not yet ready to supply to kyiv, justifying this refusal by maintenance and training issues.
Washington will also hand over to the Ukrainian forces spare missiles for the NASAMS and HIMARS anti-aircraft systems already provided to them, 8 Avenger short-range anti-aircraft systems – vehicle-mounted defense units that move at the same pace as the units land – and thousands of various ammunition. This new tranche brings the total US military assistance to Ukraine to $26.7 billion since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
Escalating threat from Moscow
The Kremlin warned Thursday, January 19 that the delivery to Ukraine by the West of long-range weapons, capable of striking Russian territory in depth, would lead to a dangerous aggravation of the armed conflict between kyiv and Moscow. “This is potentially very dangerous, it would mean that the conflict would reach a new level which would not promise anything good for European security.said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
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EU deems reference to Holocaust ‘unacceptable and despicable’
The head of diplomacy of the European Union Josep Borrell judged on Thursday “unacceptable and despicablethe reference to the Holocaust made by Moscow to denounce the support of Western countries for Ukraine andjustify his unlawful aggressionagainst this country. “Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s latest comments accusing the West of seeking a ‘final solution’ for Russia are totally out of place, disrespectful and trample on the memory of the six million Jews, and other victims, who were systematically murdered during the Holocaust“, accused the official in a press release.
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The task of the coalition assembled by the United States isthe ‘final solution’ to the Russian question. Just as Hitler wanted to resolve the Jewish question, now Western leaders … are saying unambiguously that Russia must suffer a strategic defeat.“, said Wednesday, January 18 the head of Russian diplomacy during a press conference. “The Russian regime’s manipulation of the truth to justify its unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine has reached another unacceptable and despicable low point.“, protested Josep Borrell, of Spanish nationality. “There is no parallel between the crimes of Nazi Germany and international aid to Ukraine to defend its territory and its people against unwarranted aggression. Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring country, targeting and killing civilians there daily, with the avowed aim of destroying the country and the Ukrainian nation“said the head of EU diplomacy.
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Russian “local offensive” in southern Ukraine
The Russian army launched a “offensive localenear the town of Orekhiv, in southern Ukraine, where the front has been largely frozen for several months, an official with the local Russian occupation administration said on Thursday. “Our troops launched a local offensive near the city of Orekhiv, which is still temporarily occupied by Ukrainian fighterssaid Vladimir Rogov, a Russian occupation cadre in the Zaporizhia region of southern Ukraine. According to him, this attack forced the Ukrainian forces to retreat slightly to occupy reserve positions. “Our troops hold the occupied positions. The territory of the Zaporizhia region liberated from Ukrainian fighters is gradually increasing“, he said again, quoted by the Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
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Investors ready to ‘flood’ Ukraine, says BlackRock boss
Investors will “flood” Ukraine at the end of the war with Russia, said Thursday Larry Fink, the boss of the American asset management giant BlackRock, judging that the country can become “a beacon for the rest of the world of the power of capitalism”. If the war ended “relatively early”the financial needs for reconstruction and aid to the country would be 750 billion dollars, he estimated. “Those who truly believe in a capitalist system will flood Ukraine with capital,” continued the leader of the world’s number one asset management company. “I’m not talking about philanthropy. There will be a lot of philanthropy. I am really talking about the fact that if you want to rebuild Ukraine, it can become a beacon for the rest of the world of the power of capitalism”according to him.
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Wagner’s chef says he has “things to learn» of the Ukrainian army
The boss of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said his troops had “things to learnof the Ukrainian army, in the midst of a fierce battle to take Bakhmout in eastern Ukraine. “The Ukrainian army works efficiently, consistently. We have things to learn from them. But in any case Wagner’s units go forward, meter by meter“, he said in a message published Thursday by his press service. He assured that “the locality of Artiomovsk (name given by the Russian authorities to Bakhmout, Editor’s note) will be taken».
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