2023-09-02 00:05:11
Ukraine’s counter-offensive in its war with Russia has made “significant progress” in the last 3 days. The progress of the armed forces of Kiev, which aim to reconquer the territories occupied by Russia, is highlighted in the United States.
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To outline the picture is the spokesman of the National Security Council of the White House, John Kirby: “In the last 72 hours we have noticed some remarkable progress of the Ukrainian armed forces on that southern line”, says Kirby, confirming the information released by military leaders of Kiev in the last few days and relaunched by the media. The Ukrainians “have achieved some success against the Russian second line of defences,” Kirby adds, after admitting that progress so far has been slower than Ukraine itself had hoped.
Kirby’s words are matched in Ukraine by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in an interview with Christiane Amanpour. “If Ukraine were failing” in its counter-offensive, “I would probably be the first to tell the truth – she tells CNN – But we are not failing, we are moving forward”. According to Kuleba, “the partners” of Ukraine, “who are helping us, including the United States, understand that things are going in the right direction”. And, he continued, “they understand that there is no tragedy, no slowdown.” It is, he remarks, “a tough battle”.
While President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to ask for a massive supply of F-16 fighters to armor the country’s skies and offer adequate cover for ground maneuvers. While waiting for help ‘from heaven’, Ukraine is about to receive the first Abrams tanks from the USA. Kiev should have the first 10 of the 31 tanks promised by Washington in mid-September, as Politico anticipates, quoting an official from the US Defense Department and another source familiar with the facts.
The 70-ton tanks are currently in Germany undergoing reconditioning and will be shipped to Ukraine once completed. The Abrams, in the ideas of Kiev’s allies, should serve to give Ukrainian forces the edge they need to overcome strong Russian defenses in their counteroffensive.
On the other hand, Russia is not standing idly by. Moscow can use Sarmats, intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads. The Sarmats, also known as Satan 2, are in a combat position, as reported by the Ria agency. In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised the rapid deployment of this type of missile.
The new ICBMs are now deployed in Russia “on combat readiness”, according to the director of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, Yury Borisov. On 23 February, recalls the Tass agency, Putin had anticipated that the new Sarmat missiles would be deployed this year. The silo-based ICBM system is capable of being armed with multiple nuclear warheads. It will replace the R-36M2 Voyevoda, deployed since 1988.
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