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Rheinmetall eyes boost in munitions output, HIMARS production in Germany

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DUESSELDORF, Jan 29 (Reuters) – German arms-maker Rheinmetall is ready to greatly boost the output of tank and artillery munitions to satisfy strong demand in Ukraine and the West, and may start producing HIMARS multiple rocket launchers in Germany, CEO Armin Papperger told Reuters.

He spoke days before Germany’s defence industry bosses are due to meet new defence minister Boris Pistorius for the first time, though the exact date has yet to be announced.

With the meeting, Pistorius aims to kick off talks on how to speed up weapons procurement and boost ammunitions supplies in the long term after almost a year of arms donations to Ukraine has depleted the German military’s stocks.

Rheinmetall (RHMG.DE) makes a range of defence products but is probably most famous for manufacturing the 120mm gun of the Leopard 2 tank.

“We can produce 240,000 rounds of tank ammunition (120mm) per year, which is more than the entire world needs,” Papperger said in an interview with Reuters.

The capacity for the production of 155mm artillery rounds can be ramped up to 450,000 to 500,000 per year, he added, which would make Rheinmetall the biggest producer for both kinds of ammunition.

In 2022, Rheinmetall made some 60,000 to 70,000 rounds each of tank and artillery shells, according to Papperger, who said production could be boosted immediately.

Demand for these munitions has soared since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, not only due to their massive use on the battlefield but also as Western militaries backfill their own stocks, bracing for what they see as a heightened threat from Moscow.

Papperger said a new production line for medium calibre ammunition, used by German-built Gepard anti-aircraft tanks in Ukraine for example, would go live by mid-year.

Germany has been trying for months to find new munitions for the Gepard that its own military had decomissioned in 2010.

HIMARS PRODUCTION LINE IN GERMANY?

At the same time, Rheinmetall is in talks with Lockheed Martin(LMT.N), the U.S. company manufacturing the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) multiple rocket launchers in heavy use with Ukrainian troops, Papperger said.

“At the Munich Security Conference, we aim to strike an agreement with Lockheed Martin to kick off a HIMARS production (in Germany),” he said, referring to an annual gathering of political and defence leaders in mid-February.

“We have the technology for the production of the warheads as well as for the rocket motors – and we have the trucks to mount the launchers upon,” Papperger said, adding a deal may prompt investments of several hundred million euros of which Rheinmetall would finance a major part.

Rheinmetall also eyes the operation of a new powder plant, possibly in the eastern German state of Saxony, but the investment of 700 to 800 million euros would have to be footed by the government in Berlin, he said.

“The state has to invest, and we contribute our technological know-how. In return, the state gets a share of the plant and the profits it makes,” Papperger suggested.

“This is an investment that is not feasible for the industry on its own. It is an investment into national security, and therefore we need the federal state,” he said.

The plant is needed as shortages in the production of special powders could turn out to be a bottleneck, hampering efforts to boost the output of tank and artillery shells, he noted.

A few days before the meeting with the new defence minister, Papperger pushed for an increase of Germany’s defence budget.

“The 51 billion euros in the defence budget will not suffice to purchase everything that is needed. And the money in the 100 billion euro special funds has already been earmarked – and partially been eaten up by inflation,” he said.

“100 billion euros sounds like a giant sum but we would actually need a 300 billion euro package to order everything that’s needed,” he added, noting that the 100 billion special fund does not include ammunitions purchases.

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany was 20 billion euros short of reaching NATO’s target for ammunitions stockpiling, according to a defence source.

To plug the munitions gap alone, Papperger estimates the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) would need to invest three to four billion euros per year.

In the talks with the minister, the defence boss hopes for a turn towards a more sustainable long-term planning in German procurement, stretching several years into the future, as the industry needed to be able to make its arrangements in time.

“What we are doing at the moment is actually war stocking: Last year, we prefinanced 600 to 700 million euros for goods,” Papperger said. “We must move away from this crisis management – it is crisis management when you buy (raw materials and other things) without having a contract – and get into a regular routine.”

Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Editing by Angus MacSwan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Sports

Zelenskyy says Olympics chief should visit Ukraine front line | Athletics News

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Ukrainian president invited the IOC chief to visit Bakhmut in spat over ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invited International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach to visit the front-line city of Bakhmut, where Ukraine’s soldiers are engaged in vicious battle with Russian forces.

Zelenskyy extended the provocative invitation on Friday after the Olympic committee said a “pathway” should be explored to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to take part in the 2024 Paris Games.

Russia and its ally Belarus have been excluded from competing in most Olympic sports since the invasion of Ukraine.

“I invite Mr. Bach to Bakhmut. So that he could see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist,” Zelenskyy said in a speech shared on social media.

“It is obvious that any neutral banner of Russian athletes is stained with blood,” he said.

Bakhmut, in the eastern region of Donetsk, is currently the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine.

 

Bach said on Friday that Russian and Belarusian athletes could hope to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but only if they compete under a neutral flag.

The mission is to bring together athletes from all over the world, “especially when their countries are in conflict,” Bach said during a press briefing in the German town of Oberhof.

“The principle that has been laid down is: No Russian or Belarusian athletes,” Bach explained, but “individual, neutral athletes from these countries without any identification with their nationality” could “possibly” compete next year.

However, he stressed that the IOC is just “at the beginning of very detailed consultations” on the matter.

Russian forces have been trying to take control of Bakhmut for months in what Kyiv has described as some of the bloodiest battles since the start of Russia’s offensive on February 24 last year.

Zelenskyy said “it is impossible not to be disappointed” by the stance of the IOC chief.

“I spoke with him more than once and never heard how he was going to protect sports from war propaganda if he returned Russian athletes to international competitions,” Zelenskyy said.

“We will do everything for the world to protect sport from the political and any other influence of a terrorist state, which is simply inevitable if Russian athletes compete.”

In a statement on Wednesday, the IOC said that its executive board met to consider the issue, and “the vast majority of the participants” had expressed that “no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport” and that “governments must not decide which athletes can participate in which competition and which athletes cannot”.

Ukrainian Sports Minister Vadym Gutzeit has informed the IOC that his country is planning to boycott the 2024 Games if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete.

“There can’t be agreements with representatives of terrorist countries,” Gutzeit said.

“I hope that all federations, athletes and the whole world have been paying close attention and that we don’t have to resort to this extreme means,” Gutzeit warned, referring to an Olympic boycott by Ukraine.

Bach said on Friday that excluding athletes solely on the basis of their passport does not meet human rights requirements. If exceptions were made and athletes holding a Russian or Belarusian passport were excluded from the Olympic Games, this would create “an enormously dangerous precedent for world sport,” Bach argued, adding that other countries were also affected by wars.

“What do you say to an athlete from Yemen, from Iraq, from Libya, from Armenia, from Azerbaijan, from Ethiopia?”

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) on Thursday offered Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in this year’s Asian Games.



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World

Russia strikes Ukraine’s cities hours after Western countries pledge tanks to Kyiv

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CNN
 — 

Ukraine has urged the West to get military hardware into the hands of its troops as quickly as possible, as Russia fired missiles toward Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities just hours after Germany and the US announced their plans to provide modern tanks to the country.

Russia launched 55 missiles at Ukraine on Thursday morning, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Telegram. Shmyhal said the salvo was aimed at the country’s “energy facilities” and some power substations had been hit.

“The main targets were energy facilities to deprive Ukrainians of power and warmth,” Shmyhal said on Telegram. “The majority of missiles and drones were intercepted by our defenders. Unfortunately there were hits at substations. Nevertheless the situation in the power grid remains under control. Power engineers are doing everything to provide power supply.”

Emergency power outages were introduced in the Kyiv region after the attack.

One person died in the capital, and an air raid alert was in place across the whole country, according to the city’s mayor. The person who died was identified as a 55-year-old man, who was killed “due to the fall of missile fragments,” he head of the Kyiv city military administration, Serhiy Popko, added.

Popko accused Russia of using the Iranian-made attack drones it sent to Ukraine overnight to try and distract Ukrainian air defense units. Fifteen attack drones were fired over over the capital on Thursday, “aimed not only at hitting targets on the ground,” he said. “According to the new tactics of the aggressor, the drones constitute the first wave of a combined air attack for detecting and exhausting Ukrainian air defense.”

The fresh assault comes amid Russian rage at the West’s decision to provide Ukraine with high-tech tanks. Germany finally approved the transport of Leopard 2 tanks on Wednesday, joining the US in sending a batch of vehicles after weeks of geopolitical negotiations.

But a race to get those tanks onto the battlefield has now begun, and Thursday’s attack indicates Moscow will aim to damage Ukrainian resolve in the intervening period.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the West for further weapons supplies following the attack.”This evil, this Russian aggression can and should be stopped only with adequate weapons,” Zelensky told Ukrainians in his nightly address on Thursday. “Weapons on the battlefield. Weapons that protect our skies.”

Ukraine was able to shoot down most of the missiles, a feat Zelensky attributed to the Western-donated air defense systems.

“Today, thanks to the air defense systems provided to Ukraine and the professionalism of our warriors, we managed to shoot down most of the Russian missiles and Shaheds,” he said. “These are at least hundreds of lives saved and dozens of infrastructure facilities preserved.”

Germany is planning to deliver its 14 pledged Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine by the end of March “at the latest,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced Thursday. That will follow a period of training for Ukrainian soldiers.

”This is not too late,” Pistorius said.

The arrival of 31 American Abrams tanks is expected to take far longer, given the complexity of the systems and the logistics of getting a battalion across the Atlantic Ocean and into eastern Ukraine. In the meantime, the US will begin a “comprehensive training program” for the Ukrainians, which will require significant maintenance once they are deployed, according to the White House.

Kyiv will hope that Germany’s Leopards are incorporated into their operations before an anticipated Russian offensive in the spring begins.

Alongside Russia’s Thursday attack on Ukraine came another round of anger from the Kremlin over the supply of tanks. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Moscow sees the delivery of modern Western battle tanks to Ukraine as “direct involvement” in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

But NATO nations dismissed Russia’s ire, and shown a willingness to open up a possible new stage of the war with weapons that will allow Ukraine to take the fighting to Moscow’s forces, rather than focus on repelling Russian attacks.

Kyiv is also continuing to press for more Western stocks, including improved missile systems and modern fighter jets. “We have to unlock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it is important for us to expand our cooperation in artillery, we have to achieve the supply of aircraft to Ukraine,” Zelensky said on Wednesday, adding he had spoken with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg about the desire.

Zelensky referred to the request as “a dream,” but also “an important task for all of us,” indicating another lengthy period of international dialogue in which Ukraine will look to warm up the West to the entire of stepping up its military aid again.

The country’s defense minister meanwhile told CNN on Wednesday that Ukraine’s “wish list” for Western-supplied weapons includes fighter jets.

“I sent a wish list card to Santa Claus last year, and fighter jets also [were] including in this wish list,” Oleksii Reznikov told Christiane Amanpour.

But he said that his government’s first priority was air defense systems, to prevent Russia from carrying out air and missile strikes. “We have to close our sky, to defend our sky,” he said. “That’s priority number one. After that, we need to get more armed vehicles, tanks, artillery systems, UAVs, etc. etc. We have people, but we need weaponry.”

On the ground, Russian forces were “intensifying their pressure” on the eastern city of Bakhmut, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister said on Wednesday.

“The intensity of the battles is increasing,” Hanna Maliar said on Telegram. “The enemy is intensifying their pressure at the Bakhmut and Vuhledar directions. Heavy fighting continues.” That account tallies with two Ukrainian soldiers in Bakhmut, who said Wednesday that Russian forces were attempting to advance north and south of the city, with one telling CNN that the situation was “very alarming.”

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World

Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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20 missiles shot down over Kyiv’s airspace, official says

Kyiv city’s military administration said Thursday that 20 missiles of various types had been detected in Kyiv’s airspace this morning but that all “aerial targets were destroyed” thanks to air defense units.

A 55-year-old man died as a result of the fall of rocket parts, and two others were injured and hospitalized.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, added that the air alert is continuing due to the take-off of a “potential carrier of Kinzhal missiles – a MiG-31 fighter jet and an A-50 control plane in Belarus.”

“Stay in shelters until the alarm is over,” Popko warned.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian strikes on Odesa a response to UNESCO decision, official says

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday that Russia’s missile strike on the southern port city was President Vladimir Putin’s response to UNESCO’s decision to the put the city on its list of endangered World Heritage sites.

The World Heritage Committee at UNESCO, the United Nation’s cultural agency, decided to inscribe the historic center of Odesa on the World Heritage List on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian state flag flies on a pedestal where the monument to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, also known as Monument to the founders of Odesa, once stood on Jan. 8, 2023 in Odesa, Ukraine.

Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said Odesa was “a free city, a world city, a legendary port that has left its mark on cinema, literature and the arts” and thus had been “placed under the reinforced protection of the international community.”

“While the war continues, this inscription embodies our collective determination to ensure that this city, which has always surmounted global upheavals, is preserved from further destruction.”

— Holly Ellyatt

One dead, two injured in Russian missile strikes on Kyiv

After missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s capital city Thursday morning, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person is known to have died and two others injured.

“As a result of a rocket hit into a non-residential building in the Holosiivskyi district, there is currently information about one dead and two injured. The injured were hospitalized by medics,” he said on Telegram.

There have also been updates from the cities of Odesa and Vinnytsia, to the southwest of Kyiv, with reports of damage to critical energy facilities.

Civilians take shelter inside a metro station during air raid alert in the centre of Kyiv on December 13, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Dimitar Dilkoff | Afp | Getty Images

Yuri Kruk, head of the Odesa District Military Administration, said on Telegram Thursday that Russian forces continued “to fire missiles at the territory of Ukraine from the sky and the sea.”

“There is already information about damages to 2 critical energy infrastructure facilities in Odesa. There are no casualties,” he said, asking civilians to remain in shelters.

In Vinnytsia, the head of the regional military administration Serhiy Borzov posted onTelegram that “there are hits of the enemy’s missiles in Vinnytsia [region]. There are no casualties. All operative services work on site.”

— Holly Ellyatt

After tanks decision, Russia lashes out with missile strikes

Air raid warnings are sounding out across Ukraine on Thursday morning as the country braced itself for more missile strikes from Russia. Emergency power outages have been introduced in Kyiv city and the wider region as well as Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr while the threat of missile strikes is live.

Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that there had been explosions in a part of the city as he warned civilians to shelter while Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, commented earlier on Telegram that Russian forces had “launched more than 15 cruise missiles in the direction of Kyiv.”

Popko said that “thanks to the excellent work of the air defense, all air targets were shot down.” He warned that the danger of air strikes had not passed, however.

A resident of Kyiv uses the subway as a bomb shelter on Dec. 5, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Emergency blackouts had been introduced in the city Thursday, with the city’s military administration saying “the reason is the threat of a missile attack. Early power outages will help avoid potential damage to critical infrastructure facilities.”

Moscow is fuming after Ukraine was given a big boost by its allies Wednesday after the U.S. and Germany agreed to send battle tanks to the country for the first time. Russia reacted angrily, with officials saying it was “extremely dangerous” and crossed “red lines.”

Serhii Bratchuk, the press person the head for the Odessa RMA (regional military administration) said earlier this morning that “around six Tu-95 aircrafts (preliminary from the Murmansk region) took off and fired missiles at the port city. We expect more than 30 rockets, which have already begun to appear in several areas. Air defense is working, there is no information about drones yet,” Bratchuk said.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the reports.

— Holly Ellyatt

Japan’s Prime Minister to consider visit to Ukraine: Kyodo News

Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida speaks at the start of the tenth annual review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at U.N. headquarters on August 01, 2022 in New York City. Japan’s average minimum wage is set to rise at a record pace this year, the government said on Tuesday, a positive development for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s efforts to cushion households from global commodity inflation.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a parliamentary session that he would consider visiting Ukrainian capital Kyiv, depending on “various circumstances,” Kyodo News reported.

“Nothing has been decided at this point, but we will consider,” Kishida was quoted as saying.

The prime minister’s response came after a ruling party lawmaker urged him to follow the leaders of allied countries in the Group of Seven, as Japan prepares to host an upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima in May.

– Jihye Lee

After tanks, fighter jets? Ukraine pushes NATO allies for more weaponry

A Belgian F-16 fighter jet flies over Florennes Military Air Base, in Florennes, Belgium. Ukraine is believed to be keen on receiving combat aircraft like this from its allies.

Geert Vanden Wijngaert | AP

The dust has barely settled after the U.S. and Germany’s momentous decision on Wednesday but talk has already turned to the possible supply of other weaponry to Ukraine, specifically combat aircraft.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to Kyiv’s allies Wednesday, stating that the decision by the United States, Germany and Britain to send tanks to Ukraine was “historic.” He said he had also spoken to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg yesterday and during that call he called for more assistance.

“We have to unlock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it is important for us to expand our cooperation in artillery, we have to achieve the supply of aircraft to Ukraine. And this is a dream. And this is a task. An important task for all of us,” he said in his nightly address.

Ukraine has made no secret of the fact that it would like to receive fighter jets, such as the U.S.’ F-16s, from its allies to help it fight Russia, but there has been little positive response.

Having just achieved a diplomatic victory in achieving tanks, however, the focus is now on practical matters, with Zelenskyy saying just how many tanks Ukraine would be receiving is a key issue.

“The key thing now is speed and volume. The speed of training of our military, the speed of supplying tanks to Ukraine and the volume of tank support,” he said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Training for Abrams tanks will take place outside of Ukraine, White House says

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (L) listens as National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2022.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Pentagon’s upcoming training for Ukrainians using the M1A1 Abrams tanks will take place outside of Ukraine.

Kirby said the U.S. has not yet decided on a specific location or timing for the training.

He also said that the Pentagon does not have extra tanks to pull from its current arsenal to provide for Ukraine.

“We just don’t have them,” Kirby said, adding that “even if there were excess tanks it would still take many months anyway.” He also declined to provide a timeline of when the M1A1 Abrams tanks would be ready for Ukrainian forces.

— Amanda Macias

Zelenskyy thanks Biden for Abrams tanks decision

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for his decision to provide Kyiv with 31 Abrams tanks as well as training and maintenance support.

Zelenskyy said the transfer of M1A1 Abrams tanks is, “an important step on the path to victory.”

“Today the free world is united as never before for a common goal – liberation of Ukraine,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

State Department denies reports outlining riff between Washington and Berlin over tanks for Ukraine

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price holds a press briefing on Afghanistan at the State Department in Washington, August 16, 2021.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

The State Department downplayed reports that Germany and the U.S. were at odds over whether to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 and M1A1 Abrams tanks.

“Time and again, Germany has proven itself as a stalwart ally of the United States,” Price said, adding that Berlin and Washington have only had constructive discussions in the weeks leading up to the separate security assistance announcements.

Earlier on Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Berlin would provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.

Germany said its goal was to “quickly assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine.” The country will supply 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks in what it called a “first step.”

— Amanda Macias

U.S. will send Abrams tanks to Ukraine ahead of expected Russian offensive

A M1A2 SEP (V2) Abrams Main Battle Tank being unloaded in

Staff Sgt. Grady Jones | U.S. Army | Flickr CC

The Biden administration said it will equip Ukraine with the mighty M1A1 Abrams tank, a key reversal in the West’s effort to arm Kyiv as it prepares for a fresh Russian offensive.

The 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, which amount to one Ukrainian tank battalion, will expand on the more than $26 billion the U.S. has committed to Kyiv’s fight since Russia invaded nearly a year ago.

The U.S. plans to purchase the new M1s using funds from the congressionally approved Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

It will “take some time” for the tanks to be delivered to Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said Wednesday. “We are talking months as opposed to weeks,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Read the full story here.

— Amanda Macias

Russia furious that Western tanks will be given to Ukraine

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone during a conversation with Agatha Bylkova from the Kurgan region, an 8-year-old participant of a New Year’s and Christmas charity event, in Moscow, Russia, January 3, 2023. 

Mikhail Klimentyev | Sputnik | Via Reuters

Russia expressed mounting fury at the prospect of modern Western tanks being sent to Ukraine, calling it “extremely dangerous” and saying previous “red lines” were now a thing of the past.

Germany announced earlier Wednesday that it was ready to send 14 Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, and to allow other countries to send their own German-made tanks to Kyiv. The U.S. is also expected to announce imminently its own intention to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin called the German government’s decision “extremely dangerous” and said it “takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation” while the foreign ministry warned that “red lines” were a “thing of the past” as it slammed what is saw as the West waging a “hybrid war” against Russia.

The use of modern Western tanks by Ukraine is likely to add momentum to its efforts to push Russian forces out of occupied areas of the country, particularly the eastern Donbas region, but Russia sees the gift of tanks as further evidence that the West is fighting what it sees as a proxy war against it in Ukraine.

Read more on the story here.

— Holly Ellyatt

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World

Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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Training for Abrams tanks will take place outside of Ukraine, White House says

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (L) listens as National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing in the James S Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 1, 2022.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Pentagon’s upcoming training for Ukrainians using the M1A1 Abrams tanks will take place outside of Ukraine.

Kirby said the U.S. has not yet decided on a specific location or timing for the training.

He also said that the Pentagon does not have extra tanks to pull from its current arsenal to provide for Ukraine.

“We just don’t have them,” Kirby said, adding that “even if there were excess tanks it would still take many months anyway.” He also declined to provide a timeline of when the M1A1 Abrams tanks would be ready for Ukrainian forces.

— Amanda Macias

Swiss panel seeks to allow re-exports of its weaponry to Ukraine

The Swiss Parliament in Bern, Switzerland.

Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

A parliamentary panel in Switzerland has recommended waiving a law that bars countries from re-exporting Swiss armored vehicles, weapons and other war material to Ukraine for its defense against Russia, insisting the move would not violate the country’s much-vaunted neutrality.

The Security Policy Committee of the lower house of Switzerland’s parliament voted 14-11 Tuesday to allow a re-export exception for cases involving a use of force that violates international law — notably, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 11 months ago.

Adherence to the concept of neutrality is enshrined in the Swiss constitution. The National Council committee’s vote amounts to only a small first step, and it remains far from certain whether the government would authorize such a waiver.

“The majority of the committee believes Switzerland must offer its contribution to European security, which requires more substantial aid to Ukraine,” the committee said in a statement. It insisted the proposed changes “respect the law of neutrality” because they would not involve direct exports of Swiss war materiel to conflict zones.

— Associated Press

Kremlin expresses alarm over ‘Doomsday Clock,’ blames U.S. and NATO

The 2023 Doomsday Clock is displayed before a live-streamed event with members of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on January 24, 2023 in Washington, DC.

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

The Kremlin expressed alarm that the “Doomsday Clock” had edged closer to midnight than ever, even though the scientists who moved the symbolic dial cited Moscow’s own “thinly veiled threats” to use nuclear weapons.

The “Doomsday Clock,” created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to illustrate how close humanity has come to the end of the world, on Tuesday moved its “time” in 2023 to 90 seconds to midnight, 10 seconds closer than it has been for the past three years.

Midnight on this clock marks the theoretical point of annihilation. The clock’s hands are moved closer to or further away from midnight based on scientists’ reading of existential threats at a particular time.

“The situation as a whole is really alarming,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, calling for a sober appraisal of the tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine crisis.

He said there was no prospect of any detente, based on “the line that was chosen by NATO under U.S. leadership.”

“This imposes on us a duty to be particularly careful, to be alert and to take appropriate measures,” he added.

On Tuesday, the Bulletin’s president cited repeated warnings by President Vladimir Putin and other Russian politicians that Moscow might be prepared to use nuclear weapons as a key factor in the decision to advance the dial of the “Doomsday Clock.”

— Reuters

Germany to send Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine

The Starlink photo is seen on a mobile device with Ukraine on a map in the background in this illustration photo in Warsaw, Poland on 21 September, 2022.

STR | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said on Telegram that Germany plans to transfer a batch of Starlink terminals to Kyiv.

Starlink, the satellite internet arm of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has been crucial in keeping Ukraine’s military online during the war against Russia, even as communication infrastructure gets destroyed.

Last year, Musk reversed his previous decision to cut off funding for Starlink in Ukraine.

“The hell with it,” the billionaire later tweeted, “even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”

— Amanda Macias

State Department denies reports outlining riff between Washington and Berlin over tanks for Ukraine

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price holds a press briefing on Afghanistan at the State Department in Washington, August 16, 2021.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

The State Department downplayed reports that Germany and the U.S. were at odds over whether to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 and M1A1 Abrams tanks.

“Time and again, Germany has proven itself as a stalwart ally of the United States,” Price said, adding that Berlin and Washington have only had constructive discussions in the weeks leading up to the separate security assistance announcements.

Earlier on Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Berlin would provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.

Germany said its goal was to “quickly assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine.” The country will supply 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks in what it called a “first step.”

— Amanda Macias

Zelenskyy thanks Biden for Abrams tanks decision

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked U.S. President Joe Biden for his decision to provide Kyiv with 31 Abrams tanks as well as training and maintenance support.

Zelenskyy said the transfer of M1A1 Abrams tanks is, “an important step on the path to victory.”

“Today the free world is united as never before for a common goal – liberation of Ukraine,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

A look at Biden’s latest security package for Ukraine

U.S. M1A2 “Abrams” tank moves to firing positions during U.S. led joint military exercise “Noble Partner 2016” near Vaziani, Georgia, May 18, 2016.

David Mdzinarishvili | Reuters

The Biden administration approved a $400 million in fresh military aid for Ukraine that will include 31 U.S.-made M1A1 Abrams tanks.

Here’s a look at the latest package which brings U.S. commitment to $27.1 billion since Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago:

The capabilities in this package include:

•             31 Abrams tanks with 120mm rounds and other ammunition

•             8 tactical vehicles to recover equipment

•             Support vehicles and equipment

•             Funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment

— Amanda Macias

Biden spoke with German, French, British and Italian counterparts ahead of tank decision

The White House said that President Joe Biden spoke with his counterparts from Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom ahead of his announcement that Washington was ready to provide Ukraine with M1A1 Abrams tanks.

The addition of the U.S. tanks to the latest military aid package follows German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.

Germany said its goal was to “quickly assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine.” The country will supply 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks in what it called a “first step.”

— Amanda Macias

U.S. will send Abrams tanks to Ukraine ahead of expected Russian offensive

A M1A2 SEP (V2) Abrams Main Battle Tank being unloaded in

Staff Sgt. Grady Jones | U.S. Army | Flickr CC

The Biden administration said it will equip Ukraine with the mighty M1A1 Abrams tank, a key reversal in the West’s effort to arm Kyiv as it prepares for a fresh Russian offensive.

The 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, which amount to one Ukrainian tank battalion, will expand on the more than $26 billion the U.S. has committed to Kyiv’s fight since Russia invaded nearly a year ago.

The U.S. plans to purchase the new M1s using funds from the congressionally approved Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

It will “take some time” for the tanks to be delivered to Ukraine, a senior Biden administration official said Wednesday. “We are talking months as opposed to weeks,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Read the full story here.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine forces pull back from Donbas town after onslaught

Ukrainian tankers carry out maintenance on their tanks on the Donbas frontline.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Ukrainian forces have conducted an organized retreat from a town in the eastern region of the Donbas, an official said, in what amounted to a rare but modest battlefield triumph for Russia after a series of setbacks in its invasion that began almost 11 months ago.

The Ukrainian army retreated from the salt mining town of Soledar to “preserve the lives of personnel,” Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, told The Associated Press.

The soldiers pulled back to previously prepared defensive positions, he said. Russia claimed almost two weeks ago that its forces had taken Soledar, but Ukraine denied it.

Moscow has portrayed the battle for the town not far from the Donetsk province city of Bakhmut, as key to capturing all of Ukraine’s Donbas region, where Russia-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian troops for almost nine years and controlled some territory before Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin cited the safety of ethnic Russians living in Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province, which together make up the Donbas, as justification for the invasion. Putin illegally annexed the Ukrainian provinces and two others in late September.

The withdrawal of Ukraine’s troops from Soledar takes the Russian forces a step closer to Bakhmut, but military analysts say the town’s capture is more symbolic than strategic. The fighting in eastern Ukraine has stood mostly at a stalemate for months.

— Associated Press

Russia furious that Western tanks will be given to Ukraine

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone during a conversation with Agatha Bylkova from the Kurgan region, an 8-year-old participant of a New Year’s and Christmas charity event, in Moscow, Russia, January 3, 2023. 

Mikhail Klimentyev | Sputnik | Via Reuters

Russia expressed mounting fury at the prospect of modern Western tanks being sent to Ukraine, calling it “extremely dangerous” and saying previous “red lines” were now a thing of the past.

Germany announced earlier Wednesday that it was ready to send 14 Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, and to allow other countries to send their own German-made tanks to Kyiv. The U.S. is also expected to announce imminently its own intention to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine.

The Russian Embassy in Berlin called the German government’s decision “extremely dangerous” and said it “takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation” while the foreign ministry warned that “red lines” were a “thing of the past” as it slammed what is saw as the West waging a “hybrid war” against Russia.

The use of modern Western tanks by Ukraine is likely to add momentum to its efforts to push Russian forces out of occupied areas of the country, particularly the eastern Donbas region, but Russia sees the gift of tanks as further evidence that the West is fighting what it sees as a proxy war against it in Ukraine.

Read more on the story here.

— Holly Ellyatt

Norway police release former Wagner commander from detention

Norwegian police said on Wednesday they would not seek to intern a former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who recently fled to Norway, ordering him instead to stay at a secret location for security reasons.

Andrei Medvedev fled Russia by crossing into Norway on Jan. 13. He has said he fears for his life after witnessing what he said was the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the front lines in Ukraine to fight for Wagner.

On Monday police said he was detained by immigration police and held at the Trandum immigration detention centre outside Oslo, due to “disagreement” about measures taken to ensure his safety.

Trandum is where asylum seekers who have been turned down are held before they are deported. Police have denied suggestions Medvedev might be deported to Russia.

A pedestrian walks past a mural depicting the logo of the Russian mercenary ‘Group Wagner’ and a slogan in Russian by the informal pro-Russia organisation ‘Narodna Patrola (lit.: People Patrol), on January 20, 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Srdjan Stevanovic | Getty Images

“The police’s immigration unit releases Medvedev from … Trandum under an order to be at a specific place of residence,” police said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Police had until Wednesday to decide whether to seek a court order to intern him.

Medvedev’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, was not immediately available for comment.

On Monday, Risnes had said Medvedev had been detained due to “disagreement” about measures taken to ensure his safety and said that there was “zero chance” he would be deported to Russia.

— Reuters

Zelenskyy expresses gratitude to Germany for tanks

Ukraine’s President Volodymy Zelenskyy thanked Germany and Chancellor Olaf Scholz for its decision to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and to allow other countries to re-export their own German-made tanks.

“German main battle tanks, further broadening of defense support & training missions, green light for partners to supply similar weapons. Just heard about these important & timely decisions in a call with @OlafScholz,” Zelensyy said on Telegram, adding that he was “sincerely grateful” to the chancellor and Germany for the decision.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal also expressed his thanks to Berlin, saying Ukraine now expected “to involve a wide range of partners in the tank coalition in order to obtain as many tanks as possible in the shortest possible time.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meet for a working session in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 16, 2022.

Ludovic Marin | Reuters

Germany released a statement on the phone call between President Zelenskyy and Chancellor Scholz earlier today, saying the leaders had “exchanged views on the political, military and humanitarian situation in Ukraine.”

 “The Chancellor reiterated unwavering solidarity with Ukraine in the face of Russian Federation’s aggression and announced that Germany will continue to increase military support to Ukraine in close coordination with European and international partners,” the statement read.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukrainian official confirms retreat from Soledar

A Ukrainian multiple-launch rocket system is hiding among the trees near Soledar as the fighting in the Donbas region continues.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

An official has confirmed that Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the town of Soledar in Donetsk but said they had done so to save personnel.

Speaking to NBC News, Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson of the Eastern Group of Ukrainian Armed Forces, said the withdrawal had taken place “in order to preserve the lives of the personnel, the Defense Forces moved away from Soledar and are now staying on previously prepared defense lines.”

Cherevatyi said the defenders of Soledar, where fighting has been intense for weeks, had performed a “real feat” holding their positions in the town and inflicting “huge losses” on Russia, given they were fighting Russian forces that that were up to five times larger.

—  Holly Ellyatt

Netherlands also prepared to supply battle tanks to Ukraine, PM says

Europe needs to do more to support Ukraine, according to the Dutch prime minister.

Bloomberg / Contributor / Getty Images

The Netherlands is prepared to deliver battle tanks to Ukraine if needed, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday.

“If a contribution from the Netherlands helps, we are prepared to do so,” Rutte told Dutch broadcaster RTL.

Rutte said the Netherlands could opt to buy tanks it currently leases from Germany, and supply those to Ukraine.

— Reuters

Germany’s tank decision welcomed by allies

A Leopard 2 tank is seen during a visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to NATO’s new spearhead force “VJTF 2019” in Munster, Germany May 20, 2019. 

Fabian Bimmer | Reuters

Germany’s decision to offer a number of its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and to allow other countries with the same weaponry to send their own stocks to Kyiv, has been greeted positively.

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki hailed the move as a “big step.” Poland had already sent a request to Germany on Tuesday asking if it could send 14 of its own German-made Leopards to Ukraine before Berlin’s announcement.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner wrote on Twitter that battle tanks for Ukraine would strengthen the country and said “it is an important step that the US participates alongside the #Leopard.”

Meanwhile, the vice president of the German Bundestag and Greens member, Katrin Goering-Eckardt, tweeted “the Leopard’s freed” and that “hopefully now it can quickly help Ukraine in its fight against the Russian attack and for the freedom of Ukraine and Europe.”

The U.K.’s defense secretary also said he was “delighted” at Germany’s decision.

There has been no official response from Ukraine’s president yet but Kyiv will be pleased with Germany’s decision as it paves the wave for other allies to send their own German-made tanks to Ukraine.

Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, simply tweeted a leopard emoji.

— Holly Ellyatt

Germany announces it will send 14 of its Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers a speech in front of a Leopard 2 tank during a visit to a military base of the German army Bundeswehr in Bergen, Germany, October 17, 2022. 

Fabian Bimmer | Reuters

Germany has announced that it is ready to send 14 of its own tanks to Ukraine and to allow others to do so, in an U-turn from its previous position.

Germany Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Wednesday that Germany will provide Ukraine with 14 Leopard 2 tanks out of its own Bundeswehr (German armed forces) stocks.

Here is the statement from the Germany government, translated by NBC News:

Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced in the cabinet on Wednesday that Germany will continue to increase military support for Ukraine. The federal government has decided to provide the Ukrainian armed forces with Leopard 2 main battle tanks. This is the result of intensive consultations that took place with Germany’s closest European and international partners.

“This decision follows our well-known line of supporting Ukraine to the best of our ability. We are acting in a closely coordinated manner internationally,” said the Chancellor in Berlin.

The goal is to quickly assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine. As a first step, Germany will provide a company with 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from Bundeswehr stocks. Other European partners will also hand over Leopard-2 tanks. The training of the Ukrainian units is to begin quickly in Germany. In addition to training, the package will also include logistics, ammunition and system maintenance.

Germany will issue the appropriate transfer permits to partner countries that want to quickly deliver Leopard 2 tanks from their stocks to Ukraine.

— Holly Ellyatt

Relentless Russian shelling of Ukraine continues as tanks are in focus

Ukrainian soldiers are seen on their ways to frontlines with their armoured military vehicles as the strikes continue on the Donbas frontline.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

While international news headlines are focusing on the issue of tanks for Kyiv, the country continues to experience missile strikes on the north, northeast, east and south.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported Wednesday that Russian forces had launched four missile and 26 air strikes over the past 24 hours and more than 100 strikes using multiple launch rocket systems, an update noted.

There had been “multiple attacks” by Russia in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine, the updated noted.

“The threat of Russian air and missile attacks remains high across Ukraine,” the update said, adding that “despite numerous losses, Russia does not cease attempts to advance on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka axes. However, the enemy stays on the defensive on Kup’yans’k, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson axes.”

Other regional officials reported shelling in Kherson city and the rest of the southern region, with Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of the Kherson regional military administration reporting on Telegram that the region was shelled 52 times yesterday, and that shells had hit a maternity hospital, school, polyclinic, seaport and residential building, leaving one civilian dead and six others injured.

In Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, the Head of the Regional Military Administration Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram a number of settlements have been shelled overnight and early Wednesday morning, causing damage to residential and industrial areas and injuring two people.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said Wednesday that the northern border regions of Sumy and Chernihiv had been shelled the previous day.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the information.

— Holly Ellyatt

U.S. tanks for Ukraine would be seen as a ‘blatant provocation,’ Russian official says

Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov speaks during a discussion about the legacy of Anatoly Dobrynin on Nov. 18, 2019, in Washington, DC.

Mark Wilson | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A top Russian official has said that any delivery of American tanks to Ukraine would be seen as “another blatant provocation” by the West.

“If the United States decides to supply tanks, it will be impossible to justify such step using arguments about ‘defensive weapons’,” Russia’s Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Telegram Wednesday.

“This would be another blatant provocation against the Russian Federation. No one should have illusions about who is the real aggressor in the current conflict,” he claimed.

The U.S. is expected to announce soon that it will send a number of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, with Germany expected to say Wednesday that it is ready to send Leopard 2 tanks. The decision to send tanks comes after months of requests from Kyiv, and as Russia is expected to launch new offensives in Ukraine in spring.

The Russian ambassador to the U.S. is a vocal critic of the West, claiming that “Washington is deliberately trying to inflict strategic defeat on us.” He said American tanks would be “destroyed as all other samples of NATO military equipment.”

Ukraine’s NATO allies have supported Ukraine throughout the war with billions of dollars’ worth of military and financial aid, fearing that a victory for Russia in Ukraine could only spur on Moscow’s apparently expansionist aims in other former Soviet republics like Georgia and Moldova.

— Holly Ellyatt

Missing British aid workers confirmed to have died in Ukraine

Two British aid workers have died in Ukraine as they attempted to evacute civilians from a fighting hot spot in eastern Ukraine.

Chris Parry, 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, 47, were reported missing on Jan. 7. They were last seen heading to the town of Soledar in Donetsk that was under intense attack by Russian forces and later captured.

A statement issued by Parry’s family Tuesday confirmed their deaths, saying the men had been killed “whilst attempting a humanitarian evacuation from Soledar, eastern Ukraine.” A statement issued by Bagshaw’s family, and reported by Sky News, said the pair’s car was hit by an artillery shell while they were attempting to rescue an elderly woman. Both families praised the men’s bravery and selflessness.

Destroyed buildings in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on Nov. 20, 2022.

Diego Herrera Carcedo/ | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Concerns over the men’s safety were raised after the Russian private military company known as the Wagner Group said soon after the pair went missing that it had found the body of one of the aid workers and showed images of the men’s British passports on the messaging app Telegram.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia is ‘preparing for a new wave of aggression,’ Zelenskyy says

Soldiers prepare to head out near the Bakhmut front lines with Russia on Jan. 22, 2023 in Chasov Yar, Ukraine. Russia has stepped up its offensive in the Donetsk region in the new year, with the region’s Kyiv-appointed governor accusing Russia of using scorched-earth tactics.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Russia is preparing for new offensives in Ukraine, with increased activity already seen in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday.

“Russia is preparing for a new wave of aggression – with the forces it can mobilize,” Zelenskyy warned in his nightly address. 

“Now the occupiers are already increasing the pressure around Bakhmut and Vuhledar and other directions. And they want to increase the pressure on a larger scale,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russia wants to “throw more of their people and equipment into combat operations.”

There has been intense fighting around Bakhmut in Donetsk for months. Capturing the town is a strategic goal for Russian forces wanting to seize the entire Donetsk region and neighboring Luhansk, which together make up the Donbas. Russian forces have claimed several tactical advances in Donetsk in recent weeks, including the capture of Soledar.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine says it needs a decision on tanks

After more indecision from Ukraine’s allies regarding the delivery of tanks to Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that allies need to decide on whether they will deliver modern battle tanks to Ukraine.

“There is a lot of talk about tanks. About the modern tanks that we need. And about how this deficit can be filled. A lot of efforts, words, promises,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday.

“But it is important to see the reality: it is not about five, or ten, or fifteen tanks. The need is greater. We are doing what is necessary every day to fill the deficit … However, discussions must be concluded with decisions. Decisions on real strengthening of our defense against terrorists,” as Ukraine labels Russia’s leadership.

“Allies have the required number of tanks. When the weight of decisions is necessary, we will be happy to thank you for each weighty decision,” he said.

Boris Pistorius (right) German defense minister, and Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, give a press conference at the German Defense Ministry after a joint meeting on Jan. 24, 2023.

Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Germany’s defense minister said Tuesday morning that the country’s position had not changed regarding the sending of German-made tanks to Ukraine, but by the evening there were reports suggesting a U-turn in Berlin, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz expected to make a formal announcement Wednesday. In the U.S. too, reports suggested Washington was also ready to send M1 Abrams tanks.

Whether the number of tanks that are provided is enough is another matter, however. Ukraine previously said it needs hundreds of tanks to stave off Russia’s ongoing invasion “not 10-20,” as one presidential advisor said earlier this week.

— Holly Ellyatt

Biden administration preparing to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, officials tell NBC News

U.S. soldiers fire from an M1 Abrams main battle tank.

Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

The Biden administration is preparing to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, three senior U.S. officials tell NBC News.

The decision to equip Kyiv with the weapons platform could come as early as Wednesday, the officials said, adding that the exact number of tanks in the administration’s latest security package was still under deliberation.

What’s more, the mighty M1A1 tanks will not be available to the Ukrainians for several months due to the colossal logistics and training requirements.

Read the full story from NBC News here.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. reiterates support for Finland, Sweden joining NATO

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price speaks during a news conference in Washington, U.S. March 10, 2022.

Manuel Balce Ceneta | Reuters

The Biden administration reiterated its support for both Finland and Sweden joining NATO at the earliest opportunity, after Helsinki said a pause was needed in trilateral talks with Turkey on the Nordic countries’ application to join the military alliance.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price was repeatedly asked at a news briefing whether Washington would support Finland’s possible accession without Sweden, but declined to comment on what he called a “hypothetical” and not a “live question right now.”

“This has always been a discussion about Finland and Sweden… (about) moving from an alliance of 28 to an alliance of 30. That’s what we want to see happen,” Price said, adding that Finland joining NATO separately “is just a question that we’re not entertaining.”

Turkey’s president said Sweden should not expect his country’s support after a protest near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm at the weekend, which included the burning of a copy of the Koran.

— Reuters

Replacing weapons NATO allies sent to Ukraine could yield $21.7 billion in U.S. defense sales

Ukraine was already stocking up on U.S.-made Javelins before Russia invaded. Here a group of Ukrainian servicemen take a shipment of Javelins in early February, as Russia positioned troops on Ukraine’s border.

Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

Replacing weapons and other equipment NATO countries sent to Ukraine could lead to nearly $22 billion in sales for the U.S. defense industry, according to a report from the think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

The FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power also said that restoring the NATO allies’ arsenals could also lower the Pentagon’s cost of obtaining weapons.

“It would also enhance the quality of the weapons U.S. warfighters wield and strengthen U.S. defense industrial base capacity,” the authors of the report added.

— Amanda Macias

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Der Spiegel reports Germany set to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine

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CNN
 — 

Germany is set to send its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine to help bolster the country’s war effort, Der Spiegel reported on Tuesday evening, attributing to unnamed sources. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to deliver the battle tanks following “months of debate,” according to the German news outlet’s exclusive report.

The German parliament is due to debate the contentious issue on Wednesday morning. Deciding to send them would be a landmark moment in the West’s support for Kyiv that follows days of intense pressure on Berlin from some of its NATO partners.

CNN reached out to the German government for comment on Tuesday evening but has not received a response.

The report comes shortly after United States officials revealed on Tuesday that the Biden administration is finalizing plans to send US-made tanks to Ukraine. Germany had indicated to the US last week that it would not send its Leopard tanks unless the US also agreed to send its own M1 Abrams tanks.

Sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine would provide Kyiv’s forces with a modern and powerful military vehicle ahead of a potential Russian spring offensive. It would also come as a blow to the Kremlin, which has seen a growing campaign to equip Ukrainian troops with high-tech fighting systems as Russia’s ground war nears the one-year mark.

Germany had resisted a growing drumbeat of Western pressure to ship some of the tanks to Ukraine, with new German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius repeatedly calling for more time and insisting that the move would come with pros and cons for Berlin.

Warsaw raised the stakes on Tuesday when it formally asked permission to send its own Leopards, a move Berlin had previously said it wouldn’t block.

Several European countries also own some Leopards, and Poland had led an effort to re-export those to Ukraine even if Germany was not on board. But the decision of Scholz and Pistorius was considered crucial because the tanks are German-made and Germany is usually in control of their export and re-export.

A Polish official told CNN Tuesday that to their knowledge, Berlin had not yet formally notified Warsaw about a decision to allow the Leopards to be sent to Ukraine.

The German army has 320 Leopard tanks in its possession but does not reveal how many would be battle ready, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense previously told CNN.

Several high-tech fighting systems have been pledged to Ukraine since the turn of the year amid a renewed wave of Western military aid. The US finalized a huge military aid package for Ukraine totaling approximately $2.5 billion worth of weaponry last week, including Stryker combat vehicles for the first time, while the United Kingdom and a number of EU countries have agreed to send tanks.

Pistorius, who became Germany’s defense minister on Thursday, saw his first days in the job dominated by the efforts of key allies to join that trend by shipping Leopards into Ukraine. Germany in turn looked to secure guarantees that the US would send its own tanks too.

But frustration from some leaders spilled into the open after a Berlin summit wrapped last Friday without a deal to send Leopards, with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki accusing Germany of “wasting time” by failing to come to a decision.

The Leopard 2 tank would be a powerful fighting vehicle for Ukraine’s battlegrounds.

Each tank contains a 120mm Smoothbore gun, and a 7.62mm machine gun; it can reach speeds of 70 km per hour (44 mph), or 50 kmph when off-road, making maneuverability one of its key features. And there is all-around protection from threats, including improvised explosive devices, mines or anti-tank fire, according to its German manufacturer, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly pleaded for countries to stop squabbling over whether to send the tanks.

“We have talked hundreds of times about the shortage of weapons. We cannot go only on motivation,” he said during a virtual appearance at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos last week.

In an apparent swipe at Germany’s stalling, Zelensky added: “There are moments when there is no need to hesitate. When people say – I’ll give you tanks if someone else does.”

Russia had meanwhile sought to threaten Germany as it deliberated. Asked during a regular press briefing about Moscow’s reaction if Berlin approved sending tanks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the relations between the two countries “are already at a fairly low point,” adding there is currently “no substantive dialogue with Germany or with other EU and NATO countries.”

“Of course, such deliveries do not bode well for the future of relations. They will leave an imminent trace,” Peskov said.

Previous military aid, like the American HIMARS rocket system, has been vital in helping Ukraine make a series of successful counter-offensives in recent months.

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Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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Three ships leave Ukrainian ports under Black Sea Grain Initiative

The Malta flagged bulk carrier Zante en-route to Belgium transits the Bosphorus carrying 47,270 metric tons of rapeseed from Ukraine after being held at the entrance of the Bosphorus due to Russia pulling out of the Black Sea Grain agreement on November 02, 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey.

Chris Mcgrath | Getty Images

Three vessels carrying 105,500 metric tons of grain and other food products have left Ukrainian ports, the organization overseeing the export of agricultural products from the country said.

The ships are destined for Spain, Turkey and Djibouti and are carrying wheat and corn.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July among Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw three key Ukrainian ports reopen.

So far, more than 670 ships have sailed from Ukrainian ports.

— Amanda Macias

State Department reaffirms Finland and Sweden’s ascension to NATO

U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price holds a press briefing on Afghanistan at the State Department in Washington, August 16, 2021.

Kevin Lamarque | Reuters

The State Department reaffirmed U.S. support for Finland and Sweden’s ascension to NATO as Hungary and Turkey consider ratifying the two nations into the alliance.

“You’ve heard this from the administration. You’ve heard this from members of Congress, we strongly support their NATO candidacies, Finland and Sweden are ready to join the alliance. They are ready to join the alliance because of their military capabilities and abilities,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said during a press briefing.

“We are also cognizant of the fact that those who may be behind what has taken place in Sweden may be engaging in an intentional effort to try to weaken unity across the Atlantic and within and among our European allies and partners. We feel that Finland and Sweden are ready to be NATO allies,” he added.

Price added that Sweden and Finland will have to discuss the next steps with Turkey.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine’s agricultural minister says Russia waging an economic war on food security

Farmers are seen harvesting wheat in Druzhkivka, Ukraine on 7 August, 2022.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi said that Russia is purposefully delaying the inspection of ships associated with the Black Grain Sea Initiative.

“Russia hides a single goal: to inflict not only a military defeat on Ukraine but also an economic one; to weaken the financial position of our international partners and to cause a migration crisis, which will exacerbate existing problems,” Solskyi said in a speech at the Conference of Agriculture Ministers in Berlin.

“Now Ukraine needs the support of the international community and systemic solutions in the context of Russian sabotage of the grain corridor,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

Norway detains former commander of Russian paramilitary group Wagner

A pedestrian walks past a mural depicting the logo of the Russian mercenary ‘Group Wagner’ and a slogan in Russian by the informal pro-Russia organisation ‘Narodna Patrola (lit.: People Patrol), on January 20, 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Srdjan Stevanovic | Getty Images

Norwegian police have detained a former commander of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group who recently fled to Norway, but denied suggestions that he might be deported to Russia.

A Russian prisoners’ rights group, Gulagu.net, published a recording of a phone interview with Andrei Medvedev in which he urged Norway to let him stay and testify against the private military group, which has been fighting Ukrainian forces in some of the most brutal battles of the war.

Medvedev said he had been detained and handcuffed on Sunday at a hotel where he was staying and taken to a detention center. Gulagu.net said Medvedev had been told he faced deportation.

Asked about the claim, a Norwegian police spokesperson said: “No, this is not correct,” without elaborating.

Medvedev’s Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, put the risk of his being deported at “zero,” adding he had been detained due to “disagreement” about measures taken to ensure his safety.

“He is under very strict security measures and we disagree about the way they are applied. These have caused frictions,” Risnes told Reuters.

— Reuters

‘The Russian war against Ukraine is a predatory one,’ Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on January 11, 2023, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Yuriy Dyachyshyn | Afp | Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed Russia’s war in Ukraine and called it a “robbery.”

“Robbery is reigning. Everything they have not destroyed, they are stealing and shipping to Russia, everything,” Zelenskyy said in an address before the U.S. National Association of State Chambers.

“Russians are stealing grain and agricultural machinery from Ukrainian farmers. The occupiers dismantle the factories and send the equipment to Russia. Warehouses, shops and people’s homes are being looted. And they kidnap people – they see people as a resource,” Zelenskyy added, referencing reports of forced deportation.

Under international law, forced deportations of people are considered a war crime.

— Amanda Macias

Former FBI counterintelligence agent charged for helping Russian oligarch Deripaska

Charles McGonigal, the former head of counterintelligence for the FBI’s New York office.

Source: Greatdecisions.tv

Charles McGonigal, who once headed the FBI’s counterintelligence operations in New York, was criminally charged for allegedly assisting oligarch Oleg Deripaska in an effort to get off the U.S. sanctions list, and with investigating another Russian oligarch.

McGonigal was charged along with former Russian diplomat Sergey Shestakov, who worked as a U.S. federal courts translator and allegedly participated in efforts to help Deripaska after McGonigal retired in 2018.

Authorities noted that McGonigal had previously investigated Deripaska, who was put on the list of Russian nationals sanctioned by the U.S. due to their nation’s conflict with Ukraine.

— Dan Mangan

Secretary Yellen discusses ways to mitigate impacts of Russia’s war with Zambia’s president

Janet Yellen, US Treasury secretary, speaks during a Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) meeting at the Treasury Department in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Dec. 16, 2022.

Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema to discuss ways to mitigate “significant global economic headwinds” caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“President Hichilema and I will discuss how Zambia can help to tackle global challenges that have serious ramifications at the national level, including food security, which has worsened in this country and globally over the past year, as well as investing in healthy populations and preparedness for future health shocks,” Yellen said ahead of the bilateral meeting.

Yellen last held a bilateral with Hichilema in December where the two focused on ways to deepen economic integration.

— Amanda Macias

UN says more than 7,000 killed in Ukraine since start of war

An elderly man walks among the graves of unidentified people, killed during Russian occupation, who were reburied from a mass grave in the small Ukrainian town of Bucha, near Kyiv, on January 12, 2023.

Sergei Supinsky | Afp | Getty Images

The United Nations has confirmed at least 7,068 deaths and 11,415 injuries in Ukraine since Russia invaded its ex-Soviet neighbor nearly a year ago.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the death toll in Ukraine is likely higher, because the armed conflict can delay fatality reports.

“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes,” the international organization wrote in a release.

— Amanda Macias

US Ambassador to the UN will visit Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya to discuss food insecurity triggered by Russia’s war

New US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield speaks after meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the United Nations on February 25, 2021 in New York City.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas Greenfield will travel to Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya to discuss food insecurity triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Last week, Thomas Greenfield demanded Russia cooperate in the Black Sea Grain Initiative and blamed a backlog of ships loaded with crucial food supplies on “Russia’s deliberate slowdown of inspections.”

“This backlog means extra expense and extra delay for millions of tons of grain, a majority of which is destined for developing countries. The backlog means 2.5 million tons of grain are just sitting there, waiting to move,” she said before the U.N. Security Council, adding that some vessels have been waiting for over a month.

Since the deal was signed, more than 670 ships carrying 18.3 million metric tons of grain and other food products have left Ukrainian waters.

— Amanda Macias

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Zelenskyy in Kyiv

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomes former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 22, 2023.

Ukrainian Presidential Press Ser | Via Reuters

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“It is a privilege to visit Ukraine at the invitation of president Zelenskyy. The suffering of the people of Ukraine has gone on for too long. The only way to end this war is for Ukraine to win and to win as fast as possible,” Johnson wrote in a statement following the visit.

“This is the moment to double down and to give the Ukrainians all the tools they need to finish the job. The sooner Putin fails, the better for Ukraine and for the whole world,” he added.

Johnson, who was one of the first world leaders to visit Zelenskyy following Russia’s invasion, quickly became one of the most visible Western supporters of Ukraine. He resigned from the prime minister post in July.

— Amanda Macias

UK and Russian national charged with attempting to evade sanctions related to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg’s $90 million yacht

The yacht called “Tango” owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned by the U.S. on March 11, is seen at Palma de Mallorca Yacht Club in the Spanish island of Mallorca, Spain March 15, 2022.

Juan Medina | Reuters

Two businessmen from Russia and the UK were charged in separate indictments for attempting to evade sanctions linked to a $90 million luxury yacht owned by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.

Vladislav Osipov, 51, a dual Russian and Swiss national, and Richard Masters, 52, a British national, were charged Friday with conspiracy to defraud and to commit offenses against the United States as well as money laundering.

According to U.S. federal prosecutors, Osipov used a complex web of shell companies to hide Vekselberg’s ownership of the 255-foot seized yacht

“Despite that Vekselberg designed the yacht, was the sole user, and was the ultimate beneficial owner,” prosecutors wrote in a release.

Masters was arrested by Spanish authorities on Friday and awaits extradition to the United States whereas, Osipov’s arrest warrant is outstanding.

— Amanda Macias

Top U.S. spy agency says more security assistance from allies is crucial for Ukraine to prevail

Ukrainian soldiers outside the strategic city of Bakhmut on Jan. 18, 2023, in Bakhmut, Ukraine.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The director of America’s top spy agency described Russia’s war in Ukraine as a “grinding conflict” that will require the West to continue to provide security assistance packages in order for Kyiv to prevail.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum on Sunday that both Ukrainian and Russian militaries are facing significant challenges but the war had not reached a stalemate.

“It’s not a stalemate but really, a grinding conflict where quite literally, we’re talking about hundreds of meters being fought over in the context of the frontlines,” Haines said in Davos, Switzerland.

“It will be extremely important for Ukraine to receive essential military assistance and economic assistance moving forward in order for them to be able to continue to manage what they have been heroically doing,” she added.

Read the full story here.

— Amanda Macias

Lying-in-state ceremony takes place for Ukrainian officials killed in helicopter crash

The portrait of late First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yevhenii Yenin is pictured during the lying-in-state ceremony of the leadership of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs who perished in the Brovary helicopter crash at the Ukrainian House, Kyiv, capital of Ukraine.

Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Ukrainians attend a lying-in-state ceremony of the leadership of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry who perished in a helicopter crash last week in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv.

The helicopter, which belonged to the State Emergency Service, crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building, killing 14 people, including a child. All those onboard the helicopter died, including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyy, his First Deputy Yevhenii Yenin and Interior Ministry’s State Secretary Yurii Lubkovych.

An investigation is being carried out into the crash, which President Zelenskyy described as a “terrible tragedy.”

Relatives mourn late First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Yevhenii Yenin during the lying-in-state ceremony of the leadership of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs who perished in the Brovary helicopter crash at the Ukrainian House, Kyiv, capital of Ukraine.

Hennadii Minchenko | Future Publishing | Getty Images

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his spouse Olena Zelenska pay their last respects to the leadership of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs who perished in the Brovary helicopter crash during the lying-in-state ceremony at the Ukrainian House, Kyiv, capital of Ukraine. On Wednesday morning, January 18, a helicopter of the State Emergency Service crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building in Brovary, Kyiv Region.

Yurii Lubkovych | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Ukraine needs hundreds of tanks, official says

Ukraine needs several hundred tanks to combat Russia, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine said Monday.

“We need tanks — not 10-20, but several hundred,” Andriy Yermak said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.

He said Ukraine’s goal was the re-establishment of Ukraine’s borders of 1991 — when the country declared independence from the USSR — and for Russia to be punished for its invasion of Ukraine.

There is still uncertainty over whether European countries will send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, after no decision was reached during a defense summit last Friday. Kyiv has repeatedly urged its allies to give it tanks to help it defeat Russia’s ongoing invasion.

A Ukrainian tank fires at Russian positions near Kreminna, Lugansk region, on January 12, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Anatolii Stepanov | Afp | Getty Images

Senior official Yermak said that “the common goal of democracy in the fight against autocracy is to ensure stable development and a clear world order. Without the victory of Ukraine, none of this will happen.”

He added, “That is why every tank capable of fighting must be on our front today. Because this is not only the Ukrainian front. This is the front of civilization against backwardness and barbarism from the swamps.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Conflict between Russia and the West closer to a real war, Russian official says

Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sergei Lavrov speaks during a press conference after his meeting with South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor at the OR Tambo Building in Pretoria on January 23, 2023.

Phill Magakoe | Afp | Getty Images

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the conflict between Russia and the West is playing out in Ukraine and can no longer be defined as a “hybrid war” but is closer to a real one.

“When we talk about what is happening in Ukraine, we are talking about the fact that this is no longer a hybrid war, but a real one, which the West has been preparing for a long time against Russia,” he said at a press conference on Monday following talks with South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, state news agency Tass reported.

Lavrov claimed the West was “trying to destroy everything Russian — from language to culture, which has been in Ukraine for centuries, and forbidding people to speak their native language,” he said.

Lavrov made the comments during a diplomatic trip to South Africa in which he also claimed Ukraine had blocked negotiations to end the war.

“In September, President Zelenskyy signed a decree prohibiting all Ukrainian officials to negotiate on anything with the Russian Federation. So I believe it is absolutely obvious as regards the origin of the problem of lack of negotiations.”

Ukraine has said it is willing to negotiate once President Putin is not in power, and when all Russian forces have left its territory. It says it will fight until it has reclaimed all its territory, including Crimea which was annexed in 2014 by Russia.

— Holly Ellyatt

Germany stresses importance of international support to Ukraine

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stands next to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (3rd from right), Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov (2nd from right) and Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov (5th from right) in Kharkiv on the site of a substation destroyed by the Russians during her trip to eastern Ukraine.

Jorg Blank | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

EU countries and their international partners together should try to do everything possible to make sure Ukraine will win its war against Russia, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Monday.

“It’s important that we as an international community do everything we can to defend Ukraine, so that Ukraine wins and wins the right to live in peace and freedom again,” Baerbock said before a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers.

Baerbock declined to make any specific comment when asked about the issue of exporting Leopold-2 battle tanks to Ukraine.

On Sunday, Baerbock had opened the door to Germany allowing Poland to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, in a possible breakthrough for Kyiv which wants the tanks for its fight against Russia’s invasion.

— Reuters

NATO chief set to visit Germany as tanks debate rages

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a closing press conference during the second of two days of defence ministers’ meetings at NATO headquarters on October 13, 2022 in Brussels, Belgium.

Omar Havana | Getty Images

NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will meet German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in Berlin on Tuesday.

The meeting comes amid palpable frustration in Europe regarding Germany’s failure to make a decision about allowing German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

Kyiv has been requesting Leopard 2 tanks from its European allies for months, saying it needs them to fight Russia as the war approaches its one-year mark.

Germany has appeared reluctant to either send its own Leopard 2s, or to allow other countries with the tanks to re-export them to Ukraine, fearing it could be seen as an escalatory move by Russia. Berlin was also said to be ready to send such tanks only if the U.S. sent its own Abrams tanks.

NATO announced Monday that Stoltenberg was making the trip to Berlin, raising expectations that Germany could be ready to announce it is ready to allow tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

At the weekend, both Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock signaled that a decision would be made, and that Poland would not be blocked from sending its own Leopard 2s to Ukraine, with or without Berlin’s permission.

— Holly Ellyatt

Poland could send Leopard tanks to Ukraine without Berlin’s approval, prime minister says

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, along with leaders from Belgium, Italy and Greece, will propose a plan for a ‘gas price corridor’ across Europe in an attempt to bring down soaring prices.

Thierry Monasse / Contributor / Getty Images

Germany’s approval for the re-export of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine is of secondary importance as Poland could send those tanks as part of a coalition of countries even without its permission, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday.

The United States and its allies failed during talks in Germany last week to convince Berlin to provide its Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine, a key demand from Kyiv as it tries to breathe new momentum into its fight against Russian forces.

Poland is pushing for countries who have German-made Leopards to send them to Ukraine, even if Germany does not want to join them.

“We will ask for such permission, but this is an issue of secondary importance. Even if we did not get this approval … we would still transfer our tanks together with others to Ukraine”, Morawiecki told reporters.

“The condition for us at the moment is to build at least a small coalition of countries.”

Germany would not stand in the way if Poland sent its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday in an interview with French television LCI.

“Pressure makes sense, because this weekend, the foreign minister of Germany sent a slightly different message that gives a glimmer of hope that not only Germany will not block (sending tanks) but will finally hand over heavy equipment, modern equipment to help Ukraine,” Morawiecki said.

— Reuters

Russian commander in Ukraine prioritising a clampdown on non-regulation, UK says

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chief of the General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov attend an annual meeting of the Defense Ministry Board in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 21, 2022.

Mikhail Kuravlev | Sputnik | Reuters

General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the general staff and newly appointed commander in Ukraine, has likely started his tour with a drive to improve deployed troops’ day-to-day discipline, according to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence.

“Since he took command, officers have been attempting to clamp down on non-regulation uniform, travel in civilian vehicles, the use of mobile phones, and non-standard haircuts,” the ministry noted in an intelligence update on Twitter Monday.

It noted that the measures have been met with skepticism, and “some of the greatest derision has been reserved for attempts to improve the standard of troops’ shaving.”

“Officials in the Donetsk People’s Republic, described the prioritisation a ‘farce’ that would ‘hamper the process of destroying the enemy’,” the U.K. said. Meanwhile, Yevgteny Prigozhin, the owner of the private military company the Wagner Group, said that “war is the time of the active and courageous, and not of the clean-shaven.”

The U.K. noted that while Russian forces continue to endure operational deadlock and heavy casualties on the battlefield, Gerasimov’s prioritization of largely minor regulations “is likely to confirm the fears of his many sceptics in Russia.”

“Along with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, he is increasingly seen as out of touch and focused on presentation over substance.”

— Holly Ellyatt

German minister says final decision on tanks will be made

Bundeswehr Leopard 2 A6 heavy tanks.

Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that he expected a decision soon on the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Pistorius told Germany’s ARD broadcaster that Germany would not make a hasty decision because the government had many factors to consider, including consequences at home for the security of the German population, Reuters reported.

Separately, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Berlin would not block Poland from sending its own Leopard 2s to Ukraine.

There is intense pressure on Berlin to allow other countries with Leopard 2s to give them to Ukraine, but it has so far refused to authorize the onward exporting of the tanks, or to offer its own. Last Friday, Ukraine’s allies met in Germany to discuss the issue but no decision was reached.

Kyiv has pleaded with its allies to send heavy battle tanks for months, saying they could be decisive in the outcome of the war. The U.K. is Ukraine’s only ally to have pledged to send a number of its own Challenger 2 tanks. France said it has not ruled out sending its own Leclerc tanks to Ukraine.

— Holly Ellyatt

Countries supplying Ukraine with weapons risk own destruction, Russian official says

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) talks to State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin (R).

Mikhail Svetlov | Getty Images

The speaker of Russia’s parliament on Sunday warned that countries supplying Ukraine with more powerful weapons risked their own destruction. It followed new pledges of armored vehicles, air defense systems, and other equipment from Ukraine’s allies, but not the battle tanks Kyiv has requested.

“Supplies of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime would lead to a global catastrophe,” State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said. “If Washington and NATO supply weapons that would be used for striking peaceful cities and making attempts to seize our territory as they threaten to do, it would trigger a retaliation with more powerful weapons.”

Ukraine’s supporters pledged billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine on Friday, though the new commitments were overshadowed by defense leaders failing at an international meeting in Ramstein, Germany, to agree on Ukraine’s urgent request for German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks.

Read the whole story here.

— The Associated Press

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Germany signals shift in veto on Leopard tanks for Ukraine

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PARIS/LVIV, Ukraine, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Germany would not stand in the way if Poland wants to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Germany’s foreign minister said, signalling a possible breakthrough for Ukraine as it tries to bolster its forces ahead of an expected new Russian offensive.

Eleven months after Russia invaded its southern neighbour, the fighting is centred on the town of Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east, where Russia’s Wagner mercenaries and Ukrainian forces have been locked in a battle of attrition.

Russia’s defence ministry said for the second straight day on Sunday that its forces were improving their positions in Ukraine’s southern region of Zaporizhzhia, though a Ukrainian military spokesperson told the state broadcaster the situation there was “difficult” but stable.

Reuters was not able to independently verify battlefield accounts.

Ukrainian officials have been calling on Western allies to supply them with the modern German-made tanks for months but Germany has held back from sending them or allowing other NATO countries to do so.

Leopard tanks, which are held by an array of NATO countries but whose transfer to Ukraine requires Berlin’s approval, are seen by defence experts as the most suitable for Ukraine.

Western allies pledged billions of dollars in weapons for Ukraine last week but they failed to persuade Germany to lift its veto on providing the tanks.

But in an apparent shift in Germany’s position, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said her government would not block Poland if it were to send its Leopard 2 tanks without German approval.

“For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way,” she told France’s LCI TV, when asked about her government’s reaction to any such Polish decision.

Germany has been under heavy pressure to let Leopards go to Ukraine but the Social Democrat party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz is traditionally sceptical of military involvements and wary of sudden moves that could trigger Russia to escalation.

Baerbock’s remarks appeared to go further than Scholz’s comments at a summit in Paris earlier on Sunday that all decisions on weapons deliveries would be made in co-ordination with allies, including the United States.

Ukraine says the heavily armoured battle tanks would give its ground troops more mobility and protection ahead of a new Russian offensive expected in coming months.

But Germany has appeared to have tied any such contribution to a U.S. move to send its Abrams tanks, something American officials have said they are reluctant to do because the vehicles are complicated to maintain.

‘TERRIBLE WAR’

American lawmakers pushed their government on Sunday to export M1 Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine, saying that even sending a symbolic number would be enough to push European allies to do the same.

Britain recently said it was supplying 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. Its foreign minister, James Cleverly, said on Sunday it still wanted an international deal to provide Ukraine with the German-made tanks.

French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said he did not rule out the possibility of sending Ukraine Leclerc tanks.

Last week, the Kremlin’s spokesman said Western countries supplying additional tanks to Ukraine would not change the course of the conflict, but would add to the problems of the Ukrainian people.

A close ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that deliveries of offensive weapons to Kyiv that threaten Russia’s territories would lead to a global catastrophe and make arguments against using weapons of mass destruction untenable.

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, warned that the United States and NATO’s support of Ukraine was leading the world to a “terrible war”.

Since its invasion on Feb. 24, which it has cast as defending itself from an aggressive West, Russia has taken control of parts of Ukraine and has said it will never return them. Ukraine has said that restoring its territorial integrity is not open for negotiation.

In Ukraine’s embattled east, the top Russian-installed official in the occupied parts of the Donetsk region said late on Sunday he had visited the town of Soledar that Russia says it captured this month.

Denis Pushilin, the administrator, published a short video on the Telegram messaging app that showed him driving and walking amidst uninhabited areas and destroyed buildings.

Reuters was not able to independently verify when and where the video was taken.

On Jan. 11, the private Russian military group Wagner said it had captured Soledar and Russian-installed authorities in the Donetsk region said last week they were in control of the salt-mining town.

Ukraine has never publicly said that the town was taken by Russian forces. On Sunday, the general staff of its armed forces said in a daily update that Russian forces had fired on Ukrainian positions in the area.

Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Leigh Thomas; Additional reporting by Tom Sims, Lidia Kelly and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Germany would not block Poland from sending tanks to Ukraine, minister says

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PARIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Germany’s foreign minister said on Sunday her government would not stand in the way if Poland wants to send its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, in a possible breakthrough for Kyiv which wants the tanks for its fight against Russia’s invasion.

Ukrainian officials have been calling on Western allies to supply them with the modern German-made tanks for months – but Berlin has so far held back from sending them, or allowing other NATO countries to do so.

Asked what would happen if Poland went ahead and sent its Leopard 2 tanks without German approval, Annalena Baerbock said on France’s LCI TV: “For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way.”

Her remarks appeared to go further than German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s comments at a summit in Paris earlier on Sunday that all decisions on weapons deliveries would be made in coordination with allies including the United States.

Germany has been under heavy pressure to let Leopards go to Ukraine. But Scholz’s Social Democrat party is traditionally sceptical of military involvements and wary of sudden moves that could cause Moscow to further escalate.

German defense minister Boris Pistorius said on Sunday that he expected a decision soon on the tanks, though he kept up a note of caution.

Pistorius told ARD TV that Germany would not make a hasty decision because the government had many factors to consider, including consequences at home for the security of the German population.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy repeated his long-standing plea for the tanks at his Sunday meeting with former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was visiting Kyiv.

A Leclerc XLR battle tank manufactured by Nexter is displayed at the Eurosatory international defense and security trade fair in Villepinte, near Paris, France June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

“We need more weapons: tanks, aircraft, long-range missiles,” Zelenskiy said, according to a statement on his website.

Ukraine says the heavily armoured Western battle tanks would give the Ukrainian ground troops more mobility and protection ahead of a new Russian offensive which Kyiv expects in the near future. It would also help Ukraine retake some of the territory that has fallen to Russia.

After the Paris summit, Scholz told a news conference that all weapons deliveries to Ukraine so far had taken place in close coordination with Western partners. “We will do that in the future,” he said.

Speaking at the same news conference, French President Emmanuel Macron said he did not rule out the possibility of sending Leclerc tanks to Ukraine.

Macron said that sending tanks must not escalate the situation, must take into account the time to train Ukrainians to be effective, and must not endanger France’s own security.

“Regarding the Leclercs, I asked the Army minister to work on it, but nothing has been ruled out,” Macron said, adding that the move would have to be coordinated with allies such as Germany in the coming days and weeks.

German sources have told Reuters they would allow German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine to help its defence against Russia if the United States agrees to send its own tanks. But U.S. officials have said President Joe Biden’s administration is not poised to send its own tanks, including the M1 Abrams.

The Kremlin’s spokesman said on Friday that Western countries supplying additional tanks to Ukraine would not change the course of the conflict and that they would add to the problems of the Ukrainian people.

Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Leigh Thomas; Additional reporting by Tom Sims, Lidia Kelly and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by David Holmes, Andrew Heavens and Diane Craft

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Germany won’t keep Poland from sending tanks to Ukraine – DW – 01/22/2023

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Germany would not stand in the way if Poland sent its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday in an interview with French television LCI.

Asked what would happen if Poland went ahead and sent its Leopard 2 tanks without German approval, Baerbock said: “For the moment the question has not been asked, but if we were asked we would not stand in the way.”

“We know how important these tanks are and this is why we are discussing this now with our partners,” the German foreign minister added. “We need to make sure people’s lives are saved and Ukraine’s territory liberated.”

Earlier Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reaffirmed that Berlin and Paris would support Ukraine in its fight against Russian occupation, and would not allow Europe to revert back to “hatred and national rivalries.”

“We will continue to provide Ukraine with all the support its needs for as long as necessary. Together, as Europeans, to defend our European peace project,” he said while on a visit to Paris to celebrate 60 years of the landmark Franco-German Elysee Treaty.

Germany has been under considerable pressure both to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and to allow other countries to send their German-made tanks to Ukrainian forces. But Berlin has been hesitant to send the highly advanced, Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine out of concern it could lead to a widening of the Russian war in Ukraine.

Poland has repeatedly slammed Berlin over its hesitant stance.

“Germany’s attitude is unacceptable. It has been almost a year since the war began. Innocent people are dying every day,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the national Polish PAP news agency. “Russian bombs are wreaking havoc in Ukrainian cities. Civilian targets are being attacked, women and children are being murdered.”

No deal on tanks, but hope remains

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Here are other updates on the war in Ukraine on Sunday, January 22:

Norway estimates over 300,000 casualties

Norwegian Chief of Defense Eirik Kristoffersen said around 180,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured in the war in Ukraine.

“Russian losses are beginning to approach around 180,000 dead or wounded soldiers,” he said in an interview with TV2, without specifying how the numbers were calculated. 

“Ukrainian losses are probably over 100,000 dead or wounded. In addition Ukraine has about 30,000 civilians who died in this terrible war,” Kristoffersen said. 

It’s the highest estimate after General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, in November said the Russian army had suffered more than 100,000 dead or wounded, with a “probably” similar toll on the Ukrainian side.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine released their casualty numbers in months, and none of the figures can be independently verified. 

Kristoffersen warned, however, “Russia is able to continue (this war) for quite a long time,” citing Moscow’s mobilization and arms production capacities.  

Macron doesn’t rule out delivering French heavy tanks to Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country was still studying the decision to deliver French-mad Leclerc heavy tanks to Ukraine. 

Speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday, Macron said he had asked the Defense Ministry to work on it, stressing that “nothing is excluded.”

However, the French president stressed that dispatching any hardware to Ukraine to push Russian forces away should be “collectively” decided and coordinated with allies, Germany included.

Macron also said that deploying the heavy tanks to Ukraine must not weaken France’s own defense capabilities or escalate the conflict.

Germany has been under immense pressure lately to deliver battle tanks to Ukraine. Berlin has been hesitant to send the highly advanced, German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine or allow other nations to transfer them. 

On Sunday, Scholz reiterated Berlin’s stance on the matter, stressing that his country had always acted in close coordination with its allies.

Germany’s new defense minister planning to visit Ukraine

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he was “certain” that he would travel to Ukraine soon. “Probably even within the next four weeks,” he told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Pistorius, who took office on Thursday after his predecessor Christine Lambrecht resigned, said his ministry was looking into how to be best prepared for any possible decisions on the matter.

“We are in very close dialogue with our international partners, first and foremost with the US, on this issue.” 

Putin ally warns against supplying Ukraine with offensive arms

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, warned that the West delivering offensive weapons to Ukraine would lead the world to a “terrible war.”

“If Washington and NATO countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,” Volodin said on the Telegram messaging app.

“Deliveries of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,” he said.

The head of the State Duma said Moscow considered attacks on the Ukrainian territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which Russia annexed and occupied, as an attack on its territory. 

War prompted ‘new revival’ of unity, says Zelenskyy 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was confident of victory as he marked the Day of Ukrainian Unity. Ukrainians celebrate the 1919 unification between the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic on January 22.

Zelenskyy said in an emotional video that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a “new revival of our Ukrainian unity” as millions of Ukrainians stood together to defend the country. 

“Each region protects the other,” he said. “And all of us together are defending Kyiv. And all of us together defend Kharkiv. And all of us together are liberating Kherson.” 

UK intelligence: Russia struggling to expand army

The British Defence Ministry said in its regular intelligence update that Russia was likely struggling to find the material and staff it needed after Moscow announced plans to expand its armed forces. 

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently announced measures to expand the military, including increasing troop numbers from 1.15 million to 1.5 million.

“Shoigu’s plans signal that the Russian leadership highly likely assesses that an enhanced conventional military threat will endure for many years beyond the current Ukraine war,” the British report said.  

“However, Russia will highly likely struggle to staff and equip the planned expansion.” 

The British ministry has released daily intelligence reports on the war since Russia launched the war in Ukraine last year. Russia accused the UK of a disinformation campaign.

More DW coverage on the war in Ukraine

A new investigation by a German newspaper said Bulgaria’s former government quietly supplied Ukraine with weapons soon after Russia invaded last year. DW looks into the news about the secret weapons supplies and what it means for Bulgaria.  

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid has forced many cities to roll out power cuts to save energy. Kyiv residents speak about the serious consequences for people out on the streets.

Ukraine: Kiev is dangerous after dark

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