EU forces to train another 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers

International

After more than eleven months of war in the Ukraine the Ukrainian army is again under massive pressure from Russian attacks. For example, the city of Cherson in the south and Kharkiv in the east are facing heavy shelling.

Russia has declared that peace negotiations are hopeless because of the planned Western tank deliveries to Ukraine. Irrespective of this, Kyiv is not losing sight of the goal of joining the EU.

The most important current developments war in Ukraine you read here

February 1st

3:31 p.m .: EU forces are to train another 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers

The scope of the current EU training mission for the Ukrainian armed forces is to be doubled. The new goal is to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers in EU countries, several EU officials announced in Brussels on Wednesday. So far, the goal has been to train around 15,000 soldiers.

The start of the EU training mission was decided in November by the foreign ministers of the member states. At that time it was said that up to 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers should first be trained in Germany, Poland and other EU countries.

The EU wants to continue to support the Ukrainian troops in their unequal fight against Russia. Image: XinHua / Zhang Cheng

10:44 a.m. Raids on oligarch Kolomojskyj and former Interior Minister Avakov

In Ukraine, state investigators have apparently searched the homes of oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi and ex-Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. According to media reports on Tuesday, Kolomojskyj is dealing with “embezzlement of petroleum products” worth the equivalent of 930 million euros. In the case of Awakow, the recent crash of a helicopter with its successor on board is said to have triggered the investigation. The raids have not yet been officially confirmed.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj died in a helicopter crash in mid-JanuaryImage: AP / Daniel Cole

The investigations against Avakov are said to revolve around the helicopter crash in mid-January in which Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj died life came. “You looked at the contracts with Airbus from six years ago,” Monastyrskyi’s predecessor told the online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.

5.10 a.m .: Kyiv wants to push ahead with EU accession

Despite the fierce fighting, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to push ahead with his country’s planned EU membership. Kyiv is expecting “news” from an EU-Ukraine summit later this week, said Zelenskyy. He reiterated that reforms are being worked on in Kyiv.

The war has increased the desire among many Ukrainians to join the EU soon. The country has been a candidate for EU membership since June. Associated with this, however, are conditions, among other things, in the fight against corruption.

According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine is currently working on reforms to meet the conditions for EU membership.Image: Ukrainian Presidential Press Off / Uncredited

31 January

4:04 p.m .: Minister: Ukraine will receive 120 to 140 heavy battle tanks from the west

According to Ukraine, it will receive a total of up to 140 heavy battle tanks from Western countries. In a first step, “the Ukrainian armed forces will receive between 120 and 140 modern Western-style tanks,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in a Tuesday online service Facebook published video. These are German-made Leopard 2 tanks, British Challenger 2 tanks and US-made Abrams tanks, he added. This is the first time Ukraine has officially announced the total number of tanks promised by its western allies.

Archive: Among the tanks delivered to Ukraine are Abrams tanks from the USA.Image: dpa / Nicolas Armer

2:20 p.m .: Russia reports taking the village of Blahodatne in the Donetsk region

During the war in Ukraine, Russian troops say they now have complete control of the village of Blahodatne in the Donetsk region. This was announced by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow on Tuesday. The head of the Russian private army Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had previously claimed combat success for his paramilitary units. The capture of the Ukrainian side was not confirmed.

The Donetsk region and the city of Bakhmut are particularly hotly contested.Image: AP / Alexei Alexandrov

At the weekend it was said in Kyiv that the attacks had been repelled. The information cannot be verified independently. The place is north of the currently particularly competitive city of Bachmut.

12:42 p.m .: Putin wants to build military training centers with Belarus

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken out in favor of establishing joint military training centers with Belarus. In a decree published Tuesday, Putin instructed defense and foreign ministers to start talks with the neighboring country and sign an agreement to set up the training centers.

Fears are growing that Minsk could enter the Ukraine conflict and fight alongside Moscow. Belarus has Russia already allowed to use Belarusian territory as a starting point for last year’s Ukraine offensive. Despite increased military cooperation with the Russian government, Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko insisted that he would not send his soldiers to Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken out in favor of establishing joint military training centers with Belarus.Image: IMAGO / ITAR-TASS / imago images

10:55 a.m.: Human Rights Watch condemns use of landmines

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticized the widespread use of banned landmines in Ukraine. “Ukraine should investigate the alleged use by its own military of thousands of rocket-launched anti-personnel mines in and around the eastern Ukrainian city of Izyum, which were scattered during the Russian occupation of the area,” HRW said in a statement on Tuesday. Isjum was occupied by Russian troops from April to September. At the same time, the Russian military has been criticized for laying such mines.

Kyiv: A Ukrainian soldier walks in a field near a post warning of landmines.Image: dpa / Natacha Pisarenko

According to HRW, it is about the scattering of so-called anti-aircraft mines by rockets or artillery. These mines couldn’t distinguish between soldiers and civilians, explained Steve Goose, the department’s director weapons at the organization. “Russian forces have repeatedly used anti-personnel mines and committed atrocities across the country. However, this does not justify Ukraine’s use of these banned weapons.” The mines would result in the displacement of civilians, hampering agriculture and the delivery of humanitarian goods.

7.13 a.m .: Macron does not rule out the delivery of fighter jets in principle

French President Emmanuel Macron does not rule out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine in principle. “In principle, nothing is forbidden,” he said on Monday in The Hague when asked whether France may supply fighter jets to Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden have differing views on fighter jet deliveries to Ukraine.Image: www.imago-images.de / IMAGO/Ting Shen – Pool

However, Macron set some conditions against which Ukrainian requests would be assessed on a case-by-case basis: First of all, Kyiv must make an “official request”. In addition, the weapons should not have an escalating effect and should not touch Russian soil, but should only be used for defense. Nor should the French army be weakened by arms deliveries.

12:31 a.m .: USA will not deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine

the USA will not supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, according to President Joe Biden. When asked by a reporter whether the US would make F-16s available to Ukraine, Biden replied “no” in Washington Monday. So far, the US government has not ruled out any specific weapon system. It will be “discussed very carefully,” it said last Friday.

You can find older news about the war in Ukraine here.

(nik/ast/with material from dpa/AFP)