Britain announced a major arms package for Ukraine on Monday. 14 battle tanks are included, but also new artillery and lots of ammunition. During his speech in Parliament (to see here) the British Defense Minister Ben Wallace also appealed to Germany: Main battle tanks are not per se offensive or defensive weapons, it depends on how you use them. In Ukraine they would be used for defence.
It is a classification that many German experts made months ago. Chancellor Scholz has not been interested in this so far. Now there are increasing signs that Germany could also supply Leopard-type main battle tanks. The news service Bloomberg reported a few days ago that Germany would no longer close its eyes to the delivery of leopards.
Now the FPD politician Marco Faber confirmed in an interview with the daily mirror that the preparations for deliveries are underway (source here). Only: Denials are still coming from the Chancellery and the Ministry of Defense.
Because Olaf Scholz confirmed to Bloomberg on Tuesday evening that he was in talks with partner countries about tank deliveries (source here). He stressed again that the decision would only be taken in agreement with the partners. However, there are now.
Whether Germany actually delivers or releases deliveries from other European countries, Kyiv will probably only find out on Friday at the Ukraine supporters’ conference in Ramstein.
The most important news of the day:
- Russia will fundamentally reform its armed forces over the next three years. This was announced by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu. The country wants to keep up to 1.5 million men under arms. The land forces and air force in the European part of Russia are being particularly strengthened. More about this here.
- In the discussion about Leopard tanks, representatives of several EU countries have increased the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). At the World Economic Forum in Davos, the presidents of Poland and Lithuania, as well as the Finnish foreign minister, urged Scholz to quickly approve the delivery of the tanks to Ukraine. More here.
- Also two days after a Russian missile hit a residential building in Dnipro, the many civilian casualties remain the dominant issue in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to punish the guilty and called for more weapons from the West. Read more about it here.
- According to British secret services, the Russian army is having difficulties in precisely targeting its attacks in the war against Ukraine and in assessing consequential damage in advance. Examples from the war showed that Russia had weaknesses in its ability to attack with long-range weapons, it said. More here.
- Ukrainian rescue workers have stopped searching for survivors in the rubble of the bombed apartment block. According to civil protection, at least 44 people died, including five children. More on this in our news blog.
- Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier assured Selenskyj of Germany’s broad support in a video call. “We support Ukraine politically, humanitarian, financially, militarily – with what we can and what is necessary, coordinated with our allies,” Steinmeier said, according to his spokeswoman.
- After a wave of public outrage, the external adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, Oleksiy Arestovych, resigned. “I want to show an example of civilized behavior,” he wrote on Facebook. The reason was his statement in a live Internet broadcast. There he had named the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses as a possible reason for the missile’s impact in Dnipro.
- The head of the self-proclaimed, so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, has claimed that Russian troops have taken Sol train station in Soledar. This is reported by the Russian news agency Ria Novosti on Telegram.
- US Deputy Secretary of Defense Wendy Sherman once again has “unwavering” support for Ukraine guaranteed by their country. Sherman traveled to Kyiv and met both Zelenskyy and Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov, the Foreign Office in Washington said.
- At the Australian Open, Russian and Belarusian flags are now also banned in the spectator stands. The Tennis Australia Association reacted to the excitement during and after the first round match between the Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl and Russian Kamilla Rakhimova.
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