Ukraine needs long-range missiles and fighter jets from its allies to confront Russia, Ukraine’s president said on Wednesday. Volodymyr Zelenskyshortly after the United States and Germany announced the heavy tank shipping.
“Deliveries of long-range missiles to Ukraine should also be made possible. This is important. And we must also expand our cooperation on artillery and [posibilitar] sending combat planes,” said Zelensky in his daily intervention on social networks.
The president revealed that he had already made those demands in a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
In his message on the networks, he once again thanked the United States and Germany for the decision to send heavy tanks to Ukraine, for the first time since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
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“I thank our allies for their willingness to provide us with modern and indispensable tanks,” he declared.
But the announcement must materialize quickly and cover military hardware in quantities sufficient to repel Russian aggression, he said.
“The key now is speed and volume. Speed in the training of our military, speed in the delivery of tanks (…) and the volume of support,” he stressed.
The Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, Ganna Maliar, indicated shortly before that the Russian troops “intensify” their offensive in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, in the Donbas basin (east), where they have “superiority” in troops and military equipment.
Two Colombians who were fighting as volunteers in Ukraine die
Two Colombians who had gone to Ukraine to join the fight against Russian troops died on January 18 “in combat,” the Colombian Foreign Ministry reported Wednesday.
“The two Colombian citizens had been in Ukraine since December and belonged to the 49th Infantry Battalion of the Ukrainian army. According to information from this battalion, the citizens died in combat on January 18,” the ministry said in a bulletin. .
The deceased belonged to International Legion for the Defense of Ukrainea military brigade that brings together foreign volunteers.
Without giving details about the identity or age of the deceased, the Foreign Ministry indicated that “the wives of both” requested “photographic evidence to verify the death of their relatives” and expressed the “intention” to repatriate the bodies.
“The International Legion has been written about this decision and a response is expected from them to learn about the process and the support that Ukraine would provide for this purpose,” the statement said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the formation of the International Legion at the start of the war in February 2022, and according to kyiv about 20,000 applications have been received.
It is unknown in which region the Colombian volunteers died.
At the beginning of January, Moscow announced the conquest of Soledar (east), where the fighting has lasted longer than in any other Ukrainian town.
The city, which had a population of 10,000 before the war, was largely destroyed by bombing earlier in the year.
(With information from AFP)
