After France and Italy and their defense system, the United States has promised to send more powerful air attack systems in its new two billion dollar military aid package. This will include long-range rockets that can be fired from the ground, which will almost double the range of Ukraine’s strike force against the Russians, the US Department of Defense announced on Friday (February 3rd). Named “GLSDB”, these small diameter bombs manufactured by Boeing and Saab can fly up to 150 kilometers and, therefore, threaten Russian positions behind the front lines.
This is a second important step forward for the power of the Ukrainian army, which has been begging its allies for several weeks to send heavy weapons, even combat planes. After intense negotiations, Volodymyr Zelensky had notably obtained Germany’s agreement at the end of January for the delivery of modern heavy tanks Leopard 2, then Leopard 1. Paris and Rome also announced earlier in the day the delivery of MAMBA medium-range surface-to-air defense. “If the delivery of weapons accelerates, especially long-range weapons, not only will we not withdraw from Bakhmout, but we will start to end the occupation of Donbass”, indicated the president. Ukrainian during his daily address.
The arrival of the American “GLSDBs” will effectively give the Ukrainians “a longer-range capability that will allow them to conduct homeland defense operations and retake their sovereign territory,” the Pentagon spokesman told reporters. , Pat Ryder. They could give Ukrainian forces the ability to strike positions in Donbass, the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, and northern Crimea. The delivery time is not specified. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion at the end of February 2022, the American authorities have allocated more than 29.3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, according to the Pentagon.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andriï Yermak announced, this Saturday, February 4, “a new major exchange of prisoners” between Ukraine and Russia. kyiv recovered 116 soldiers who withstood the siege of Mariupol, guerrillas from the Kherson region and snipers captured during the ongoing battles for the city of Bakhmout. Moscow announced the return of 63 soldiers.
Portugal is willing to send Leopard 2 heavy tanks to Ukraine but must first work with Germany to restore some of its armored vehicles to working order, Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Saturday. “This logistical operation is underway and we are working very closely with Germany. In due course, we will be able to contribute to this collective effort to provide Ukraine with the best means to defend itself,” he told the Lusa agency, on the sidelines of a trip to the Central African Republic.
The number of armored vehicles that Lisbon could supply “will be announced in due course”, indicated Antonio Costa, adding that the European countries concerned wanted to be able to deliver this armament “before the end of March”. The weekly Expresso reported last week that more than half of the Portuguese army’s 37 Leopard tanks were not in working order.
The Ukrainian President reiterated his wish to quickly bring Ukraine into the European Union, following the EU-Ukraine summit which took place in kyiv on Friday 3 February. “There is an agreement on the fact that it is possible to start negotiations this year on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union,” he said during his traditional evening speech. “Tonight, we can say that Ukraine is progressing towards its objective,” added the head of state, considering that the country is “already discussing as a member of the European community”.
European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other senior EU officials gathered in the Ukrainian capital on Friday as anti-aircraft sirens sounded twice during the day. “Ukraine is the EU, the EU is Ukraine,” said Charles Michel in particular after the summit.
The powers of the G7 and Australia have reached a new agreement on the price cap of Russian petroleum products, Friday, February 3. The agreement was made possible by the consensus reached earlier in the day by the 27 countries of the European Union. It includes a readjustment of the ceilings, at 100 dollars per barrel for more expensive products such as diesel and 45 euros per barrel for less refined products such as fuel oil. These ceilings relate to Russian petroleum products transported by vessels from partner countries. According to other diplomatic sources consulted by AFP, Poland and the Baltic states were demanding an even lower level of the ceiling to further penalize Moscow.
Diplomatic sources described these prices as “balanced”, making it possible to “reduce Russian income while guaranteeing access to these products for third countries” that are not members of the EU. The goal is to “reduce Russian revenues while ensuring the stability of the global energy market”, for her part indicated the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “We must continue to deprive Russia of the means to wage war on Ukraine,” she said. The embargo on Russian petroleum products exported by sea will take effect on Sunday 5 February.
It is about to come straight out of a Thales factory in the Paris region. A hyper-precise French radar is in the assembly phase, and should soon be operational to scan the Ukrainian sky in order to detect, then destroy Russian drones and missiles.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov visited this site in Limours, planted in the Essonne countryside, on Wednesday to be presented with this advanced technology which will strengthen Ukraine’s ground-to-air defense. . “The system proposed by Thales allows us to further improve the observation capacity. They are very efficient electronic eyes,” he said.
The 250 kilometer range of the GM 200 is sufficient to cover “the entire kyiv region”, according to his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu. This hyper-powerful $30 million radar can detect both low-flying drones and much faster high-altitude fighter jets. Mounted on a truck, it can be deployed in 10 minutes. 80 copies have been sold worldwide since its creation in 2010. France has also announced the acquisition of four additional radars to monitor its own airspace.
