Ukraine declares importance of rapid supply of weapons
2023.01.30 01:19
Ukraine declares importance of rapid supply of weapons
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – Three people were killed by Russian missile strikes in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, and fighting continued in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia shelled the important town of Vuhledar, according to Ukrainian officials.
Just a few days after allies agreed to provide Kyiv with heavy battle tanks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Ukraine was facing a difficult situation in Donetsk and needed faster weapons supplies and new types of weapons.
“The circumstance is very difficult. In a late-night video address on Sunday, Zelenskiy stated, “There are constant Russian attacks in Bakhmut, Vuhledar, and other sectors in the Donetsk region.”
“Russia wants the war to go on for too long and use up our troops.” Therefore, we must use time as our weapon. Events, supplies, and the development of new weapons options for Ukraine must be accelerated.
The regional administration reported that Russian strikes on Kherson on Sunday caused damage to a hospital and a school, killing three people and injuring six others.
After Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russian troops occupied Kherson and remained in control of the city until Ukrainian forces retook it in November. The city has been regularly shelled by Russian positions across the Dnipro river ever since it was liberated.
A missile struck an apartment building in the town of Kharkiv in the northeast later on Sunday, killing an elderly woman, according to regional Governor Oleh Synehubov.
In the nation’s second-largest city, a fire engulfed a portion of a residential building, as captured by Reuters from the scene.
Saturday, Russia claimed that the Ukrainian military deliberately struck a hospital in an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russia, killing 14 people. Ukraine provided no response to the allegations.
In a statement late on Sunday, the General Staff of Ukraine said that Russian forces had shelled Bakhmut, the center of Moscow’s offensive in the eastern Donetsk region, and Vuhledar, to the southwest, where fighting has been getting worse in recent days.
Mykola Salamakha, a colonel and military analyst from Ukraine, told Ukrainian Radio NV that Russian troops were increasing their attacks on Vuhledar in waves.
He stated:
“We control practically the entire rail system used by the Russians for logistics from this location… The town is on an upland, and an extremely strong defensive hub has been created there.”
“This is a repetition of the situation in Bakhmut, where the Ukrainian armed forces crushed one wave of Russian troops after another.”
Three days earlier, at least 11 civilians were killed in missile strikes in Kyiv, which were interpreted by the Kremlin as a response to promises from Ukraine’s allies to supply battle tanks.
Germany and the United States announced last week that they would send Ukraine dozens of tanks to assist in repelling Russian forces, paving the way for other nations to follow suit after weeks of disagreement.
According to Ukraine’s ambassador to France, even though a total of 321 heavy tanks had been promised to Ukraine by a number of nations, it could take months for them to appear on the battlefield.
Since both sides in the conflict are anticipated to launch spring offensives in the upcoming weeks, Ukraine wants to expedite the delivery of heavy weapons.
A senior aide to Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Kyiv and its allies were also having discussions about Ukraine’s requests for long-range missiles. Additionally, Ukraine has requested American F16 fighter aircraft.
According to Chief Executive Officer Armin Papperger, Rheinmetall, a German arms manufacturer, may begin producing HIMARS multiple rocket launchers in Germany in order to meet demand in the West and Ukraine.
The HIMARS systems, which are currently manufactured in the United States, have been utilized by the Ukrainian military to devastating effect.
On Monday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg paid a visit to South Korea, a major arms exporter and ally of the United States, and urged Seoul to boost its military support for Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Monday by Russia’s RIA news agency that Russia shouldn’t talk to Kyiv or its Western “puppet masters” because the United States had decided to supply tanks to Ukraine.
However, on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Kremlin informed RIA that Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to having conversations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The Berliner newspaper Tagesspiegel reported on Sunday that Scholz had stated:
“I will also speak with Putin again – because it is necessary to speak.”
He added, “Putin has to withdraw troops from Ukraine to put an end to this horrible, senseless war that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people.”
Russia claims that it started its “special military operation” in Ukraine to “denazify” the country and ward off the hostile West. The invasion, according to Ukraine and its allies, was an unprovoked act of aggression.
Zelenskiy claimed that as part of his effort to prevent Russian athletes from participating in the Paris Olympic Games, he had written a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron.
He stated that granting Russia entry into the 2024 Paris Olympics would demonstrate that “terror is somehow acceptable.”
Last week, the International Olympic Committee said it was happy that the Olympic Council of Asia wanted to give Russian and Belarusian athletes the chance to compete in Asia.
