Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands announce plan to provide Ukraine with at least 100 refurbished Leopard 1 tanks, a pledge that comes as fighting enters its 350th day and Kiev anticipates a new Russian offensive later this month.
Wednesday, February 08, 2023
2200 GMT — Ukraine anticipates new Russian offensive
Ukraine’s national security
chief has said Kiev expects Russia to include the
northeastern Kharkiv or southern Zaporizhzhia regions as targets
of an anticipated offensive aimed at reclaiming the initiative
in its year-old offensive.
Oleksiy Danilov, head of the National Security and Defence
Council, said Russian forces were probing Kiev’s defences in
partially Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia, part of a
Moscow-controlled land bridge between eastern Ukraine and Crimea
on the southern Black Sea coast.
In an interview with the Reuters news agency, he also said Kiev “doesn’t
exclude” a new Russian push in the Kharkiv region, from which
Moscow’s forces were repelled by a lightning Ukrainian
counter-offensive last summer.
“Attempts at an offensive in either the Kharkiv or
Zaporizhzhia direction will of course be made,” he said,
speaking in his office in the capital, Kiev. “How successful
they’ll be will depend on us.”
Here are some other developments:
2157 GMT — Ukraine to get tanks to repel Russia’s spring offensive
Ukraine should have a double-digit number of German-made Leopard 1 tanks at its disposal in the first quarter, German vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck has said, adding it was unclear exactly how many of the authorized 178 tanks would be sent.
“The numbers are there but they have to be refurbished for battle, re-equipped, so we don’t know exactly how many,” he told reporters after meeting US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington.
“But it’s a large number to repel Russia’s spring offensive.”
Asked whether the decision to send them, taken after months of mounting pressure on Berlin, should have been taken earlier, Habeck said: “I hope the decision was taken at just the right time.”
2149 GMT — Biden approves $10B HIMARS sale to Poland
The Biden administration has approved a prospective $10 billion sale of the US’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to Poland as NATO continues to push back against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Under the terms of the proposed sale, Poland would receive 18 units of the light multiple rocket launcher systems, 468 HIMARS Launcher Loa der Module kits, 45 M57 Army Tactical Missile Systems and 461 M30A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Alternative Warhead (GMLRS-AW) pods with the Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System (IMPS), the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.
In addition, the potential sale includes 521 M31A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Unitary (GMLRS-U) pods with the Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System (IMPS) and 532 XM403 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Extended Range Alternative Warhead (GMLRS-ER AW) pods.
For live updates from Tuesday (February 7), click here
Source: Reuters
Live blog: Ukraine anticipates Russian push in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia areas
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