· Germany said no decision has been made yet on tanks sought by Kyiv at a crucial U.S.-led meeting on boosting military aid to Ukraine, despite an emotional plea from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. READ MORE BELOW
· German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin was not isolated among allies in preventing the delivery to Ukraine of Western-made battle tanks. The impression that “there is a united coalition and that Germany is standing in the way is wrong,” Pistorius said, adding that “there are many allies who say we share the view that I have put forward here.”
· Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy implored Western allies to “speed up” arms deliveries as his nation faces Russia’s onslaught. Addressing the gathering at Ramstein Air Base in Germany by video-link, Zelenskyy said partners needed “not to bargain about different numbers of tanks but to open that principal supply that will stop evil.”
· The Kremlin warned Western tanks will make little difference on the ground in Ukraine. “One should not exaggerate the importance of such supplies in terms of the ability to change something,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “This will add problems for Ukraine, but this will change nothing in terms of the Russian side advancing on the path to achieving its goals.”
· The Kremlin refused to say whether Russia was preparing for strikes on the capital after images of missile defense systems on several Moscow rooftops circulated on social media. The pictures appeared to show a Pantsir anti-aircraft system installed on the defense ministry building along the Moskva River, which was visible on the main ministry building in the capital.
· Fighting has “sharply increased” in the southern Ukraine region of Zaporizhzhia, where the frontline has been largely stagnant for months, a senior Moscow-installed official in the area said.
· Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces had taken control of Klishchiivka, a settlement south of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
· The United Nations said its first humanitarian convoy had reached the area around war-scarred Soledar in eastern Ukraine. “This is the first inter-agency convoy to reach this area since the war began,” UN humanitarian agency spokesman, Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.
· The UK vowed to help Ukraine “pursue criminal accountability for Russia’s illegal invasion,” as international support grows for a special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly branded Moscow’s renewed military offensive launched last February, “an outrageous violation of the rules-based international order.”
· NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said countries backing Ukraine needed to focus not only on sending new weapons to Kyiv, but looking at ammunition for older systems and helping maintain them.
· Ukraine said it had detained seven “Russian agents” suspected of handing coordinates to Moscow’s forces to carry out strikes in the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk, where dozens of civilians were recently killed in a missile attack.
Expectations grew ahead of the meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany that Ukraine’s Western allies would agree to send German-made Leopard tanks. /Lisi Niesner/Reuters
IN DETAIL
No decision made on Leopard tanks for Kyiv
Germany said no decision has been made yet on tanks sought by Kyiv at a crucial U.S.-led meeting on boosting military aid to Ukraine, despite an emotional plea from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Expectations grew ahead of the meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany that Ukraine’s Western allies would agree to send German-made Leopard tanks, amid mounting pressure from several European countries to do so.
But German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters on the sidelines of the event that “we still cannot say when a decision will be taken, and what the decision will be, when it comes to the Leopard tank.”
He also denied accusations that Germany alone was blocking tank deliveries. The impression that “there is a united coalition and that Germany is standing in the way is wrong,” he said.
Pistorius added that he has ordered a stock-take of Leopards so that action can follow quickly if the decision were to be positive for delivery.
Kyiv wants the powerful Leopard tanks to press offensives against Russian troops, but the Kremlin has warned their delivery by the West would amount to an “extremely dangerous” escalation.
Germany’s hesitation so far on supplying the tanks has led to fierce criticism of Berlin from other countries such as Finland and Poland, which have their own stocks of Leopards but would need German approval to send them.
Zelenskyy renewed his plea for Western allies to “speed up” arms deliveries to Ukraine as he addressed the conference, which gathered representatives from 50 countries, via video link.
Partners needed “not to bargain about different numbers of tanks but to open that principal supply that will stop evil,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Source(s): AFP, Reuters
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