Recently, Britain and Germany have reaffirmed their support for Ukraine amid Russia's escalating military campaign in the Eastern European country.
 |
| The US has authorized the commanders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to determine the range of HIMARS multiple rocket launcher attacks. (Source: US Army) |
According to AFP , on the evening of January 2nd, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held a telephone conversation, during which Sunak declared that London would "continue to stand firmly with Kyiv" in the conflict with Moscow.
A spokesperson for the British Prime Minister's office quoted the phone call between the two leaders as saying: "The Prime Minister made it clear that the UK is taking steps to provide military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, including the delivery of additional lethal aid."
On Telegram , President Zelensky announced that he had told Prime Minister Sunak that in the past five days alone, Russia had launched at least 500 rockets and drones into Ukrainian territory, and requested Britain's help in strengthening the air defense and long-range capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (VSU).
On the same day, also reacting to the rocket attacks on Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock affirmed that Berlin would “stand alongside the Ukrainian people as long as they need us.”
Meanwhile, Sebastian Schäfer, a member of the German Parliament's Budget Committee, stated that the VSU (Vietnam Superintendent of Service) has only a very small number of combat-ready Leopard-2 tanks of the A6 variant, one of the reasons being a shortage of necessary components, thus making repairs extremely time-consuming.
Calling on German defense companies Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) to quickly improve the supply of spare parts, MP Schaefer noted that the Ukrainian army's attempts to repair tanks themselves often lead to more serious damage.
Previously, on April 28, 2023, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stated that Germany had fulfilled all its obligations to Kyiv in the delivery of 18 Leopard-2 A6 tanks and 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
In a related development, also on January 2nd, the Ukrainian website Strana.ua quoted US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink as saying that Washington had authorized the VSU commander to determine the range of attacks using HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
According to Ms. Brink, the US government plans to transfer HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Missile System) missiles to Kyiv in the near future, but there is no information yet indicating that Ukraine will be supplied with HIMARS missiles with a range of over 160 km.
Source
Comment (0)