Nfter the new Russian rocket attacks on Ukraine with deaths and injuries in the city of Dnipro, the leadership of the attacked country has demanded more weapons from the West. The terror can be stopped with Western weapons, which the Ukrainian army is waiting for, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in his evening video message on Saturday. He had previously thanked Great Britain, which wants to be the first country to deliver western main battle tanks to Ukraine. This is a signal for other partners of Ukraine to do the same.
Britain plans to provide Ukraine with 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks in the coming weeks to ward off Russian attackers. This was announced by the British government after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called Zelenskyy on Saturday. The UK defense and security authorities see an opportunity to act as Russia “is on the defensive due to supply shortages and declining morale (of its troops).” Allies should launch their planned support for Ukraine for 2023 “as soon as possible to achieve maximum impact,” London sources said.
So far, Ukraine has not received any Western-style main battle tanks, only Soviet models from the stocks of Eastern European NATO countries. Kyiv has long been demanding the delivery of the German tank Leopard 2, which is technically superior to Russian tanks. Poland and Finland have agreed to supply Leopard tanks as part of the European alliance. The federal government has not yet taken a position on this.
On Friday next week, the defense ministers of Ukraine’s western allies will discuss further military support for the country at the US air base Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate. Before the negotiations, the Ukrainian Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev urged the German government to quickly deliver Leopard2 to his country. “German weapons, German tanks are essential for survival,” he said in a dpa interview. “We have very little time to discuss. And we expect our allies to understand that, too, and do the right thing.”
Many civilian casualties when home is hit
In Dnipro, where at least 20 people were killed in a rocket attack on a block of flats according to preliminary information from the authorities, the search for buried people continued on Sunday night. More than 60 people were injured, including at least twelve children. A 15-year-old girl was among the dead, it said. A spokesman for the emergency services said there were still survivors in the rubble who were sending text messages or calling for help.
Helpers pulled people out of the rubble of the partially collapsed house. According to emergency services, 72 apartments were destroyed. A total of between 100 and 200 people were reported in the house.
The body of a man killed in the attack on Dnipro is recovered.
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Image: AP/Evgeniy Maloletka
According to Zelenskyy, Russia’s rocket fire has once again hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – particularly hard in the Kharkiv region in the east and in the capital Kyiv. Work to restore the supply was in full swing there. In total, there were power outages in six areas of the country.
In the neighboring Republic of Moldova, the government again complained that rocket parts had fallen on its territory.
First major Russian attack in 2023
Russia fired on targets in Ukraine on Saturday morning and afternoon. There were air alerts throughout the country at times. Numerous Russian long-range Tupolev Tu-95 bombers were in the air. In addition, missiles were fired from warships in the Black Sea. It was the first major Russian attack of this kind since the turn of the year. The Ukrainian military said 25 of 38 Russian missiles had been shot down. These and other details of the fighting could not be independently verified.