Poland warned on Monday that it was ready to do without the backing of undecided Berlin to deliver German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine, where Russian forces continue to claim small advances on the pitch. In this context, the European Union announced that it was granting an additional 500 million euros to supply armaments to kyiv and allocating 45 million euros for the training of Ukrainian soldiers on EU territory.
Sign of growing tensions with Moscow, two of the three Baltic countries, Estonia and Latvia, each announced during the day their decision to expel the Russian ambassador on their soil, following in the footsteps of Lithuania which had made even last year.
The German government appeared divided on the issue of the delivery of Leopard heavy tanks, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, so far evasive, found himself under ever increasing pressure on Monday. Especially after its Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock ruled the day before that Germany was ready to authorize, in accordance with the legislation in force, Warsaw to supply these armored vehicles to kyiv.
“We are going to ask for such an agreement (in Berlin) but it is a secondary question,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki reacted on Monday. “Even if we don’t get their agreement (from the Germans), we will give our tanks to Ukraine as part of a small coalition”, including “if Germany is not part of it”.
Poland, ready to send 14 Leopards to kyiv, is in discussions with about fifteen States on this subject, many European armies having such armored vehicles, likely to have a significant impact for the Ukrainians in the face of the steamroller of the troops Russians.
The main information:
– Poland warned on Monday that it was ready to do without Berlin’s approval to deliver German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine.
– Estonia and Latvia each announced during the day their decision to expel the Russian ambassador on their soil, following in the footsteps of Lithuania which had done the same last year.
– On the ground, Russian artillery fire killed a civilian on Monday in Antonivka, a village in the southern region of Kherson.
– In the northeast, in the Sumy region, a young woman died and two other people were injured when a house was hit by a shell in Esmanska, while an apartment building was “directly hit in Vorozhba, according to Ukrainian regional authorities.
kyiv wants “hundreds” of tanks
“We need (…) several hundred” tanks, hammered the chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency Andriï Iermak, at a time when the Russians are on the offensive, in eastern Ukraine in particular. On Monday, the day after Annalena Baerbock’s remarks on the delivery of Leopard tanks, Steffen Hebestreit, the German Chancellor’s spokesman, clarified his position: “The federal government does not rule out the delivery of Leopard tanks, it does not hasn’t decided if he’s going to do it now.”
The fear of a military escalation with Moscow and Berlin’s reluctance to assume leadership in the Western camp lead, according to analysts, Germany to hesitate on sending these weapons.
Russian attacks
On the ground, Russian artillery fire killed a civilian on Monday in Antonivka, a village in the southern region of Kherson, deplored its governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich. The day before, a leader of the local occupation authority installed by Moscow had claimed that the Russian army was advancing towards two localities in the Zaporizhia region, also in the south, where clashes with troops from kyiv had broken out. intensified this week.
Monday evening, the staff of the Ukrainian army soberly reported that “on January 20 and 21, the enemy had carried out offensive actions in the sector”, near Mali Chtcherbaky. In the northeast, in the Sumy region, a young woman died and two others were injured when a house was hit by a shell in Esmanska, while an apartment building was “directly hit” in Vorozhba, according to Ukrainian regional authorities.
One of the main leaders of the separatists in eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, meanwhile posted himself in Soledar, a small town which Moscow claimed to have taken more than a week ago. For the Russians, the conquest of this city is a step towards encircling Bakhmout, which they have been trying to conquer since the summer. According to Mr. Pushilin, the fighting there is “intensifying” and the Russian soldiers are “advancing”.
Ukraine has so far not officially acknowledged the loss of Soledar, now that fighting continues in its western part. “The enemy is continuing its offensive in the Bakhmout and Avdiivka sectors aimed at seizing the entire Donetsk region, despite high losses,” the Ukrainian army general staff noted in the evening.
The pro-Russian separatists also claimed to have entered two nearby villages, Krasnopolivka and Dvourechye.
Ambassadors expelled
On the diplomatic front, Estonia and Latvia have announced that they will expel the Russian ambassadors to Tallinn and Riga respectively. The Estonians acted in this way following a similar decision taken a few hours earlier by the Russians against the head of their diplomatic representation in Moscow.
The Latvians for their part explained their gesture by their “solidarity with Estonia and Lithuania”, which had announced in October the expulsion of the Russian charge d’affaires, and also recalled its ambassador stationed in Russia. Russians and Westerners have multiplied the expulsions of diplomats in recent years and more since the Russians launched their offensive against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
But this is the first time that ambassadors have been sent back to their country since the start of the war. In contrast, South Africa, which had refused to condemn Moscow since the start of the war in Ukraine, took a new step on Monday by proclaiming itself a “friend” of Russia.