Zelensky in a message asked Ukraine’s allies to provide the country’s army with heavier weapons
Ukraine is expected to receive armored fighting vehicles from its Western allies, but not the heavier tanks it has requested to counter the Russian invasion.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday gave his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks to help Ukrainian forces, a French official said after a telephone conversation between the two leaders.
For his part, American President Joe Biden pointed out on the same day that Washington is considering the mission of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, crawler-armored combat vehicles (TOMA).
This armored vehicle, equipped with TOW missiles and a 25 mm machine gun capable of firing up to 300 rounds per minute, has been in use by the US military since the mid-1980s.
However, Biden made no mention of sending heavier tanks, such as the Abrams, that Ukraine has requested.
In his nightly message, Zelensky thanked Macron for his decision and added that it shows the need for other allies of Ukraine to provide its military with heavier weapons.
“It is something that sends a clear message to all our partners. There is no logical reason why Ukraine has not yet received Western tanks,” he stressed.
In his message, Zelensky said that Ukrainian troops outside the city of Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, are inflicting significant losses on the Russian army, but Moscow is strengthening its forces there.
Wounds in Russia
For his part, the head of the Ukrainian military’s intelligence services, Kirill Budanov, told ABC television that he expects more strikes “deeper and deeper” into Russian territory, without specifying whether the Ukrainian military would be responsible for them.
Budanov indicated that he was “delighted” by strikes against Russian air bases, such as the one launched on December 26 against the Engels base, hundreds of kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
When asked about the possibility of attacks on Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, Budanov replied: “Crimea is part of Ukraine, it is part of our territory. We can use any kind of weapon on our territory.”
The US is preparing a new package of military aid to Ukraine, which is expected to be announced in the coming days and will be added to the 21.3 billion dollars that Washington has already offered to the country.
In a sign to the West that Russia will not back down in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday sent a frigate into the Atlantic Ocean equipped with the latest generation of hypersonic cruise missiles.
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