One person was killed and two injured in Russian missile attacks on Kyiv
After a rocket attack on the Ukrainian capital on Thursday morning, Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kiev, said one person was killed and two others were injured.
“Consequently of a rocket hitting a non-residential constructing in Holosiyevsky district, there’s currently information about one person killed and two injured. The injured were hospitalized by medics he said on Telegram.
There have been also updates from the cities of Odessa and Vinnitsa, southwest of Kiev, with reports of harm to critical energy facilities.
Civilians took refuge in a subway station during an air-raid alert in central Kiev on December 13, 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty’s paintings
Yuriy Kruk, head of the Military Administration of the Odessa Oblast, he said on Telegram on Thursday that Russian forces continued to “fire missiles on Ukrainian territory from the sky and sea.”
“There are already reports of harm to 2 critical energy infrastructure facilities in Odessa. There are not any casualties,” he said, asking the civilian population to remain in shelters.
In Vinnitsa, the head of the Regional Military Administration, Serhiy Borzov, wrote in Telegram that “there are hits by enemy shells in Vinnytsia [region]. There are not any casualties. All operational services are on site.”
— Holly Ellyatt
After the decision on tanks, Russia launches rocket attacks
Airstrike warnings ring out in Ukraine on Thursday morning as the country prepares for more missile attacks from Russia. Emergency power outages have been introduced in Kiev and the region, in addition to in Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr, while there’s a threat of a missile attack.
Mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko he said on Telegram that there was an explosion in a part of the city as he warned civilians to take shelter, while Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, had previously commented in Telegram that Russian forces had “fired greater than 15 cruise missiles towards Kiev.”
Popko said that “because of the excellent work of air defense, all air targets were shot down.” Nonetheless, he warned that the danger of air strikes was not over.
A resident of Kiev uses the subway as a bomb shelter, December 5, 2022, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images | News Getty’s paintings
Emergency power outages were imposed in the city on Thursday, with the city’s military administration saying “the cause is the threat of a missile attack. Early power outages will help avoid potential damage to critical infrastructure facilities.”
Moscow is furious after Ukraine got a giant boost from its allies on Wednesday after the US and Germany agreed to send battle tanks to the country for the first time. Russia reacted angrily, with officials saying it was “extremely dangerous” and crossed “red lines”.
Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odessa RMA (oblast military administration), said this morning that “about six Tu-95 aircraft (preliminarily from the Murmansk region) took off and fired missiles at the port city. We expect greater than 30 rockets, which have already began to seem in several areas. Air defense is working, there isn’t a information about drones yet,” Bratchuk said.
CNBC was unable to right away confirm the reports.
— Holly Ellyatt
Japanese Prime Minister Considers Ukraine Visit: Kyodo News
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at the start of the Tenth Annual Review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at the United Nations Headquarters on August 1, 2022 in Latest York City. Japan’s average minimum wage is about to rise at a record pace this yr, the government said on Tuesday, a positive development for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s efforts to cushion households from global commodity inflation.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images | News Getty’s paintings
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a parliamentary session that he would consider a visit to Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, depending on “various circumstances”. reported.
“Nothing has been decided at the moment, but we are going to consider it,” Kishida said.
The prime minister’s response got here after a ruling party lawmaker urged him to follow the leaders of allied countries in the Group of Seven as Japan prepares to host the upcoming G7 summit in Hiroshima in May.
– Jihye Lee
Fighters after tanks? Ukraine is pushing NATO allies for more weapons
A Belgian F-16 fighter flies over the Florennes military base in Florennes, Belgium. It’s believed that Ukraine will gladly receive such combat aircraft from its allies.
Geert Vanden Wijngaert | AP
The dust has barely settled after the momentous decision of the United States and Germany on Wednesday, but talks have already turned to possible deliveries of other weapons to Ukraine, in particular warplanes.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed gratitude to Kiev’s allies on Wednesday, saying that the decision by the United States, Germany and Britain to send tanks to Ukraine was “historic.” He said he also spoke yesterday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and during that conversation he called for more help.
“We want to unblock the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine, it can be crucial for us to expand our cooperation in artillery, we want to bring about the supply of aircraft to Ukraine. And that is a dream. And that’s the task. A vital task for all of us” he said in his late-night speech.
Ukraine made no secret of the proven fact that it would love to receive fighter jets, resembling the American F-16, from its allies to assist it fight Russia, but there was little positive response.
Nonetheless, after achieving a diplomatic victory in capturing the tanks, the focus is now on practical issues, with Zelensky saying the key issue is what number of tanks Ukraine will receive.
“The important thing thing now’s speed and size. The speed of coaching our army, the speed of delivering tanks to Ukraine and the volume of tank support,” he said.
— Holly Ellyatt
Training for Abrams tanks will happen outside of Ukraine, says the White House
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (left) listens as National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby speaks during his day by day briefing in the James S. Brady White House Press Room in Washington, D.C., 1 August 2022
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty’s paintings
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the upcoming Pentagon training for Ukrainians using M1A1 Abrams tanks will happen outside of Ukraine.
Kirby said the US has yet to make a decision on a particular location or time for training.
He also said the Pentagon has no additional tanks to attract from its current arsenal to produce Ukraine.
“We just do not have them,” Kirby said, adding that “even when there have been excess tanks, it might still take months.” He also declined to supply a timeline for when M1A1 Abrams tanks could be able to receive Ukrainian forces.
— Amanda Macias
Zelensky thanks Biden for decision on Abrams tanks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked US President Joe Biden for his decision to supply Kiev with 31 Abrams tanks and training and maintenance support.
Zelensky said that the handover of the M1A1 Abrams tanks was “a crucial step on the road to victory.”
“Today, the free world is united as never before for a typical goal – the liberation of Ukraine,” he added.
— Amanda Macias
The State Department denies reports describing the dispute between Washington and Berlin over tanks for Ukraine
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price holds a press conference on Afghanistan at the State Department in Washington, D.C., August 16, 2021.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
The State Department downplayed reports that Germany and the US were arguing over whether to produce Ukraine with Leopard 2 and M1A1 Abrams tanks.
“Germany has proven time and time again that it’s a staunch ally of the United States,” Price said, adding that Berlin and Washington only had constructive discussions in the weeks leading as much as separate security assistance announcements.
Earlier on Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that Berlin would supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks.
Germany said its goal was to “rapidly assemble two tank battalions with Leopard 2 tanks for Ukraine.” The country will supply 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks in the so-called “first step”.
— Amanda Macias
US to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine ahead of expected Russian offensive
M1A2 SEP (V2) Abrams MBT unloading
Grady Jones’ Staff Sergeant | US Army | Flickr CC
The Biden administration has said it’ll equip Ukraine with the powerful M1A1 Abrams tank, marking a key turnaround in the West’s efforts to arm Kiev in preparation for a recent Russian offensive.
31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, which make up one Ukrainian tank battalion, will add greater than $ 26 billion that the United States has allocated to the fight against Kiev since Russia invaded almost a yr ago.
The US plans to buy recent M1s with funds from the Congress-approved Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.
Delivering tanks to Ukraine “will take a while,” a senior Biden administration official said Wednesday. “We’re talking months, not weeks,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Read the full story here.
— Amanda Macias
Russia furious that Western tanks will find yourself in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin talks on the phone with Agatha Bylkova from the Kurgan region, an 8-year-old participant at a Latest 12 months’s and Christmas charity event, Moscow, Russia, January 3, 2023.
Mikhail Klimentev | Sputnik | Via Reuters
Russia has expressed growing fury at the prospect of sending modern Western tanks to Ukraine, calling it “extremely dangerous” and saying previous “red lines” are a thing of the past.
Germany announced Wednesday that it was able to send 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries to send their very own German tanks to Kiev. The US can also be expected to soon announce its own intention to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
The Russian embassy in Berlin called the German government’s decision “extremely dangerous” and said it “brings the conflict to a recent level of confrontation”, while the Foreign Ministry warned that “red lines” were “a thing of the past”. it’s seen as the West waging a “hybrid war” against Russia.
Ukraine’s use of contemporary Western tanks is probably going to present impetus to its efforts to drive Russian forces out of the occupied areas of the country, especially the eastern Donbas region, but Russia sees the gift of tanks as further evidence that the West is fighting what it sees as a proxy war against him in Ukraine.
Read more about the history here.
— Holly Ellyatt