RTTue, 26 Apr 2022 07:29 UTC
© AP/Senior Airman Stephani Barge/US Air ForceAmmunition, weapons and other equipment bound for Ukraine aboard a USAF cargo plane
Russian troops have destroyed six traction substations, - units that power the railways - which are being used for delivery of "foreign weapons and military hardware to the Ukrainian forces in the Donbass," Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov announced on Monday.
He added that the stations were located at the
Krasnoye, Zdolbunov, Zhmerinka, Berdichev, Kovel, and Korosten railway hubs, all in western Ukraine.
According to Konashenkov,
27 military targets were also destroyed by airstrikes, including four command centers.Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last month that
pushing Ukrainian troops from the territory of the Donbass republics had become Moscow's top priority at this stage of the campaign.
Ukraine's Western backers have not disclosed the exact routes they use to ship weapons to Kiev, but reports said that
many of them are being delivered through neighboring Poland.
NATO member states supply various anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems, armored vehicles, howitzers, and other weapons to Kiev.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Ukraine on Sunday, where they promised additional military aid to President Volodymyr Zelensky.Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine's failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow's eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The German and French brokered protocols were designed to give the breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
Comment: Fueling the fire, the West has the comfy seat to this disaster:
Poland has supplied Ukraine with a number of tanks, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Monday, without offering details as to their number or type. This would make Poland the third NATO country to have armed Ukraine with tanks, after the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Earlier this month, the UK offered some of its tanks to Poland as replacements. Morawiecki said in an interview with Polsat News:
"Poland delivered the tanks to Ukraine, but for the sake of our safety and that of the Ukrainians, we are not disclosing the amount of equipment donated at the moment."
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered a clue as to the type of tanks last week, when he said London had offered Warsaw some of its own tanks "to help them as they send some of their T-72 tanks to Ukraine."
There have been unconfirmed reports that Czechia, Slovakia, and Slovenia have all sent tanks to Ukraine - whether some version of the Soviet-designed T-72 or the very similar Yugoslav M-84, both of which the Ukrainian troops would know how to operate more easily than any Western models.
Poland had over 400 of the Soviet-designed T-72 tanks, some of which had undergone modernization in recent years, while others were used as the basis for PT-91 Twardy ("Tough"), a domestic main battle tank produced since the mid-1990s.
Moscow has warned NATO that any equipment deliveries will be considered a legitimate military target.
Germany's gifts to the war:
The German government has given the green light for the delivery of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine, the country's Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Tuesday.
Speaking at US-hosted defense talks at the American airbase Ramstein in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate state, Lambrecht said that the leadership in Berlin made the decision on Monday. She emphasized that Germany was "determined to help the Ukrainian people with unified resolve in this existential emergency." The minister explained that "Ukraine will order" hardware from German manufacturers and "Germany will pay." Berlin would earmark some 2 billion euros to that end, Lambrecht added.
The armored vehicles in question are Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, which were decommissioned by the German military back in 2010. Designed to take out cruise missiles and aircraft, Gepards can also be used against targets on the ground. As many as 50 heavy vehicles could reportedly be delivered to Ukraine.
Lambrecht also announced that Berlin
"has initiated a swap scheme with our partners in eastern Europe" that is ensuring that "Ukraine is quickly obtaining heavy weaponry that doesn't require lengthy training."
Berlin will be cooperating with the US and the Netherlands when it comes to providing training to Ukrainian troops on German soil in the use of various artillery systems.
Russia's Foreign Minister said on Monday:
"NATO is essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy. War means war."
Point of no return? Russia keeps trying:
Should the West's large scale supply of armaments to Ukraine with weaponry continue, negotiations between Moscow and Kiev are destined to fail, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Tuesday. The top diplomat made the remarks during a press conference following talks with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow.
"If [the pumping of Ukraine with weapons] continues, of course, the negotiations will hardly have any result, but I repeat once again, we are committed to a negotiated solution, we are also committed to ceasefires, which we are staging daily, declaring humanitarian corridors."
Subsequent behavior of its officials suggests they are
"not that interested in talks. But how the Ukrainian delegation behaved at the talks, how President [Volodymyr] Zelensky himself behaved, refusing to confirm that they received our new proposals a week ago, I spoke about this more than once, this, of course, is disappointing."
The world is SO impressed with true leadership sitting in the comforts of their own countries:
The US will move "heaven and earth" to supply Ukraine with what it says it needs to fight Russia, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. The announcement came on Tuesday at a 40-country meeting aimed at getting Washington's allies on board the mission to prop up Kiev's defenses.
Convened by the US at its German airbase Ramstein, the meeting's official purpose was
"to help Ukraine win the fight against Russia's unjust invasion and to build up Ukraine's defenses for tomorrow's challenges. Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does everyone here."
Austin made it clear other countries would be expected to pony up.
France will provide Caesar cannons, which have a range of up to 40km, while the UK has supplied Starstreak missiles and tanks. The US has stepped up its own heavy weapons deliveries, showering Kiev with howitzers and armored vehicles.
Austin nevertheless insisted the countries present do more to help.
The only ones who want this war are those who choose to not enter the fray.
Comment: Fueling the fire, the West has the comfy seat to this disaster: Germany's gifts to the war: Point of no return? Russia keeps trying: The world is SO impressed with true leadership sitting in the comforts of their own countries: The only ones who want this war are those who choose to not enter the fray.