Tag: Eastern Europe

France and Germany say Ukraine should be able to use their weapons to strike inside Russia

Posted on by Lone Candle

“France and Germany said Tuesday that Ukraine should be allowed to use their weapons against targets inside Russia from which Moscow attacks Ukraine.”
…
““Ukrainian soil is being attacked from bases in Russia,” Macron said during his visit to Schloss Meseberg in Brandenburg, Germany. “So how do we explain to the Ukrainians that we’re going to have to protect these towns and basically everything we’re seeing around Kharkiv at the moment, if we tell them you are not allowed to hit the point from which the missiles are fired?”
“We think that we should allow them to neutralize the military sites from which the missiles are fired and, basically, the military sites from which Ukraine is attacked,” Macron continued.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-french-weapons-strike-inside-034116410.html

Ukraine reports no artillery shortages for first time in war, says Zelenskyy

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this week that Ukraine’s forces had reported no shortages of artillery shells for the first time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Kyiv Independent reported.
“For the first time during the war, none of the brigades complained that there were no artillery shells,” Zelenskyy said on May 16.

According to reports, the refreshed artillery is now helping to blunt Russian advances around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city.

In sharp contrast to battles in January-April, during which the US halted all military assistance to Ukraine, Ukrainian soldier and milblogger Stanislav Osman, author of the popular Hovoryat Snaiper channel, observed that Russian forces attacking in the Kharkiv sector have been facing punishing artillery fire and even attack helicopter strikes, The Kyiv Post reported.”

…

“Despite this, Russian artillery will likely outmatch Ukraine’s for most of 2024, officials and analysts told Foreign Policy.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-reports-no-artillery-shortages-115858363.html

US aid to Ukraine is arriving too late to stop major advances by Russia, says ex-US military official

Posted on by Lone Candle

“The delay by the US Congress in approving a vital aid bill means Ukraine is now struggling to fight back Russian advances, a former US military official said.
In an interview with CNN, retired US Air Force Col. and military analyst Cedric Leighton discussed Ukraine’s increasingly desperate attempts to hold back Russian advances near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city.

He said that the delay in passing the $61 billion US aid bill, which was approved in April after being blocked for months by Republicans, had placed Ukraine at a disadvantage.

“The delay in aid was, frankly an inexcusable pause in the ability of the Ukrainians to fend off Russian advances. And right now what it means is that the Ukrainians are on the backfoot,” said Leighton.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-aid-ukraine-arriving-too-123922505.html

Turtle Tanks, “Cope Cages” & Modified Vehicles in Ukraine – Purpose, Evolution & Effectiveness

Posted on by Lone Candle

Turtle Tanks, “Cope Cages” & Modified Vehicles in Ukraine – Purpose, Evolution & Effectiveness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhfGspOIg24

Russia is raising a stink about F-16s in Ukraine by saying they’re nuclear-capable, even though the types of warplanes already deployed there can carry nukes

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Russia said Monday it would treat F-16s in Ukraine as an escalation because they’re nuclear-capable.
Its foreign ministry said it would consider the delivery of the jets as a “purposeful provocation.”

Meanwhile, the warplanes already used by Ukraine can be fitted to deploy nukes, too.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-raising-stink-f-16s-082741370.html

Ukraine was in trouble already — now it openly admits it’s on track to lose

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Ukraine’s chances of victory in its two-year battle to repel Russia’s brutal invasion appear to be fading.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, is warning with increasing urgency that his country could lose the war if it doesn’t get $60 billion in US aid that Republicans in Congress are refusing to release.

“Can we hold our ground? No,” Zelenskyy recently told PBS of Ukraine’s prospects should it not get the funding.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, was just as blunt in a recent interview.

“Give us the damn Patriots,” he told Politico in March, referring to the US-made air defense systems used to defend Russian missiles, which are pummelling Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

On the front line in east and south Ukraine, reports say the situation is increasingly desperate, with Russia outfiring Ukraine at a rate of three to one. Parts of the front line are also dangerously close to collapse.

Senior Ukrainian military officials, talking to Politico, said that Russia could break through wherever it focuses its anticipated summer offensive.

Russia will likely be able to “penetrate the front line and to crash it in some parts,” they told the outlet.

“I would say the conditions now are probably more favorable for a Russian breakthrough than at any time since the opening stages of the war,” Bryden Spurling, an analyst with the RAND Corporation, told Business Insider.

The aid block is also making it increasingly difficult for Ukraine to defend its cities and critical infrastructure, such as power stations, from waves of Russian missile and drone attacks.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-trouble-already-mdash-now-151430041.html