Ukraine warned, Thursday January 18, of a “shortage of ammunition” for its army, on the day of the launch by its allies in Paris of an “artillery” coalition to respond to its crying needs, as the second anniversary of the start of the invasion by the Russian army.
Information to remember
⇒ The Russian army claims the capture of a town in the Donetsk region
⇒ It will end badly for Europe if Ukraine is defeated, warns Lithuanian minister
⇒ Ukraine warns of ammunition shortage
Russia: oil depot on fire following attack
An oil depot was on fire Friday morning in the Bryansk region, bordering Ukraine, following a Ukrainian drone attack, announced Russian authorities, who did not report any casualties at this stage.
“Ukrainian terrorists attempted to attack infrastructure on the territory of the town of Klintsy using a drone,” regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.
The Russian army claims the capture of a town in the Donetsk region
Russian forces have taken control of Vesele, a settlement in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Reuters reports citing a Russian Defense Ministry statement on Thursday. He simply indicated that the village was taken thanks to what he called the active efforts of units that were part of the South Russian military group. Reuters was unable to verify this claim.
The village of Vesele, populated by around a hundred inhabitants, is located 20 km northeast of the Russian-controlled town of Bakhmout, in an area which has been the scene of intense fighting.
It will end badly for Europe if Ukraine is defeated, warns Lithuanian minister
If Ukraine does not inflict a defeat on Russia, it will end badly for Europe, the official told AFP on Thursday. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, warning that the Russian army could then attempt to advance further into the European continent. The head of diplomacy of this Baltic state was speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where the war in Ukraine dominated the debates. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also participated in person for the first time in nearly two years of conflict, seeking to obtain more support.
Gabrielius Landsbergis said that Europe had “failed to realize the reality”, namely that what is happening in Ukraine is “Europe’s war”, and called on this continent to do more to prepare for any possible future aggression against other European countries by Russia.
Ukraine warns of ammunition shortage
The shortage of ammunition is a very real and pressing problem that our armed forces are currently facing,” lamented Ukrainian Defense Minister Roustem Oumerov on X (ex-Twitter), on the occasion of the launch of an “artillery coalition “led by France and the United States.
“We must strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities to protect the free world against Russian danger.” The artillery “coalition” is one of the components of the contact group for the defense of Ukraine known as the Ramstein group, bringing together more than 50 countries in several subgroups, from mine clearance to air defense.
Macron in front of the armies
President Emmanuel Macron presents Friday in Cherbourg (Manche) his wishes to the French armies marked by their hasty departure from the Sahel and faced with a multiplicity of challenges: Ukraine and the war economy, the Middle East but also the Olympic Games from Paris.
Paris, criticized abroad for the weakness of its support, increased its announcements of military aid to Kiev this week: around forty long-range Scalp missiles first, around fifty AASM bombs (modular air-ground weapons) per month for a year thereafter, a ramp-up in the production of 155 mm shells and the financing of twelve additional Caesar cannons. France is “in the process of finalizing an important security agreement” with Ukraine of the type that concluded on January 12 between the United Kingdom and Ukraine over ten years, the head of state said on Tuesday during a ‘a press conference.
US Congress releases additional budget for Ukraine
The US Congress adopted a long-awaited provisional budget measure for the federal state on Thursday, thus repelling the much-feared specter of “shutdown”, a partial budgetary paralysis which would have affected several non-essential services of the administration.
American President Joe Biden has thus formulated a request for an additional $106 billion in the budget, mainly to help Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Israel. The leaders of both parties in the Senate are proponents of supporting Kiev, but a number of Republican lawmakers in the House say such support is not in the United States’ interests. This text must still be promulgated by Joe Biden, a formality.