Russia claimed responsibility on Tuesday (January 31st) for the capture of the village of Blagodatné, north of the city of Bakhmout, in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army has intensified its offensive and has been progressing slowly for several weeks. kyiv announced on Tuesday that the West had already pledged to deliver “between 120 and 140” tanks to repel the Russian army which has recently stepped up its offensive.
Netanyahu says he is considering military aid to Ukraine
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is considering military aid for Ukraine, while offering to mediate in the conflict between kyiv and Moscow. “Well, I’m definitely looking into it,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, February 1, when asked if Israel was planning to offer help to Ukraine. , such as its Iron Dome air defense system.
Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refrained from taking a firm side with Ukraine, anxious to spare Russia, which controls the airspace of Syria neighboring Israel and usually turns a blind eye to the operations of the Jewish state. against Iran.
He confirmed that the United States had transferred to Ukraine artillery ammunition that had previously been stored in Israel, and suggested that the Jewish state was acting on its side to hinder the production in Iran of weapons for the Russia.
The holding of a Ukraine-EU summit Friday in Kyiv confirmed
Prime Minister Denys Chmygal confirmed on Tuesday the holding of a Ukraine-European Union summit on Friday February 3 in Kyiv, one day after “intergovernmental consultations” between Kyiv and the European Commission which will take place “for the first time in our history “.
“The fact that this summit is being held in kyiv is a strong signal addressed to both our partners and our enemies”, declared Denys Chmygal during a government meeting, saying “to expect from the summit a positive interim evaluation of our efforts to European integration”. These are “two extremely important events concerning the European integration of Ukraine”, he insisted.
The talks on Thursday February 2 and the summit on Friday must allow “Europe to believe in Ukraine’s victory”, while “supporting our rapid movement towards EU membership”, insisted Denys Chmygal .
For his part, in his address on Tuesday evening, Volodymyr Zelensky hoped that the summit would reflect a high “level of cooperation and progress” with the EU. “We are waiting for news for Ukraine,” he said.
France to supply Ukraine with 12 Caesar guns
France will provide Ukraine with 12 additional 155 mm Caesar guns, in addition to the parts already delivered, allowing it to have around fifty copies, “a mass which is by no means negligible” according to the French minister of the Armies, Sébastien Lecornu.
These 12 medium-range guns will be delivered “in the coming weeks” and will be “financed as part of the support fund of 200 million euros” set up by France, the minister said on Tuesday during a conference. joint press briefing with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksiï Reznikov, who was making his first bilateral visit since the start of the war last February.
They will be added to the 18 Caesars already delivered by France as well as the 19 Caesar guns promised by Denmark in kyiv in mid-January. Only one is now out of order. “There is maintenance to be carried out on the 17 that remain, linked to combat or to the classic wear and tear of this type of equipment”, indicated the minister.
France also promised on Tuesday to deliver to Ukraine a Ground Master 200 (GM200) radar produced by French Thales. This medium-range radar can detect an enemy aircraft at 250 km and fight it at 100 km, whether it flies at low speed and low altitude like drones, or at high altitude like combat planes.
Groups in the Assembly call for a debate
Several leaders of political groups in the Assembly called on Tuesday for the organization of a debate in Parliament on the war in Ukraine. These requests were made on the occasion of the visit to France of the President of the Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, Rouslan Stefantchouk, who was present at the start of the current affairs session in the Assembly.
“Are you ready to organize this debate in Parliament?” Asked Olivier Marleix (LR) to the Prime Minister. “France must help Ukraine” but on the international scene, “our country gives the feeling of being in tow,” he said, referring to “isolation of the President of the Republic even in his own country. “.
Mathilde Panot (LFI) also called for “a debate on the role that France must play” and expressed the “wish that a diplomatic solution be found as soon as possible”, pointing out “the risks of a rise in power” of the conflict. No question of becoming “co-belligerents by the delivery of heavy offensive weapons”, for the communist André Chassaigne, also eager for a debate in Parliament.