While Washington confirmed, on Wednesday April 24, the sending “this month” of long-range ATACMS missiles to kyiv, it hopes to convince other countries, such as Germany, to do the same thing. For the moment, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is refusing the delivery of Taurus missiles.
Information to remember
⇒ Washington encourages Berlin to send long-range missiles to kyiv
⇒ “It’s not too late for Ukraine to win,” says NATO chief
⇒ Ukraine: ten dead in Russian and Ukrainian attacks
Washington encourages Berlin to send long-range missiles to kyiv
The United States hopes its recent decision to send long-range missiles to Ukraine will encourage Germany to do the same, something Berlin has previously ruled out, a US official said Thursday. Washington confirmed on Wednesday that it had sent long-range ATACMS missiles to kyiv “this month”, capable of reaching a distance of up to 300 km. Before the United States, France and the United Kingdom had supplied kyiv with long-range Scalp and Storm Shadow missiles, which could strike up to around 250 kilometers.
“On the question of the Taurus… it’s a decision that is up to Germany,” a senior American defense official said Thursday on condition of anonymity when asked about a possible delivery by Berlin of long-range missiles. German-made Taurus scope. But of course with the US supply of ATACMS as well as the previous decisions by the UK and France to supply long-range missiles, we obviously have the hope that this will play a role,” he continued. .
“It’s not too late for Ukraine to win,” says NATO chief
“It is not too late for Ukraine to win” in the war against Russia, provided that the West keeps their promises to provide it with more weapons, the head of NATO said on Thursday . “In recent months, NATO allies have not provided the support” they had promised, regretted Jens Stoltenberg, in a speech given at an awards ceremony in Berlin on transatlantic ties.
“But it is not too late for Ukraine to win, because stronger support is on the way,” added the Alliance Secretary General. “It is now our responsibility to transform (recent Western commitments, editor’s note) into real deliveries of arms and ammunition, and to do so quickly,” he judged. Last Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged NATO to deliver weapons as quickly as possible to Ukraine, which “cannot wait any longer” in the face of Russian pressure. The Allies had promised to increase their support.
Ukraine: ten dead in Russian and Ukrainian attacks
Ten people were killed and more than twenty injured Thursday in Ukraine, Russia and the territories it occupies, during strikes, notably using drones, carried out by the two camps, their respective authorities announced. In the territories occupied by Russia, two people died in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Zaporizhia region and two others in Ukrainian artillery fire in the Kherson region, both in southern Ukraine, according to the Russian occupation authorities.
“Enemy drones attacked the village of Novokarlivka,” Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhia region, said on Telegram. “A civilian car was hit, a man and a woman died,” he added, specifying that the couple left “four children (…) orphans”.
US aid not enough for Ukraine’s rapid counter-offensive
The return of American military aid to Ukraine will allow its army to regain the initiative against Russia, but the preparation for a counter-offensive will take much longer, an American military official said on Thursday. On Wednesday, Joe Biden promulgated the new $61 billion aid plan and announced the delivery, “in the coming hours”, of a first tranche of military equipment and munitions of all kinds, for $1 billion .
But this aid comes after months of lean conditions on the part of Washington due to internal political divisions — a drying up of aid that has benefited Russia on the battlefield. “The Ukrainians have been rationing their ammunition for a while (…), so the Russians have, in short, regained the initiative,” an American military official told the press on condition of anonymity.
Vladimir Putin announces he plans to visit China in May
Russian President Vladimir announced during a televised meeting with representatives of Russian employers on Thursday April 25 that he planned to go to China for an official visit during the month of May. For his part, the NATO Secretary General denounced Chinese technological support for Russia.
Ukraine: Minister of Agriculture, suspected of corruption, submits his resignation
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky, accused of having appropriated land belonging to the state before joining the government, presented his resignation in a letter made public Thursday by the speaker of parliament. The parliament “received a letter of resignation from Mykola Solsky,” its president Ruslan Stefantchouk said on Facebook, attaching the handwritten missive to his message.
“I ask you to accept my resignation from the post of Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food,” it reads. Elected officials must now approve his resignation. Several corruption cases have emerged in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, particularly within the army. But they generally involve managers with less senior functions.