Ukraine is asking its allies to provide ammunition supplies immediately. In the face of the ongoing offensive by Russian troops, the fields would quickly empty, warns Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna.
“We don’t have the amount of ammunition we need,” she told Britain’s Financial Times. Interestingly, it also explicitly mentions artillery ammunition. The United States alone supplied Ukraine with about a million shells last fall. According to reports, the daily consumption of artillery ammunition by Ukrainians is currently around four to seven thousand rounds; enough to last a few months.
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Stefanishyna warns that the Russians are “doing everything to continue, prolong the war and exhaust the adversary”. She added that Moscow has the means, ammunition and reserves to continue its campaign. Experts estimate that Russia uses up to 20,000 artillery shells a day.
In recent weeks, experts have increasingly expressed suspicion that Russia is also slowly running out of ammunition. The number of artillery attacks has recently decreased. However, it is also possible that Moscow wanted to save ammunition for the current offensive.
The US recently announced that it would significantly increase its ammunition production. There are also voices in Europe calling for greater capacity in the arms industry.
The most important news of the day
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg does not fundamentally rule out the delivery of fighter jets to Ukraine. “Support for Ukraine has developed, as has the war itself,” Stoltenberg said in Brussels. “Now aircraft are also being discussed, and I hope this will be addressed at the meeting in Brussels tomorrow,” Stoltenberg said, referring to the defense ministers’ deliberations on Tuesday.
- In the unsuccessful attack on the city of Wuhledar in Donetsk, Russia would have lost almost an entire brigade. Experts say this could have consequences for the ongoing offensive. Moscow’s losses in Ukraine peaked. More here.
- Russian Investor Examines Minority Stake in Hahn Airport: Kharitonin’s project generated a tremendous echo in times of wartime aggression from Russia. Now he will receive a share with which he is subject to a blocking minority. More here.
- Penalties for the Russian nuclear power industry: Kiev is now demanding even more international sanctions – and is taking a hard look at Russia’s nuclear industry. More here.
- According to the federal government, it is too early to say what security guarantees for Ukraine will look like. However, Ukraine has an understandable interest in not being attacked by Russia for a third time, says government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.
- Training of Ukrainian soldiers on Leopard main battle tanks began on Monday, according to a Defense Ministry spokeswoman. It takes place at the base of the Bundeswehr in Munster, Lower Saxony. Training must be completed by the end of the first trimester. The federal government has promised Ukraine to deliver 14 Leopard 2 A6 main battle tanks by the end of March.
- Following his recent comments on the war in Ukraine, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was accused of inciting pro-Russian hate speech. “Berlusconi is a VIP agitator within Russian propaganda,” Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to Ukraine’s presidential office, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Monday.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following critical statements by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi through Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reiterated his government’s “firm” support for Ukraine. Meloni’s office said in Rome on Sunday that the Italian government “firmly and confidently” supports Ukraine.
- Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) called on EU partners to participate in the delivery of tanks to Ukraine. “I hope and am confident that our European partners will support Ukraine in the same way,” Buschmann told the news portal “t-online.de” late on Thursday. He assumes “that other European countries will soon provide more substantial support to Ukraine”.
- According to British assessments, Russia continues to strengthen its defensive positions in the occupied regions of Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense in London announced on Monday in its daily intelligence update that defensive facilities have recently been expanded, especially in the Zaporizhia region of southern Ukraine.
- The US urges its citizens to leave Russia immediately. The US Embassy in Moscow said there was a risk of arbitrary arrest or harassment by Russian law enforcement agencies. “American citizens living or traveling in Russia must leave immediately. Greater caution is needed due to the risk of illegal detention. Don’t go to Russia.”
- Russia’s war on Ukraine also includes inciting prejudice and resentment against refugees in Western countries of refuge. Google now wants to combat manipulation techniques in Germany with short video clips. To that end, Google subsidiary Jigsaw is expanding a corresponding video education campaign to the German-speaking Internet. The company announced this on Monday in Berlin.
- The president of the former Soviet Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, has warned of Russian coup attempts in her country. Moscow’s plan includes inciting violent disturbances and attacks on Moldovan state institutions and disguising them as protests, Sandu said, according to media reports.
- The president of the Russian republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, is convinced that Russia can achieve its goals in Ukraine by the end of the year. It would also be wrong to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Kadyrov said in an interview on Rossiya-1, the flagship channel of Russian state television. “I believe that by the end of the year we will be 100 percent able to fulfill the task assigned to us today.”
background and analysis
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