4:04
Lithuania buys 18 French Caesar guns
Lithuania signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire 18 French Caesar self-propelled guns on the sidelines of a meeting between the two countries’ defense ministers on Monday at the sidelines of the Eurosatory defense fair, the two countries announced.
“Lithuania will buy 18 Caesar Mark II howitzers,” announced Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas in a tweet, which includes a photo of the MoU signing with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu.
“They will significantly strengthen the capabilities of the Lithuanian army,” he adds, specifying that this is the “biggest acquisition project” ever completed with France.
This decision comes as the Baltic country, member of the EU and NATO, decided to increase its defense budget for 2022 by 300 million euros to 1.5 billion euros amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and fears surrounding its own Security.
4:04
The Ukrainian army surrenders the center of Severodonetsk to the Russians
Ukrainian forces have admitted to abandoning the center of Severodonetsk after a fresh Russian offensive on this key eastern Ukraine city that the two warring factions have been fighting over for weeks.
“The enemy carried out an attack on Severodonetsk with artillery support, was partially successful and pushed our units back from the city center. Hostilities continue,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on Monday morning.
Sergei Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region, of which Severodonetsk is the administrative center for the part controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, confirmed that Ukrainian forces had been pushed out of the center.