War in Ukraine
Updated September 25, 2023, 11:09 pm
US soldiers fire from an M1 Abrams main battle tank. (File photo) © dpa / Armin Weigel/dpa
US Abrams tanks are now at the disposal of the Ukrainians for their offensive. President Zelensky confirmed this. Meanwhile, a commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was reportedly killed. There were further attacks in Odessa that night. The day in summary.
The Ukrainian military can now also use US main battle tanks in its defensive battle against the Russian army. The first Abrams-type military equipment has arrived in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in Kiev on Monday. “The Abrams are already in Ukraine and are preparing to reinforce our brigades,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram. On the 579th day of the war, Ukrainians announced that commander Viktor Sokolov was killed in an attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet last Friday. Initially there was no confirmation of this from Russia. Russia once again attacked the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa overnight.
Important tanks for greater terrain gains
A new Ukrainian offensive has been underway since June with the aim of liberating additional areas, especially in the south, and creating a barrier between Russian occupation troops. Tanks should be used to advance as quickly as possible after overcoming minefields in order to conquer larger terrain.
In total, the United States promised Ukraine 31 main battle tanks. Zelensky did not say how many are already in the country. Ukraine’s Western allies have long struggled to supply battle tanks. The US announcement finally came at the end of January, in parallel with Germany’s promise of Leopard tanks. Ukrainian soldiers were trained at the Abrams military training area in Grafenwöhr, Bavaria.
The US is considered Kiev’s most important military supporter. Since the start of the war, US military aid to Ukraine has amounted to $43.9 billion, according to government data. More recently, weapons and equipment worth 128 million dollars (about 120 million euros) were approved from US military stocks. ATACMS missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers, long requested by Kiev, were not included.
Kiev claims to have killed Russian Black Sea Fleet commander
On Friday, the Ukrainian military hit the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia since 2014, with a combined drone and cruise missile attack. “After the attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” the press service of the Ukrainian military’s special forces said. The Russian side initially did not confirm the alleged death of Fleet Chief Sokolov.
Russia attacks Odessa with drones and missiles
Russia attacked the port city of Odessa, in southern Ukraine, in a night attack with drones and missiles. According to Odessa’s military governor, Oleh Kiper, at least two bodies had been recovered from the rubble of a warehouse by noon on Monday. A woman was also injured. Two elderly people were killed and two other people were injured in a Russian air strike in the city of Beryslav, in southern Ukraine. Information originating from war zones often cannot be directly and independently verified.
UN Commission: Continuing Evidence of Russian War Crimes
A United Nations investigative commission says it is collecting more and more evidence in the war in Ukraine that the Russian army is torturing civilians and carrying out attacks against them. “There is ongoing evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes in Ukraine,” the commission reported to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The findings indicated widespread and systematic use of torture by Russian forces against individuals accused of being informants for the Ukrainian military. “In some cases, the torture was so brutal that the victim died,” the commission said.
Moscow puts more criminal judges on its wanted list
The Russian judiciary has notified additional judges and senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Interior Ministry has placed Polish ICC President Piotr Hofmański, Peruvian Vice President Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza and German judge Bertram Schmitt on the wanted list, Russian state media reported on Monday. After the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his children’s representative, Maria Lvowa-Belova, in March 2023, for abduction of Ukrainian children, Moscow has already issued a search notice to several ICC judges and the authority’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. Russia accused them of “attacking a representative of a foreign government.”
Pistorius for three days in Latvia and Estonia
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in the Baltics for a three-day visit. The SPD politician and his delegation arrived on Monday in the Latvian capital, Riga, where talks on the security policy situation and greater military cooperation with the NATO partner are on the agenda. On Tuesday we will head to Estonia. The annual Baltic security conference will take place there until Wednesday. Germany significantly expanded its military involvement in the Baltics following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. (dpa/cgo)
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