Germany and Britain have delivered Western heavy tanks to Ukraine, officials said on Monday, providing a key infusion of armored firepower that would aid Kyiv’s battle against invading Russian troops.
The tanks — long an item on Ukraine’s military equipment wish list — were promised to Kyiv earlier this year and have arrived in time for an expected spring offensive by Ukraine’s forces.
As Ukraine gains conventional firepower, the Kremlin vowed to follow through on a plan announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, an initiative which has drawn widespread criticism.
Photo: Reuters / Press Service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told journalists on Monday that Berlin had provided “very modern” Leopard battle tanks to Kyiv, with the German Ministry of Defense later saying 18 were delivered.
“Our tanks have made it into the hands of our Ukrainian friends as promised and on time,” German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said in a statement.
They are joined by Challenger tanks from Britain, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense said.
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov had said earlier that he inspected a “new addition” to the nation’s forces — Challenger tanks as well as Germany’s Marder infantry fighting vehicles, plus Cougar armored trucks and Stryker armored personnel carriers from the US.
“A year ago, no one would have thought that our partners’ support would be so strong,” Reznikov wrote on Facebook.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western criticism of Putin’s tactical nuclear weapon announcement “cannot influence Russian plans.”
Speaking in a televised interview two days earlier, Putin said Moscow would station the tactical nuclear weapons “without violating our international agreements on nuclear non-proliferation.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday told the visiting head of the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was not possible to restore safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with Russia still in control, ahead of Rafael Grossi’s visit to the site.
“Without the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops and personnel from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and adjacent territory, any initiatives to restore nuclear safety and security are doomed to failure,” Zelenskiy told Grossi, a statement from the presidency said.
Grossi is expected to visit the nuclear plant later this week.
In eastern Ukraine, Russian missiles punched through buildings in the town of Sloviansk, killing two people in their cars and wounding more than 30, police said.
A blood-stained cap lay at the side of the street, next to a parked car whose front seat was covered with blood and shattered glass.
Police said the missiles were Russian-made S-300s.
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
ENHANCED SECURITY: A Japanese report said that the MOU is about the sharing of information on foreign nationals entering Japan from Taiwan in the event of an emergency The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that Taiwan and Japan had signed an agreement to promote information exchanges and cooperation on border management, although it did not disclose more details on the pact. Ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said the ministry is happy to see that the two nations continue to enhance cooperation on immigration control, in particular because Taiwan and Japan “share a deep friendship and frequent people-to-people exchanges.” “Last year, more than 7.32 million visits were made between the two countries, making it even more crucial for both sides to work closer on immigration and border control,” he said. Hsiao
RSS