The federal government announced on Tuesday that it had supported Ukraine with additional weapons. They delivered the Cobra artillery detection radar and five other Gepard tanks. This is also evident from the official list of military support on the government website. COBRA is capable of detecting enemy artillery at extremely long ranges.
According to EU diplomats, Hungary is threatening to block the extension of sanctions against Russia. The country wants to ensure that three Russian oligarchs are removed from the sanctions list. Specifically, these are Alisher Usmanov, Pyotr Aven and Viktor Rashnikov.
They are among more than 1,200 people sanctioned by the European Union for supporting Russia’s Ukraine policy. The sanctions must be extended until Thursday next week, otherwise they will expire.
EU diplomats pointed out that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban still has good relations with Putin and has torpedoed punitive measures several times in recent months. Because of resistance from Hungary, the EU had to forego planned sanctions against the Russian Orthodox Church leader Kirill and a complete oil embargo.
According to security expert Oleksiy Arestovych, the Ukrainian army has launched a counter-offensive in two places in the east and south of the country attacked by Russia. “Ours are putting pressure on, they’re putting real pressure on,” said Arestovych, the Ukrainian presidential adviser, about the counter-offensives in the south and east of the country. He did not name the locations, that was a matter for the General Staff. However, war correspondents for Russian state television named the town of Balakliya in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv as a target. The Ukrainian army recaptured areas there, including the town of Werbivka.
The situation in the south is still “tense and dynamic,” reports the Ukrainian task force. According to them, they have already killed 83 Russian soldiers and destroyed tanks, howitzers and a fighter jet. A Ukrainian counterattack has been underway in the Cherson region in the south of the country since last week.
The Russian commander of the southern Ukrainian port of Berdyansk was seriously injured in an attack. He survived through emergency surgery. According to the occupation administration, a bomb had exploded under the car of city commander Artjom Badrin. Badrin was reportedly a Russian colonel. In recent weeks, several attacks have also been carried out on Ukrainian officials who collaborate with the occupying power.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on the warring parties Russia and Ukraine to agree on a non-combat zone around the endangered Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. “Russian and Ukrainian armed forces must undertake not to conduct military activities towards or from the factory premises,” Guterres told the UN Security Council in New York on Tuesday.
At the meeting, Germany blamed Moscow for the dangerous situation. “It is Russia that is militarizing the power plant. It is Russia that is stationing equipment and troops at the site,” said Germany’s Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Thomas Zahneisen. British Ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, said: “Russia is playing roulette on nuclear safety.”
Contrary to a Ukrainian demand, the USA does not want to classify Russia as a state that supports terrorism. The Washington administration does not see this as the most effective way to hold Russia accountable, said National Security Council communications director John Kirby.
The US government has examined the possible effects and has come to the conclusion that the classification could be more of a hindrance – for example if there were to be negotiations about an end to the war at some point. “It wasn’t dismissed lightly,” Kirby pointed out. The United States currently considers four states to be terrorist sponsors: Syria, Iran, North Korea and, since early 2021, Cuba.
That will be important on Wednesday
President Putin speaks at the economic forum in Vladivostok on Wednesday. The Kremlin chief is expected to comment on the war against Ukraine and the consequences of Western sanctions for his country. According to his advisor Yuri Ushakov, Putin also wants to talk about fundamental changes in world politics and underpin his thesis that the West is losing power and meaning.
