Live: Baltic states call on Germany to provide tanks to Ukraine ‘now’

Issued on: 21/01/2023 – 13:36

4:31pm: Ukraine honours interior minister, other senior officials, killed in helicopter crash

A tearful Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended a memorial service on Saturday to commemorate seven senior interior ministry officials killed in a helicopter crash this week, a fresh blow to a nation already grieving its many war dead.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy and five other high-ranking ministry officials were killed when their French-made Super Puma helicopter plummeted amid fog into a nursery on the eastern outskirts of Kyiv on Wednesday.

Another seven people were killed, including one child, in the crash. Officials are still investigating the cause of the crash.

“The indescribable sadness is covering the soul,” Zelensky wrote in a Telegram post on Saturday. “Ukraine is losing its best sons and daughters every day.”

2:50pm: Russia says held air defence training in Moscow region

The Russian defence ministry said Saturday that it held a training exercise on repelling air attacks in the Moscow region. 

“In the Moscow region, a training session was held with the personnel of the anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Western Military District on repelling air attacks on important military industrial and administrative facilities,” the ministry said in a statement. 

1:27pm: Russian army launches ‘offensive operations’ in Zaporizhzhia

The Russian army has said its troops launched an offensive in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting this week intensified after several months of an almost frozen front. 

In its daily report, Moscow’s forces said they led “offensive operations” in the region and claimed to have “taken more advantageous lines and positions”.

The announcement came a day after Ukraine’s energy minister said the situation at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station was deteriorating because of the psychological state of its Ukrainian staff and the condition of equipment.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is trying to set up a safe zone around the nuclear facility.

12:15pm: Germany faces Baltic backlash over tank supply refusal

The foreign ministers of the three Baltic states have called on Germany to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks “now” to help stop Russian aggression.

“We, the Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian foreign ministers, call on Germany to provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine now,” Latvian Minister Edgars Rinkevics said on Twitter. 

“This is necessary to stop Russian aggression, help Ukraine and quickly restore peace in Europe,” he added, stressing that Germany, as the leading European power has a special responsibility in this regard.

On Friday, following a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Berlin said no decision had been made about providing the battle tanks, despite an emotional plea from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Expectations had grown ahead of the meeting in Germany that the allies would agree to send the German-made Leopard tanks, amid mounting pressure from several European countries.

11:06am: Ukraine adviser tells allies ‘think faster’ on military support

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Kyiv’s allies to “think faster” about stepping up their military support, a day after they failed to agree on sending battle tanks coveted by Kyiv.

“You’ll help Ukraine with the necessary weapons anyway and realize that there is no other option to end the war except the defeat of Russia,” Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

“But today’s indecision is killing more of our people. Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster.”

Ukraine‘s partners this week pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in new military aid but were unable to agree on sending the German-made Leopard 2 tanks Kyiv during a conference at the Ramstein Air Base on Friday.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)