Ukraine demands speedier weapons deliveries ahead of Ramstein meet

Ukraine insisted the West must speed up its supply of weapons, with the city of Dnipro reeling from a Russian missile strike that killed at least 40 people in an apartment block and Ukrainian troops under increased pressure on the eastern front.

Ukraine’s army General Staff said on Monday (16 January) that Russian artillery pounded about 25 towns and villages around Bakhmut and Avdiika, the two focal points of Russian attempts to advance in the strategic eastern industrial Donbas region.

It said Russia also kept up shelling of more than 30 settlements in the northeast Kharkiv and Sumy areas near the Russian border. In the south, Russian mortar and artillery fire hit several towns, including the regional capital, Kherson, which Russian forces abandoned in November.

The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.

“Very heavy fighting is continuing in the two key sectors of… Bakhmut and Avdiivka,” Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said on YouTube. “The enemy is attacking constantly and around the clock. And we are trying to maintain our positions. Russian troops are active at night – we are in great need of night vision equipment.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Monday night video address that the attack on Dnipro and Russia’s attempts to gain the initiative in the war underscored the need for the West “to speed up decision-making” in supplying weapons.

Western countries have produced a steady supply of weapons to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded last 24 February but Zelenskyy and his government are insisting they need tanks.

Britain confirmed on Monday it was going to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks and other hardware, including hundreds more armoured vehicles and advanced air defence missiles.

Germany is under pressure to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but its government says such tanks should be supplied only if there is agreement among Kyiv’s main allies, particularly the United States.

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Oleskiy Danylov, Secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, also mentioned on Monday night the need for an acceleration in weapons supplies because the government expected Russia “to attempt to make a so-called final push.”

Danylov told Ukrainian television that could take place on the invasion’s anniversary or in March.

“We must prepare for such events every day. And we are preparing … The first and last question is always about weapons, aid to help us defeat this aggressor that invaded our country,” Danylov said.

A Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting will be held at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Friday, hosted by US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. The meeting is expected to coordinate further aid for Ukraine.

Russia reacts

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said late on Monday that British Foreign Minister James Cleverly, who has been sanctioned by Moscow over Ukraine, is yet to answer for his support of Kyiv.

Cleverly said on Monday he had been sanctioned by the Russian government and added that if that were the price for supporting Ukraine – he was happy to be sanctioned.

“Dear James, you don’t understand,” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram messaging app. “This is for the anti-Russian course and personal sanctions. But you still have to answer for the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism.”

Russia framed its invasion of Ukraine as a battle against Nazism but Kyiv and its allies say this is a lie used to justify an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.

‘Deportations’

Russia calls its actions a “special military operation” to protect its security because its neighbour grew increasingly close to the West. Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of an unprovoked war to grab territory and to erase the independence of a fellow ex-Soviet republic.

Russia’s invasion has displaced millions, killed thousands of civilians and left Ukrainian cities, towns and villages in ruins. Kyiv and its allies have also accused Russia of the large-scale deportation of Ukrainians.

Zelenskyy called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) on Monday to do more about Ukrainians he says have been forcibly taken to Russia.

The OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organisation, consisting of 57 states, such as the United States, all European states, including Russia and all states of the former Soviet Union.

“No international organisation has found the strength to gain access to the places of detention of our prisoners in Russia yet. This must be corrected,” he said.

The US State Department estimated last year that between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, have been forcibly deported into Russian territory.

Russia denies deportations and says those arriving are war refugees. In November, the country’s emergency ministry said that some 4.8 million Ukrainians, including 712,000 children, had arrived in Russia since February.

(Edited by Georgi Gotev)

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