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This May 13, the German country announced its largest economic contribution to the Ukrainian troops in the war and promised to continue providing its support to kyiv. Meanwhile, Russia claimed that Ukraine targeted civilian positions in Lugansk with British long-range missiles. On the other hand, the European Union resumed calls to send more ammunition and missiles to Ukraine.
Germany announced that it will allocate military support to Kiev worth 2.7 billion euros, the largest sent by the country to reinforce Ukrainian troops in their fight against the Russian Army, since the war began in February last year.
The new aid includes 100 armored fighting vehicles, 30 Leopard tanks, 1.15 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, more than 200 reconnaissance drones, 18 wheeled howitzers, 12 IRIS-T SLS launchers and four Iris-T air defense systems, among others. , reported the Ministry of Defense, which also specified that the shipment was already underway.
“With this valuable contribution of urgently needed military equipment, we show once again that Germany takes its support seriously. We all wish a speedy end to this terrible war by Russia against the Ukrainian people and contrary to international law,” said the minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, who assured that “Germany will provide all the help it can, for as long as it is necessary.”
Since the start of the war, Ukraine has demanded arms and ammunition from its allies. In fact, in recent months he has intensified his requests, assuring that they are necessary for his counter-offensive scheduled for the coming weeks or months. That’s why youFollowing the Berlin announcement, Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff wrote “thank you to our allies” in a Telegram post.
This support has precedents. Although during the first months of the war, Germany had been reluctant to supply heavy weapons to Kiev for fear of reprisals that could trigger these deliveries in Russia, which has threatened to respond “proportionately”; It took another look in January, when it agreed to supply Leopard tanks in cooperation with other Western partners.
Russia denounces British Storm Shadow bombings in Lugansk
This Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of bombing civilian positions with long-range missiles supplied this week by the United Kingdom.
London became the first of Kiev’s Western partners to supply cruise missiles to its troops on Thursday, after saying it had obtained assurances from Ukraine that it would not use them to attack Russian territory.
“On May 12, 2023, during a missile attack on the city of Luhansk, Ukrainian armed formations used two British-French produced Storm Shadow cruise missiles and one American-made ADM-160B air defense missile “, according to a statement from the authorities designated by Moscow in the pro-Russian region, quoted by the TASS agency.
On Thursday, Moscow said providing such weapons to Ukraine had been “an extremely hostile step” that could trigger a serious escalation in the region.
Borrell calls to speed up the supply of ammunition to Ukraine
Also this Saturday, the head of the foreign policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, urged the countries of the bloc to quickly supply ammunition to Ukraine, after the foreign minister of the invaded country, Dmytro Kuleba, had asked the twenty-seven further support at a meeting in Stockholm.
“Ukraine needs about 1,000 artillery shells a day,” Borrell said, adding that kyiv especially needs long-range munitions “because the Russians are shelling from afar.” And “Ukrainians have to have the ability to reach the same rank,” she said.
Last March, the community bloc approved a plan to guarantee the arrival in Ukraine of 12 million rounds of artillery and missile ammunition in 12 months. Borrell said that the partners should search their projectile reserves to speed up the delivery of those supplies, after the efforts made in recent months.
With Reuters and EFE
