Europe

Spain will train 55 Ukrainian soldiers in the management and maintenance of the Leopard

February 14, 2023
7 Min Read
Spain will train 55 Ukrainian soldiers in the management and maintenance of the Leopard

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This Tuesday marks 356 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The contact group of Western countries in support of Ukraine and allied defense ministers meet at the headquarters of the NATOwith the urgency of expediting the shipment of military equipment to kyiv so that it can face a possible Russian offensive about to complete a year of conflict. Meanwhile, the Russian troops try to retake positions along the Oskil River, in the Kharkiv regionespecially between Kupiansk and Borovaaccording to kyiv, in order to get back to Limanin the neighbor Donetsk province, from where they had to withdraw last October in one of the greatest humiliations in the war so far. Besides, the Bakhmut city is facing heavy artillery fire, according to local officials. On the other hand, in the sector kreminna–Svatove of the lugansk region“Russian forces are making continuous offensive efforts, although each local attack remains too small a scale to achieve a significant breakthrough,” according to the british intelligence.

Data update of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Spain will train 55 Ukrainian soldiers in the management and maintenance of the Leopard

The Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, has announced this Tuesday that the Spanish Armed Forces will train 55 Ukrainian soldiers in handling the Leopard tanks that Spain has promised to send to Ukraine, although it has evaded specifying the total number. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the meeting in Brussels of allied ministers who support Ukraine, Margarita Robles explained that Spain will receive between 50 and 55 Ukrainian troops at the end of this week who will be specifically instructed in the tank that Spain promised to deploy together with a series of countries at the end of January. The minister has evaded confirming the final number of Leopards that Spain will provide, but she has indicated that the tanks and trained crews may be ready by the end of March. “As important as the number of battle tanks that are sent is the training of the crews and maintenance. This goes closely together,” she stressed. Finally, she has insisted that the review and fine-tuning of the Leopard 2A4s continues, since some of them are in a “unfortunate state” after more than a decade stored and unused in a warehouse in Zaragoza.

The EU includes Russia in its list of tax havens

The European Union has included on Tuesday Russia, Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands to its list of jurisdictions that do not cooperate in tax matters with the community bloc. Following the decision, approved by the Ministers of Economy and Finance, the list includes 16 territories in addition to the four added today: Panama, American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Trinidad and Tobago, Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Bahamas, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which were already there.

Map of the situation in Ukraine from British Intelligence

The US assures that it will give Ukraine “with unity and urgency” the promised support

He US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austinhas assured this Tuesday that Ukraine’s allies will provide it “with unity and urgency” the military support that they have promised so that it can defend itself against the Russian offensive that they expect for this spring. “With unity and urgency we will once again provide the support we have promised to Ukraine. We will put the capabilities in the hands of Ukrainian forces trained so that they can be integrated into the battlefield,” Lloyd Austin said at the start of the ninth meeting of the support contact group for Ukraine that is being held at NATO headquarters in Brussels, in which more than 50 countries participate.

Stoltenberg: “Fighters are not the most urgent issue”

He NATO Secretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg, has insisted on Tuesday that the priority right now for the allies that support Ukraine militarily is to send the tanks and ammunition compromised, noting that right now “fighters are not the most pressing issue.” Before the meeting at the headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance of the Ramstein group, the military coalition of more than 40 countries that supports Ukraine under the leadership of the United States, in which the countries are expected to finalize the supply of tanks to Kiev, Jens Stoltenberg has stressed that the priority is to get the equipment committed by the allies such as armored vehicles and tanks, insisting that the need to provide the Ukrainian Army with ammunition and training in the new systems is also on the allies’ table. More skeptical has been about the possibility of handing over fighter jets to the Ukrainian army, the main demand made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his European tour last week in London, Paris and Brussels. “The issue of the fighters is not the most urgent issue, but it is an ongoing discussion and we have consultations between allies about the type of systems that must be provided to Ukraine,” he said when asked about this issue.

Hundreds of Ukrainian children are being transferred to Russia from the occupied territories

Hundreds of Ukrainian children are being transferred to Russia from the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, according to a YoEBU investigation in which RTVE has participated. The Kremlin says they are saving them, while kyiv denounces a genocide.

Wagner Group makes small gains north of Bakhmut, according to British Intelligence

“In the last three days, it is almost certain that the forces of the Wagner Group have made small advances on the northern outskirts of the city of Bakhmut in Donbas, including the village of Krasna Hora,” said the UK Ministry of Defense in his report on Tuesday. However, “organized Ukrainian defense continues in the area and the Russian tactical advance south of the city has probably made little progress.” In the north, in the Kreminna-Svatove sector of Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk region, “Russian forces are making continuous offensive efforts, though each local attack remains too small a scale to make a significant breakthrough.” Finally, British Intelligence states that “overall, the current operational picture suggests that Russian forces are receiving orders to advance in most sectors, but have not amassed enough combat power in any axis to achieve decisive effect.” .

The Russians punish Bakhmut

The eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut is facing heavy artillery fire, according to local officials. Ukrainian defenders who have held out for months are preparing for new ground attacks, say Ukrainian military officials. “The city, the suburbs of the city, the entire perimeter and essentially the entire direction of Bakhmut and Kostiantynivka are under crazy and chaotic shelling,” Volodymyr Nazarenko, deputy commander of Ukraine’s Svoboda Battalion, said Tuesday. The Ukrainian Army has also reported that 16 settlements have been bombed near Bakhmut, according to Guardian.



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