Ukraine-News ++ Former US Navy Seal killed in Ukraine ++

BAnother US citizen has died in the fighting in Ukraine. The former member of the Navy Seals special unit succumbed to injuries he sustained in Dnipro, US officials said on Friday. He did not fight in an official capacity. No further details were given. The US State Department said it could only confirm the recent death of a US citizen in Ukraine and is in contact with the man’s family.

According to the Navy, the man was a non-commissioned officer and ran away from the force without permission in 2019. According to an entry on the Amazon website, Daniel S. was the father of four children, wrote a book and served as a member of the Navy Seals in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, among other places.

The Navy said it couldn’t say why he went to Ukraine. According to the US television channel CNN, he deserted the man on March 11, 2019 from the military. According to the US State Department and according to reports from family members, he is the sixth US citizen killed in fighting in Ukraine.

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According to the Ukrainian embassy in the US, at least 6,000 people have contacted her about voluntary military service since the invasion began. About half were immediately turned away. It is not known how many are actually fighting with the Ukrainian armed forces. The US government discourages citizens from fighting in Ukraine because they could be held hostage by the Russians if captured.

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All developments in the live ticker:

9:20 am – EU Parliament President on Leopard debate: Need leadership

EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola assumes that Ukraine will also receive Leopard 2 tanks to support the war against Russia. At the meeting of the western allies at the US base in Ramstein, “further important commitments were made, and I remain optimistic about the tanks, too, since this is the logical next step,” the Maltese newspaper quoted the “Handelsblatt” as saying.

The Leopard 2 tanks are at the center of the debate “because there are a lot of them, because they are relatively easy to maintain, because many European countries have them and because Ukraine simply needs them”. It is good that the alliance partners in Ramstein have agreed on new arms deliveries. “However, what we urgently need is leadership, unity and a common approach to the supply of Leopard 2 tanks.” The Ukrainians “need us and they are counting on us,” stresses Metsola. “We must not disappoint them. This is the defining moment that requires bold decisions and time is of the essence.”

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8:05 am – Biden: Ukraine is getting all the help it needs

“Ukraine will get all the help it needs,” US President Joe Biden said when asked by journalists in Washington whether he supported Poland’s intention to provide Ukraine with Leopard main battle tanks. Meanwhile, a senior US official, who declined to be named, reiterated that the US maintained its stance not to send Abrams main battle tanks to Ukraine. Ukraine has been demanding the delivery of main battle tanks for some time.

It is particularly about the Leopard 2. Poland, among others, has declared its willingness to deliver. However, since the tanks come from German production, Germany must agree to a transfer. So far, this has not happened, and no decision was made at a meeting of Western allies at the US air base in Ramstein. The question of whether Germany will supply battle tanks itself is also an open one. In the run-up to the Ramstein meeting, it was said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz was linking a delivery of the Leopard tanks to the fact that the USA were also providing Abrams tanks.

06:00 – Zelenskyy wants to continue “fighting” for German Leopard tanks

After the Ukraine conference in Ramstein, Germany, Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to continue fighting in Kyiv for the delivery of German Leopard 2 tanks to his country. During the talks, he heard a lot of understanding for the needs of Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, Zelenskyj said in his video message. “Yes, we will still have to fight for the supply of modern tanks, but every day we make it more obvious that there is no alternative to choosing tanks,” he said.

At the conference at the US Air Force Base, no decision had yet been made on the delivery of main battle tanks. Nevertheless, Zelenskyj was optimistic that he will receive the tanks.

03:35 – Two men charged in US with aiding Russian oligarchs

Two men have been charged in the United States on suspicion of helping a sanctions-hit Russian oligarch conceal ownership of his yacht. As the US Department of Justice announced, a Briton was arrested in Spain and is to be extradited to the United States.

Another suspect with Russian and Swiss citizenship is on the run. The two men are said to have helped a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, billionaire Viktor Wekselberg, to disguise his ownership of the Tango yacht, which is valued at $90 million.

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Wekselberg is the head of the Russian group Renowa and has been on a US sanctions list since 2018 because of the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula. The Briton, who runs a shipping company in Mallorca, is said to have renamed the yacht “Fanta” in order to be able to continue working with US outfitters, although this was not allowed under US sanctions. Despite attempts to cover it up, the 78-meter-long “Tango” was ultimately confiscated in Spain last April at the request of the United States.

02:35 – Ukraine: Armed forces will train on German tanks in Poland

According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainian armed forces in Poland will train on Leopard 2 main battle tanks. “We’ll start with that and then continue,” he was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian-language US broadcaster “Voice of America”. Resnikov called the development of the training a breakthrough and attributed the success to Poland’s efforts.

The minister attended the Ramstein conference on Friday. When asked whether Germany would deliver Leopard 2 main battle tanks in the future, he was optimistic. Resnikov posted a photo on Twitter in which he could be seen with the new German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). In his post he thanked, among other things, the German government for the military aid and also wrote: “We had an open discussion about Leopard 2. To be continued.”

01:00 – Ukrainian first lady expects more efforts on peace plan

Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska has called on Ukraine’s western allies to do more to implement a ten-point peace plan. Every country plays a role for which it must also take responsibility, Selenska said in an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in a press statement

The peace plan, announced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G20 summit in November, also includes calls for ensuring food and energy security and mechanisms to prevent the conflict escalating in the Euro-Atlantic area. “It also includes legal demands, such as an international war crimes tribunal and the return of prisoners of war to Ukraine,” Selenska told the newspaper.

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