live blog
Status: 01/21/2023 09:19 am
President’s wife Selenska calls for more effort in the implementation of a ten-point peace plan. According to the US, Ukraine should not fixate on defending Bakhmut. The developments in the live blog.
3:24 a.m
Resnikov: “Leopard 2” training in Poland
According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainian armed forces in Poland will train on Leopard 2 main battle tanks. “We will start with that and then continue,” he was quoted as saying by the Ukrainian-language US broadcaster “Voice of America”. Resnikov described the development of the training as a breakthrough and attributes the success to Poland’s efforts.
The minister took part in the defense ministers’ meeting at the German air base in Ramstein on Friday. He is optimistic about the decision as to whether Germany will deliver “Leopard 2” battle tanks in the future.
Reznikov tweeted a photo of himself with Germany’s new Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius. 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.”
3:24 a.m
Concert to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the war at New York’s Met Opera
The New York Metropolitan Opera plans to hold a concert on February 24 to commemorate the first anniversary of the Russian attack on Ukraine. The orchestra, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, will play Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. In addition, several Ukrainian solo singers should perform, the world-famous opera announced. The Ukrainian national anthem should also be performed.
The opera house in Manhattan had already collected donations for the victims of the war with a concert last year.
Image: picture alliance / AP Photo
3:24 a.m
Selenska: More commitment to ten-point peace plan
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska is calling 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 Swiss daily Neue Züricher Zeitung at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
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 explains to the newspaper.
3:24 a.m
US representative: Kyiv should prepare for spring offensive
According to a high-ranking US official, Ukraine should not fixate on defending the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, but use the time to prepare a counteroffensive against Russian troops. The focus on defending Bakhmut is preventing Ukraine from concentrating on the more important task of preparing a spring offensive, the government official said.
In the long run, Russia would have an advantage in the battle for Bakhmut simply because of the numerical superiority of its troops and artillery resources. However, a possible capture of the city by Russia would not represent a significant change in the war because Ukrainian troops could withdraw to well-protected positions, the US official said.
3:24 a.m
Strack-Zimmermann criticizes the lack of Leopard decision
The chairwoman of the Defense Committee in the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, has sharply criticized the lack of a decision on the delivery of German Leopard main battle tanks to Ukraine. After the meeting of the Ukraine contact group in Ramstein, Strack-Zimmermann said in the ZDF-heute journal that “at least one signal would have been correct to give the partners the green light” for Leopard deliveries from their stocks.
The fact that even this did not happen is “not only sad”: “History is looking at us, and unfortunately Germany has just failed,” said the FDP politician. Russian President Vladimir Putin could “pat himself on the thigh tonight” in view of the lack of a tank decision. At the same time, Strack-Zimmermann was convinced that Leopard tanks would eventually be delivered to the Ukraine.