live blog
Status: 01/10/2023 03:51 a.m
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy praised his soldiers for defending the city of Soledar. The Bundeswehr reservists’ association is also in favor of a “Leopard” delivery. All developments in the live blog.
3:51 a.m
Bundeswehr reservists association for “Leopard” delivery
The President of the Bundeswehr Reserves Association, Patrick Sensburg, has spoken out in favor of supplying “Leopard” tanks to Ukraine. The “Marder” was not most effective in combination – ideally, of course, with the “Leopard” battle tank. “That’s why the support with main battle tanks is the next logical step,” said Sensburg. The delivery of battle tanks of a different type from another country is also conceivable.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz had agreed with US President Joe Biden to deliver Western-style armored personnel carriers to Ukraine for the first time. Ukraine has been demanding these tanks for months. The federal government agreed to provide Ukraine with 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. Politicians from the Greens and the FDP are now demanding that Scholz step up and deliver the more powerful Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. The Green Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck recently did not rule out this step.
3:51 a.m
Zelenskyj: Thanks to soldiers in Soledar
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian army is currently defending the city of Soledar in the east of the country against increasingly violent attacks by Russian and pro-Russian forces. He thanked “all the fighters in Soledar who withstood the new and even tougher attacks of the invaders,” Zelenskyj said in his daily video address.
Soledar is located in the Donetsk region claimed by Moscow. “Thanks to the resilience of our soldiers in Soledar, we gained additional time and forces for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. The head of state added: “Everything is completely destroyed (…) the ground in Soledar is covered with the corpses of the attackers and marked by the explosions.”