Ukraine Russia newest information: Putin’s troops launch assault forward of US and Germany tank supply

• President Volodymyr Zelensky described the scenario on the entrance as “extraordinarily acute”, significantly within the jap Donetsk area the place Russia is stepping up an offensive.
• Zelensky reported main battles for Vuhledar, to the southwest of Donetsk’s regional capital, and Bakhmut, to the northeast. Bakhmut has largely been pulverised by repeated Russian assaults.
• Native Ukrainian officers reported heavy shelling within the north, northeast and east.
• A 74-year-old Spanish man arrested earlier this week over a spate of letter bombs despatched to establishments together with the Spanish Prime Minister and the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid in late 2022 sought to strain his nation’s authorities to drop assist for Ukraine, an investigating Justice of the Peace mentioned.
• A Russian graveyard revealed Wagner’s prisoner military. There have been round 200 graves on the web site on the outskirts of Bakinskaya village in Krasnodar area when Reuters visited in late January.

The most recent warfare updates from Reuters:

* Three folks have been killed and at the least two others wounded after Russian forces struck a residential neighbourhood within the jap Ukrainian metropolis of Kostiantynivka, the regional governor mentioned on Saturday.

* On Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the scenario on the entrance as “extraordinarily acute”, significantly within the jap Donetsk area the place Russia is stepping up an offensive.

* Zelenskiy reported main battles for Vuhledar, to the southwest of Donetsk’s regional capital, and Bakhmut, to the northeast. Bakhmut has largely been pulverised by repeated Russian assaults.

Germany has introduced it’s sending its Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine – and can permit different nations to take action too. Berlin will ship 14 to start with, with Poland additionally saying it’s going to ship 14 and Canada saying it’s going to ship 4.

Norway has additionally mentioned it’s going to ship Leopards, whereas Spain has mentioned it’s open to offering them.

Ukraine‘s President Volodymyr Zelensky has mentioned the tanks are essential to replenish his nation’s navy hardaware forward of what he believes might be elevated Russian offences within the spring – with intense combating having already been going down in jap Ukraine for weeks. Kyiv additionally desires them to try to recapture territory taken by Moscow’s forces.

North Korea has condemned the choice by the US to produce Ukraine with superior battle tanks to assist struggle off Russia’s invasion, saying Washington is escalating a sinister “proxy warfare” aimed toward destroying Moscow.

The feedback by the influential sister of North Korean chief Kim Jong Un underscored the nation’s deepening alignment with Russia over the warfare in Ukraine because it confronts the US and its Asian allies over its personal rising nuclear weapons and missiles programme.

North Korea has blamed the US for the disaster in Ukraine, insisting the West’s “hegemonic coverage” compelled Moscow to take navy motion to guard its safety pursuits.

It has additionally used the distraction created by the warfare to speed up its personal weapons improvement, test-firing greater than 70 missiles in 2022 alone, together with probably nuclear-capable weapons believed capable of goal South Korea and the US mainland.

Russian state TV has since made a degree of mocking the Abrams as “battered” and susceptible to getting caught in a section downplaying the risk the brand new additions to Kyiv’s arsenal pose.

Ukraine mentioned on Friday it was organising drone assault firms inside its armed forces that might be outfitted with Starlink satellite tv for pc communications, because it presses forward with an thought to construct up an “military of drones”.

Commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi signed off on the creation of the models in a challenge that may contain a number of ministries and companies, the Common Workers mentioned.

“Essentially the most skilled servicemen” have already been chosen to steer the businesses, every of which is able to obtain drones and ammunition, Starlink terminals and different tools, it mentioned on Fb.

“We’re doing the whole lot to supply troopers with trendy applied sciences,” it mentioned.

Starlink is a satellite tv for pc web system operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm, and extensively used each by civilians and the navy in Ukraine.

Russian shelling killed at the least 10 Ukrainian civilians on Friday – the second day of bombardments by Putin’s forces after Western nations pledged to ship navy assist together with trendy tanks.

Moscow is making an attempt to breach Ukrainian strains within the east and northeast forward of the arrival of latest weaponry from the USA, Britain, Germany and others.

Poland gave Ukraine an additional increase on Friday by promising an extra 60 tanks on high of 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks it had already pledged.

Alastair Jamieson experiences: