![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Later in the day, Zelenskyy used his nightly address to mark Europe Day, having decreed Monday that Ukraine will celebrate Europe Day on May 9, and join the rest of Europe in celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany on May 8. was expected to announce Tuesday that it will provide $1.2 billion more in long-term military aid to Ukraine to further bolster its air defenses. In the latest help from a NATO member, the U.S. Ukraine is also hoping to join NATO, after moving close to the Western military alliance during the war. Ukraine is keen to join the EU, but membership is still a long way off. Von der Leyen did not name the countries. The EU has noticed that certain products that have been banned to undermine Russia’s war effort are still getting through, she said. Von der Leyen urged EU member nations to take measures to prevent countries from helping Russia to circumvent the bloc’s sanctions. The missiles came hours before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union’s executive branch, arrived in Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said in a Telegram post that eight Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from carriers in the Black Sea toward the east and 17 from strategic aircraft. Prigozhin has become known for such inflammatory, headline-grabbing statements, particularly at key moments when attention is focused elsewhere - but issuing them on Victory Day was remarkably bold. The counteroffensive will be on the ground, not on television,” Prigozhin warned, adding that the Russian state is “unable to defend the country.” “Victory Day marks the victory of our grandfathers we did not deserve a single bit of this victory. On Tuesday, he contrasted the pomp of the May 9 celebrations, broadcast across Russia, with the reality on the ground. The threat of departure marked another flare-up in Prigozhin’s long-running dispute with Russia’s military brass over credit and tactics in the war. Prigozhin’s allegations could not be independently verified, and the Russian military has not commented on them. In a video published on Telegram, Prigozhin claimed that Russian army units had fled their positions in the city due to the “stupidity of their leadership” - a reference to the Defense Ministry - and that it threatened to charge Wagner troops with treason if they, too, pulled out. “That seems to be for fear that those people who have lost their relatives in this current war on Ukraine might actually join the processions and show just the scale of the casualties that Russia has suffered in its current war,” Giles said.Īt the last minute on Monday, officials announced that the leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan would head to Moscow as well.Īs the celebrations unfolded, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner, said his fighters had yet to receive ammunition promised to them by the military - but that they would continue to fight in the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut despite earlier threatening to withdraw them. Meanwhile, the traditional Immortal Regiment processions, in which crowds take to the streets holding portraits of relatives who died or served in World War II - a pillar of the holiday - were canceled in multiple cities. Nor did they seem to have armored fighting vehicles. “Normally they show off all the really modern stuff, and they didn’t have any of those. But so much of that military might has already been mauled in Ukraine that Russia has very little to show on its parade in Red Square,” said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at London’s Chatham House think tank.Īs a display of military hardware it was “very underwhelming,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor of war studies at King’s College London, noting that the T-34, the iconic World War II tank, was the only tank on display. “This is supposed to be a showpiece for Russian military might. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |