Recently, Britain and Germany have continued to affirm their support for Ukraine in the context of Russia stepping up its military campaign in the Eastern European country.
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| The US allows the commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to determine the range of attack with HIMARS multiple launch rockets. (Source: US Army) |
According to AFP , on the evening of January 2, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had a phone call, in which Mr. Sunnak declared that London will "continue to firmly stand with Kiev" in the conflict with Moscow.
“The Prime Minister made clear that the UK’s steps are aimed at providing military and diplomatic support to Ukraine, including the provision of additional lethal aid,” a spokesman for the British Prime Minister’s Office said, citing a phone call between the two leaders.
On Telegram , President Zelensky announced that he told Prime Minister Sunak that in just the past 5 days, Russia has launched at least 500 rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) into Ukrainian territory, and asked the UK to help strengthen the air defense and long-range capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU).
On the same day, also reacting to the rocket launches into Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock affirmed that Berlin will "stand by the Ukrainian people as long as they need it."
Meanwhile, German Parliamentary Budget Committee Member Sebastian Schäfer said that the VSU has only a very small number of combat-ready Leopard-2 tanks of the A6 version left, one of the reasons being the lack of necessary components, so repairs take too much time.
Calling on German defense companies Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) to quickly improve the supply of spare parts, MP Schaefer noted that the Ukrainian military's attempts to repair tanks themselves often lead to larger failures.
Previously, on April 28, 2023, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that the country had fulfilled all obligations to Kiev in transferring 18 Leopard-2 A6 tanks and 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles.
In a related development, also on January 2, the Ukrainian website Strana.ua quoted US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink as saying that Washington had allowed the VSU commander to determine the attack range with HIMARS multiple launch rockets.
According to Ms. Brink, the US government plans to transfer HIMARS high-mobility multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) missiles to Kiev in the near future, but there is still no information showing that Ukraine will be provided with HIMARS missiles with a range of more than 160 km.
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