Ukraine wants Taurus cruise missiles from Germany
In recent days, Ukraine has asked Germany to supply Taurus cruise missiles, a German defense spokesman said. He did not say how many missiles were requested and it is not known whether the Federal Republic is willing to supply them.
The Taurus cruise missile is a German-Swedish weapon that has a range of 500 kilometers. The rocket costs around 950,000 euros. It would allow the Ukrainians to strike at Russian military infrastructure far behind the front line, says CDU member of the Bundestag, retired Colonel Roderich Kiesewetter. Christian Democrat Kiesewetter is a strong supporter of arms deliveries to Ukraine.
Iran accuses Ukraine of ‘anti-Iranian propaganda’
The Iranian government in Tehran today accused Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky of spreading anti-Iranian propaganda in his call for Iran to stop supplying drones to Russia. With this Zelensky would try to get more Western weapons and financial support.
On Wednesday Zelenskyi urged Iran not to “end up in the wrong pages of the history books by supplying drones to Moscow”. Although Iran initially denied any involvement, it later admitted to supplying Russia with some Shahed drones before the war started. They, in turn, according to Ukraine, played a major role in Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities.
The Russians go to “practice” in Zaporizhia
Ukraine’s defense ministry says Russia is trying to simulate a nuclear disaster at the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant to thwart the long-awaited counter-offensive by the Ukrainians.
The Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is considered hotly contested. Both sides point to each other about the artillery shelling that took place there.
Ukraine: “We are ready for a counteroffensive”
Ukraine would be ready to launch the long-awaited counter-offensive against Russian forces. Ukrainian representative Oleksiy Danilov told the BBC.
When the offensive will begin, Danilov did not want to say, but indicated that the order only needs to be given. “It can start tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week,” Danilov said.
The Wagner group gets new tasks after Bachmoet
Troops from the Wagner Group mercenary army are likely to be deployed in other offensives in the Donbass region, according to the British Defense Ministry. They report this in their daily intelligence update. Wagner has recently begun withdrawing his troops from Bachmoet.
Instead of the Wagner troops, led by the mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russian soldiers are now being installed in the occupied positions.
Biden “extremely negative” on Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus
US President Joe Biden had an “extremely negative” reaction when he learned that Russia has begun transferring nuclear weapons to Belarus. Biden said this Friday night during a press conference in Washington.
Earlier in the day, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Russia’s action does not mean the nuclear threat has increased. The think tank stressed that Russia is already capable of striking several targets. For this, it was not necessary to move weapons to Belarus. According to the ISW, it is primarily a way to further integrate Belarus into the Russian sphere of influence. Furthermore, the ISW says that Russia is unlikely to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine or other targets anyway.