KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s defense minister is set to meet with President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday amid discussions between Kyiv’s allies over whether to provide fighter jets for the war against Russia is. 16 seconds.
An adviser to Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Friday that Ukraine plans to push forward with Western fourth-generation fighters like the F-16 after securing a supply of main battle tanks last week.
Asked at the White House on Monday whether the US would provide the F-16, Biden told reporters, “No.”
But France and Poland seem willing to accept such a request from Ukraine, with President Macron telling reporters in The Hague on Monday that “by definition nothing is excluded” when it comes to military aid. Told.
In remarks made on French television before Mr. Biden’s speech in Washington, Macron said such a move would involve a number of factors, including the need to avoid escalation and assurances that the aircraft would “not touch Russian soil.” He also said Reznikov will meet his French counterpart Sébastien Lecorne in Paris on Tuesday.
In Poland on Monday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also did not rule out the possibility of supplying F-16s to neighboring Ukraine, responding to questions from reporters before Biden spoke.
In a statement posted on his website, Morawiecki said such a transfer would be made “in full coordination” with NATO countries.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said in another post on his Telegram channel that France “does not rule out” such a move, pointing to “positive signals” from Poland.
Biden’s comments came shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched a relentless strike in the east to exact retaliation for Ukraine’s resistance to aggression.
Zelensky has warned for weeks that Moscow aims to step up its offensive after nearly two months of a virtual stalemate along front lines stretching south and east.
Ukraine won a major boost last week when Germany and the United States announced plans to provide heavy tanks, ending weeks of diplomatic impasse on the issue.
Although there were no signs of a new Russian offensive, Denis Pushirin, administrator of the Russian-controlled area of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, said Russian forces had moved to the mining town of Vkhredal, whose ruins have become a Ukrainian fort. Since the start of the war, he said that he had secured a foothold in
Pushirin said the Ukrainian army was strengthening its positions at industrial facilities despite “huge losses”.
“Battle at every meter”
Pushirin said the Ukrainian army was sending reinforcements to Bakhmut, Marinka and Vredal, the north-south towns just west of the city of Donetsk. Russia’s state-run TASS news agency quoted him as saying that Russian forces were advancing, but that “it’s not clear. I mean, there’s literally every meter of battle going on here.”
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Ukraine still controls Maryinka and Vuhledar, where Russian attacks were less intense on Monday.
Pushirin’s adviser Jan Gagin said fighters from the Russian mercenary unit Wagner had partially captured a supply road leading to Bakhmut, a city Moscow has been focusing on for months.
The day before, Wagner’s chief said his fighters had secured the village of Vlahodatne, just north of Bakhmut, but that Kyiv had repulsed an attack on Vlahodatne.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield report. However, the locations of the reported battles showed that Russia was making definite gains, albeit gradual.
In the central Zaporizhia and southern Kherson regions, Russian forces have shelled more than 40 settlements, the Ukrainian General Staff said. Targets included the city of Kherson, which suffered casualties.
Russian forces also launched four rocket attacks on Ochakiv, south of Mikolaiv, on the day Zelensky met with the Danish prime minister in the northeastern city of Mikolaiv, the military said.
western delay
Zelensky is urging the West to expedite the delivery of the weapons promised to enable Ukraine to go on the offensive, but most of the hundreds of tanks promised by the West are months away.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said 14 Challenger tanks donated by Britain would be deployed to the frontline sometime in April or May, though no exact schedule was given.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western supplies of weapons “will lead to NATO countries becoming more and more directly involved in the conflict, but are unlikely to change the course of events.” I have no intention of doing so,” he said.
The U.S.-based War Research Institute think tank said the failure of the West to provide needed supplies was the main reason Kyiv’s advance had stalled since last November.
The researchers said in a report that Ukraine could still reclaim territory if the promised weapons arrived.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, justified by Moscow as necessary to protect itself from its neighbors and relations with the West, has left tens of thousands dead and millions homeless. was chased.
Reported by a Reuters bureau. Written by Doina Chiacu and Stephen Coates.Edited by Cynthia Osterman and Simon Cameron Moore
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