British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, during a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, announced his country’s intention to send main battle tanks to Ukraine along with additional artillery support, according to Sunak’s office.
“They agreed on the need to seize this moment by accelerating global military and diplomatic support to Ukraine,” a Sunak spokesman said.
He added, “The prime minister has made clear the UK’s ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine, including through the provision of additional Challenger 2 tanks and artillery systems.”
major infrastructure
Several explosions sounded in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday morning, while Ukrainian officials confirmed that the bombing targeted major infrastructure.
Al-Arabiya correspondent reported that news from Kyiv indicated that one of the missiles in the attacks on Saturday was a ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
The deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kirillo Tymoshenko, said on Telegram that “a missile attack on vital infrastructure facilities” in Kyiv is continuing, while the mayor of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, spoke of explosions in the Dnipro region, urging residents to “stay in shelters.”
While Ukrainian media reported ballistic missiles launched from Belarus towards Kyiv, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces denied firing missiles from Belarus.
In addition, the governor of Kharkiv confirmed that industrial facilities and vital energy facilities were damaged due to the Russian strikes. The Governor of Mykolaiv also noted that “the take-off of 17 Russian Tupolev bombers was monitored.”
This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intends to visit the United Nations to address a high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the eve of the first anniversary of the outbreak of war in his country on February 24 if the security situation allows, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Friday.
Serious attack in February
And the first deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, Amina Jabbarova, warned in an interview with the agency “Associated Press” that many factors must be taken into account.
In this context, Japarova primarily referred to the military situation on the ground, and the warning of the Ukrainian intelligence service that Russia is planning a “serious attack.” very much in February.
Ukrainian army in Donetsk
“Our president wants to come (to the UN),” Jabbarova said. “He has the will or intention to come, but the question is still whether there is a security situation that will allow him to come.”
If Zelensky comes to the United Nations, it will be only his second visit outside Ukraine since Russia launched its military operation.
Ukrainian draft resolution in the Security Council
For his part, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Nations, Sergey Kislitsa, said that the General Assembly has already decided to hold high-level talks on the war on February 23, which will be followed by a ministerial meeting of the Security Council on February 24.
Jabbarova said Ukraine would like the council to adopt one of the two resolutions that Zelensky wants to approve on the eve of the anniversary of the start of the war.
In the same context, Jabbarova said that Ukraine is consulting with its partners on the two measures, one that would support the president’s 10-point peace formula that includes restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the withdrawal of Russian forces, and the other would establish a court to try crimes of aggression, which would hold Russia accountable. responsibility for its operation.
An American institute confirms Russia’s control of Solidar
These developments come as the Russian army announced, on Friday, that it had completed extending its control over Solidar in eastern Ukraine, which was denied by Kyiv, which confirmed that “fierce battles” were still taking place in this small town.
The Ukrainian General Staff said in its evening report The fight for Solidar continues. without adding any details.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement “The release of Solidar was completed on the evening of January 12.”pointing to the importance of controlling this town in the context of “continuing successful offensive operations.”
4/ ISW assessed on January 12 that Russian forces had likely captured Soledar on January 11, but such a victory is unlikely to presage an imminent Russian encirclement of Bakhmut. https://t.co/HhZetFDvqF
– ISW (@TheStudyofWar) January 14, 2023
The Institute for the Study of War, which is based in the United States, considered that controlling this small town “is unlikely to mean an imminent encirclement of Bakhmut.”
Russian forces have been seeking for months to control the town of Bakhmut, 15 km south-west of Solidar.
The institute stressed that “the Russian forces will not be able to extend their control over the important land lines of communication” that link them to the largest city in the region.
In its daily bulletin, the Institute for the Study of War noted that “Russian forces most likely (actually) took control of Solidar on January 11,” that is, Wednesday.
To support its hypothesis, the institute refers to “geographically documented images published on January 11 and 12”, which it considered “indicating that the Russian forces likely control most of Solidar’s territory, if not the entire town, and likely pushed the Ukrainian forces to retreat outside its western suburbs.”