Ukraine announced on Tuesday that the West had already pledged to deliver “between 120 and 140” tanks to push back the Russian army which recently stepped up its offensive, claiming the capture of a new village near the hot spot of Bakhmout. .
kyiv had previously indicated that it would need several hundred of these heavy tanks, long-range missiles and planes to be able to mount counter-offensives capable of reconquering the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.
US President Joe Biden told him on Tuesday that he would discuss it with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We are going to talk,” he told a group of reporters at the White House after saying the day before that Washington would not provide F-16 fighter jets to its Ukrainian ally.
After long procrastination, Americans and Germans have decided to deliver dozens of their most modern tanks, but they have so far refused to deliver planes and long-range missiles.
Western hesitations
“During the ‘first wave of contributions’, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will receive between 120 and 140 modern tanks of Western models,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a video on Facebook, recalling that he These were German-designed Leopard 2s, British Challenger 2s and American Abrams.
This is the first time kyiv has revealed the total number of modern heavy armor pledged by its Western allies.
The United Kingdom intends to supply Challengers at the end of March, Germany intends to send the first Leopard 2s “at the end of March-beginning of April” and Washington has announced the dispatch of 31 Abrams. Other European countries, such as Poland, plan to send their Leopards as well.
But the delivery process could take months, according to several chancelleries, due to the maintenance and training needs of Ukrainian soldiers.
Other countries, such as France, are reluctant at this stage to dip into their stock, for fear of weakening their military capabilities.
Paris, on the other hand, announced on Tuesday that France would supply Ukraine with twelve additional 155 mm Caesar guns, in addition to the 18 already delivered.
But these highly accurate pieces lack the 100+ kilometer range that Ukraine says it needs to destroy Russian supply lines and ammunition depots.
Westerners fear that even more massive military support could push the Kremlin to escalate, as Russia hammers that Americans and Europeans have declared a proxy war on it.
Many observers believe that Moscow and kyiv are each preparing an offensive at the end of winter or in the spring.
On the ground, Russian forces seem determined to regain the initiative, after setbacks in the fall forced them to retreat to the northeast and south of the country.
Moscow’s troops have notably redoubled their efforts to try to conquer Bakhmout, a city which has been the scene of a fierce battle since last summer, at the cost of very significant destruction and military losses.
Village destroyed
The paramilitaries of the Russian Wagner group were placed at the head of this offensive, and they would have conquered a new village.
On Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed in its daily update that “the locality of Blagodatné had been liberated” after an offensive by “volunteer assault units” supported by aviation and artillery.
Volunteers are the euphemism used in Russia for paramilitary groups fighting with the army.
Moreover, the boss of Wagner, the sulphurous Evguéni Prigojine, had already claimed the capture of Blagodatné on Saturday, which kyiv had denied.
His men also conquered the small town of Soledar in January, at the cost of heavy losses, and the surrounding villages.
Ukrainian forces, however, ensure that Bakhmout remains firmly under their control.
“Russian troops were unable to cut off the supply route for the Ukrainian armed forces,” said Ukrainian military spokesman Serguii Tcherevaty.
Russian forces also launched an offensive 150 km further south to take Vougledar, a pre-war town of about 15,000 located southwest of Donetsk.
About ten kilometers further north of Soledar, the Ukrainian-controlled town of Bogoyavlenka is largely destroyed, deprived of electricity and water, AFP journalists noted on Tuesday, also witnessing exchanges of violent gunfire. ‘artillery.