Tuesday, 16 May 2023

Volodymyr Zelenskyy makes surprise visit to UK as Rishi Sunak pledges further support to Ukraine.

 Extract from ABC News

The United Kingdom has announced it will provide further drone and missile support to Ukraine after a meeting between UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Mr Zelenskyy touched down at The Prime Minister's Chequers country residence in a helicopter, greeting Mr Sunak with a tight hug.

The pair discussed the continuation of aid from the UK, which includes hundreds of air defence missiles, other unmanned aircraft and long-range attack drones.

When asked to provide fighter jets — something Mr Zelenskyy has been hoping to acquire for many months — Mr Sunak once again denied the request, but put his country forward to play a "key part" in the creation of a coalition of allies that will supply jets.

Mr Sunak said the UK would begin basic training of Ukrainian pilots in the coming months.

"We want to create this jets coalition and I'm very positive with it," Mr Zelenskyy said.

"I see that in the closest time you will hear some, I think, very important decisions, but we have to work a little bit more on it."

"The conflict is at a pivotal moment," Mr Sunak said.

"It is important for the Kremlin to also know that we are not going away. We are here for the long term."

French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with France's TF1 television that France is open to training Ukrainian fighter jet pilots in France and that those training programs could start right away.

Asked about delivering warplanes to Ukraine, Mr Macron said he had not discussed that issue with Mr Zelenskyy during his visit to France this past weekend.

"I have not talked about airplanes. I have talked about missiles. I have talked about training," he said.

Asked about training for Ukraine pilots on French warplanes, he said: "There are no taboos."

Mr Zelenskyy's visit to the UK is one stop on a wider tour around Europe canvassing leaders for further military aid in the war against Russia.

He said Britain and Poland had agreed to join a coalition that was being created to train Ukrainian pilots on modern Western aircraft.

"Britain — yes. Poland — yes. And I am sure France and other partners will join," he said. 

Storm Shadow shot down

Russia's Defence Ministry said a long-range Storm Shadow missile supplied to Ukraine by Britain had been shot down by Russian forces on Monday.

It was only last week that Mr Sunak announced the UK would be providing the missiles.

The ministry said in its daily briefing that it had shot down the cruise missile, as well as shorter-range US-built HIMARS-launched and HARM missiles.

Britain is the first country to publicly supply Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles, which will allow Ukrainian forces to hit Russian troops and supply depots far behind the front lines.

Two men dressed in army fatigues stand on a cannon while holding a ukrainian flag.
The UK was the first to announce it would send tanks to Ukraine, pledging 14 Challenger 2 tanks in January.()

Moscow said on Sunday that Ukraine had used the missiles to strike industrial sites in the Russian-controlled city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia viewed Britain's decision to supply the missiles "extremely negatively".

"Britain claims to be at the forefront among those countries that continue to pump weapons into Ukraine," he said.

Ukraine claims hospital hit

Four people have been killed in a Russian missile attack that hit a hospital in the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on Monday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

"The Russians attacked the city with missiles this morning, they hit a hospital," Mr Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram.

He posted photographs of a heavily damaged three-storey brick building that was missing a chunk of its side and had spewed rubble and debris onto the ground.

He called on residents of the small city in the industrial Donbas region to evacuate as fast as possible.

"Every new day spent in the Donetsk region increases the risk of becoming a victim of Russian aggression," he said.

Ukraine hails battlefield advances

Since last week, the Ukrainian military has started to push Russian forces back in and around the battlefield city of Bakhmut, its first significant offensive operations since its troops recaptured the southern city of Kherson in November.

Ukrainian service members from a 3rd separate assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Ukraine says it has started to push Russian forces back in Bakhmut.()

"The advance of our troops [in] the Bakhmut direction is the first success of offensive actions in the defence of Bakhmut," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of Ground Forces, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

"The last few days have shown that we can move forward and destroy the enemy, even in such extremely difficult conditions," he said.

"We are fighting with fewer resources than the enemy. At the same time, we are able to ruin its plans."

The battle for the small eastern city has become the longest and bloodiest of the war and has totemic significance for Russia, which has no other prizes to show for a winter campaign that cost thousands of lives.

ABC/Reuters

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