Kiev: Russian thermobaric weapon launcher destroyed. The Ukrainian president will speak via video link at the opening of the Berlin Film Festival
Spy balloons in the sky over Kiev. Six flying objects were sighted during the latest air alert and most were shot down, the city administration said, quoted by the Ukrainian state broadcaster. According to unconfirmed information from the media, writes the Guardian, they would be balloons with reconnaissance equipment, perhaps sent to identify and confuse anti-aircraft defences.
The Ukrainian forces have also claimed responsibility for the destruction of a Solntsepiok, a Russian launcher of thermobaric weapons, near Vuhledar, in Donetsk Oblast. Solntsepiok is the nickname that the Ukrainians have given to the Tos-1 and Tos-2 multiple missile launchers, which can also launch thermobaric warheads, weapons with enormous destructive effects.
ZELENSKY – During the press conference with the Swedish premier in Kiev, writes Ukrinform, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Bakhmut is “a living wall” that allows Ukraine to gain time to prepare for the liberation of all territories.
According to Zelensky, the “toughest” situation on the front is near Bakhmut, where there has been fighting for months, but also at Vuhledar. “The fortress” Bakhmut continues to resist, “is a living wall of people. We pay a high price for this war. But our people do not fold, they protect this city, they hold their positions, understanding that they are a fortress that allows the rest of Ukraine to prepare for the liberation of all its territories. They stand firm, carry out their mission and kill, which is probably the most important thing today, kill as many enemies as possible,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president repeated the invitation to his American colleague Joe Biden to visit Kiev. “You know we have invited the president. I think he will be happy to visit Ukraine if he has the opportunity. It would be an important signal of support for our nation,” Zelensky said, responding to CNN. The Ukrainian president then said he was “very grateful” for the “great help” from America.
Biden will visit Poland next week, coinciding with the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. He will meet Polish President Andrzej Duda and other regional leaders there.
Tomorrow night Zelensky will speak via video link at the opening of the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival. It will be presented by the American actor and director Sean Penn, who is participating in the event with his documentary on Ukraine ‘Superpower’. Zelensky’s speech is “a special honor” for us, said the Festival organizers.
BORN – “It has been almost a year since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the biggest conflict in Europe since WWII. We see no signs that Russia is preparing for peace, on the contrary it is launching new offensives ” the NATO secretary general reiterated today at the end of the meeting of defense ministers of the Alliance.
Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the Allies’ commitment to strengthen aid, with heavy weapons and military training, and announced that the ministers present spoke of the commitment in favor of other countries at risk, including Georgia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Moldova .
The topics addressed during the summit – he announced – in addition to strengthening aid to Ukraine, were the consolidation “of our defense and deterrence”, the protection “of our critical infrastructures through the strengthening of our military planning and our cooperation with the industry”. “The Allies are providing unprecedented aid to Ukraine to push Russia back – he recalled – and at the same time this is consuming a huge amount of Allied munitions and depleting our stocks. We have established the need to work together with industry of Defense to strengthen our industrial capacity”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com