Americans and around forty allied countries meet in Ramstein on Tuesday to arm Ukraine more in the face of the Russian invader, which warned against a “real” third world war risk.
Le Monde with AFP
It is a small music that the American base of Ramstein, Germany, had not heard for a long time. Protocol receptions, NATO banners and the reception of around forty countries, gathered on Tuesday, April 26 to “generate additional capacities for Ukrainian forces”, according to Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary for Defense. “They can win if they have the right equipment, the right support,” said Pentagon chief, organizer of the event that intervened after a trip to kyiv during which he promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky additional support in war against Russia.
It is in this context that the United States announced on Monday a new military aid for Ukraine of $ 700 million (650 million euros), which assigned 3.4 billion of Dollars. Washington now provides heavy weapons to counter the Russian forces that are concentrated in the east and southern Ukraine, after failing to seize kyiv. Mr. Austin said he wanted to “see Russia weakened to a degree such that it can no longer be able to invade another country”.
According to the British Defense Minister, Ben Wallace, Russia has already lost “approximately 15,000 men” to date, an unverifiable figure by independent sources. Russia has not given any assessment since March 25, when it claimed to have lost 1,351 soldiers.
President Zelensky estimated that the Ukrainian victory was only a matter of time. “Thanks to the courage, the wisdom of our defenders, thanks to the courage of all the Ukrainians, all the Ukrainians, our country is a symbol of the struggle for freedom”, he announced in his address, Monday evening .
threats from Sergei Lavrov
While the war in Ukraine generates unprecedented tensions between Russia and the West, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, agitated the threat of an extension of the conflict that could degenerate into the World War. “The danger is serious, it is real, we cannot underestimate it,” he said. The Russian army indicated that it had struck a hundred targets in Ukraine on Monday, in particular railway facilities in the center of the country.
For its part, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry indicated that the Russian army continued to strengthen its anti -aircraft defenses, reconstruct the losses linked to the previous offensive and bomb infrastructure. According to the same source, Moscow troops come together in the south and try to move towards Zaporijia, a city located on the Dniepr in the west of Donbass, undergoing losses.
Moscow displays its objective of seizing the entire Donbass, the large industrial basin in eastern Ukraine – which proorussi separatists have partially controlled since 2014 – and to take total control of the south of the country, where The fights are also daily, especially in the Marioupol sector.