New guns for Kyiv will motive ‘international disaster’, warns Putin best friend
A detailed best friend of President Vladimir Putin mentioned on Sunday that handing over offensive guns to Kyiv will result in a global crisis through making arguments towards the usage of nuclear guns untenable.
Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Duma — Russia’s decrease space of parliament — warned that US and NATO beef up of Ukraine is pushing the arena to a “terrible war”.
He singled out the supply of longer vary guns that would hit Russian territory.
“If Washington and NATO countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,” Volodin mentioned on Telegram.
“Arguments that the nuclear powers have not previously used weapons of mass destruction in local conflicts are untenable. Because these states did not face a situation where there was a threat to the security of their citizens and the territorial integrity of the country.”
Volodin, 58, has been the Duma speaker since 2016, having prior to now held a senior position within the presidential management. As a member of Putin’s Security Council, he has common get entry to to the president.
“Deliveries of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,” he mentioned.
Ukraine defence ministry denies corruption fees
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense denied signing army contracts at inflated costs on Sunday, rejecting accusations of corruption in a rustic the place embezzlement is rife.
The remark follows media reviews in Ukraine accusing the ministry of agreeing to contracts for supplying meals to infantrymen at the entrance line at “two to three” instances the traditional worth.
The contract in query quantities to €320 million for 2023, in step with the ZN.UA information website.
“The ministry purchases relevant products in accordance with procedures established by law,” mentioned the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, pushing aside the allegations as “false”.
It claimed the reviews have been “deliberate manipulation”, caution that it will open an investigation into the “dissemination” of “misleading” data, which “harms the interests of defence during a special period”.
The ministry claimed it confirmed “zero tolerance towards corruption”, including “checks are carried out” ahead of contracts are signed.
An “emergency meeting” on the ministry is about to be hung on Monday with a purpose to make clear the problem and spot if any officers have damaged the foundations.
In any other scandal this weekend, Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) arrested the First Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development on Saturday on suspicion of embezzlement.
Vasyl Lozynkiï allegedly gained €370,000 to “facilitate the conclusion of contracts for the purchase of equipment and generators at inflated prices”, mentioned the NABU in a press liberate.
Berlin’s angle in opposition to Ukraine struggle ‘unacceptable’, slams Poland
Poland’s high minister slammed Berlin’s refusal to offer Kyiv with heavy tanks as “unacceptable” on Sunday, particularly at a time when Russia is at the offensive.
“Germany’s attitude is unacceptable,” Mateusz Morawiecki advised PAP information company. “It has been almost a year since the war started. Innocent people are dying every day. Russian bombs are wreaking havoc in Ukrainian cities. Civilian objects are attacked, women and children are murdered.”
His remark comes two days after a gathering of 50 international locations on the Ramstein airbase in Germany.
Ukraine’s allies introduced considerable new fingers deliveries to Ukraine however didn’t agree at the supply of heavy tanks, in spite of repeated requests from Kyiv.
The Polish Prime Minister mentioned he was once looking ahead to “a clear declaration” from Berlin to authorise the export of Leopard 2 combat tanks.
Warsaw, like many different international locations in Europe, has the German-made tank, nevertheless it should first search Berlin’s approval to ship them beneath licensing agreements.
Poland has mentioned it is able to ship 14 Leopards to Kyiv and indicated it’s in dialogue with fifteen different international locations at the subject.
If Berlin refuses to offer Kyiv, “we will put together a small coalition of countries ready to donate some of their modern equipment, their modern tanks,” mentioned Morawiecki.
UK pushes for Ukraine to get its tank desires fulfilled
Britain nonetheless needs a world deal to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks, which Kyiv says it must defeat Russia, the rustic’s international minister James Cleverly mentioned on Sunday.
The tanks are observed through defence professionals as probably the most appropriate for Ukraine.
“Of course, I would like to see the Ukrainians equipped with things like the Leopard 2 as well as the artillery systems that have been provided by us and by others,” Cleverly mentioned in an interview with Sky News.
“I will keep having those conversations with our NATO allies and friends, to facilitate the donation of the best military equipment to Ukraine to help them defend themselves against this brutal invasion.”
Asked whether or not Germany was once doing sufficient to lend a hand Ukraine, Cleverly mentioned he sought after to look “everybody going as far as they can, but each country will support Ukraine in a way that is most appropriate to them.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrat birthday celebration is historically sceptical of army involvements and cautious of additional escalation within the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin’s spokesman mentioned on Friday that Western international locations supplying further tanks to Ukraine would now not trade the process the war and that they’d upload to the issues of the Ukrainian folks.
