War in Ukraine, Day 325 | Britain sends tanks to Ukraine, Russian attack kills 14
(Kyiv) The UK will send heavy tanks “in the coming weeks” to Ukraine, where rescue workers were active at dawn Sunday to try to find survivors in the rubble of buildings on Dnipro (east) that were hit by a Russian attack that killed 14 people.
A video posted by Ukraine’s rescue service on Facebook and Telegram shows rescuers excavating the rubble of the Dnipro building overnight. The service said they had a verbal conversation with a woman trapped under the rubble which they desperately tried to provide.
At least 14 people, including a 15-year-old girl, were killed and 64 others injured in the bombing of this building, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, Valentyn Reznichenko, said early Sunday.
According to him, rescue teams have so far managed to evacuate 38 survivors from the rubble. According to the Ukrainian presidency, between 100 and 200 people were left homeless as a result of this strike, and about 1,700 residents of Dnipro were without electricity and heating.
In the south, on the Kryvyi Rig, one person was killed and another injured in the demolition of an apartment building following the attack, according to official reports.
PHOTO: NACHO DOCE, REUTERS
People hug as they take cover from a bomb at a Kyiv metro station.
In total, “the enemy carried out three airstrikes and about fifty missile strikes during the day”, said the staff of the Ukrainian army. “In addition, the occupiers launched 50 attacks with multiple rocket launchers.”
Power outages are also affecting large parts of the country after new Russian attacks on electricity production facilities, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“Is it possible to stop Russian terror? Yes it is possible. Can we do it other than on the battlefield in Ukraine? Unfortunately, no,” commented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The world must stop this evil,” he pleaded.
Moldova claims to have found missile debris on its territory, near the northern village of Larga. “Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine has hit Moldova again,” protested its president Maia Sandu.
heavy tanks
MYKOLA SYNELNYKOV PHOTO, REUTERS
Rescuers and residents participate in the search for victims of the Russian attack on the Dnipro.
Britain promised on Saturday the delivery “in the coming weeks” of 14 Challenger 2 heavy tanks to Ukraine.
The delivery reflects “Britain’s ambition to increase its support for Ukraine”, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Zelensky by telephone, according to a Downing Street statement.
Britain is thus the first country to commit to delivering armored vehicles of this type to Ukraine. Mr Zelensky thanked the UK on Twitter for taking the decision which “will not only strengthen us on the battlefield, but sends the right signal to other partners”.
The announcement caused a reaction from Russian diplomacy, which assumed that the delivery of these weapons “in no way will hasten the end of military hostilities, but only intensify them, causing new casualties”, according to a press release from the Russian embassy in London. on Saturday.
Kyiv has received from its allies heavy tanks of Soviet design – nearly 300 – but no Western manufactures.
Poland had said it was ready on Wednesday to deliver 14 German-designed Leopard 2 heavy tanks, which would need approval from Berlin.
Several Western countries have also recently announced supplies of lighter infantry or reconnaissance tanks.
Soledar holds, reassures Kyiv
On the front, the city of Soledar, in eastern Ukraine, is still “under Ukrainian control”, assured the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, Saturday, noting that “fighting continues in the city and outside”.
This area and those close to Bakhmout remain today the “hottest” points of conflict, he said on television.
Near Soledar, AFP journalists saw rescue workers tending to injured Ukrainians.
“The situation is difficult, but the Ukrainians are holding their ground,” assured Vadim, a rescue worker, who helped evacuate a soldier who was shot in the leg.
PHOTO OF ANATOLII STEPANOV, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ukrainian soldiers built trenches not far from Soledar.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that Soledar’s “liberation” had taken place “on the evening of January 12”.
Fighting in and around the city has been raging for several months, but has increased in intensity in recent days.
Its capture by Moscow forces will be an important victory for Russia, after a series of failures recorded by its troops in recent months.
