2023-09-30 16:40:57
05:43
Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, is planning to build its own anti-aircraft systems. This fundamental decision will be implemented very soon, said the head of the presidential office in Kiev, Andriy Yermak. “We will soon have specialists who will develop a plan for our own production of everything we need, especially air defense weapons.” According to the air force in Kiev, Russian combat drones again headed for targets in the south of Ukraine on Saturday night. Ukraine has been fending off an invasion by its all-powerful neighbor Russia for over 19 months.
Ukraine only has a few Soviet-designed anti-aircraft weapons left, and ammunition for them is also running low. That’s why the development of new, proprietary systems, as Jermak announced, is important. At the same time, the country needs more foreign medium and long-range air defense systems such as Iris-T, NASAMS or Patriot, said Yuri Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force. Only then will it be possible to repel Russian cruise missiles and aircraft. The protection of Ukrainian cities improved last winter when Ukraine received weapons such as the Gepard anti-aircraft tank and the Iris-T and Patriot systems.
Oleksii Makeiev commented on the latest German arms deliveries to Ukraine in the “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung”.
AFP (Photo: Focke Strangmann)
The Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, also underlined the importance of the arms deliveries. In the “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung” he contradicted fears that Germany could become a party to the war itself. “Ukraine does not need Germany dragged into the war. What we need is something to protect us. For example, there is no better anti-aircraft system than Iris-T to protect our civilians from Russian drones and missiles,” he said.
Makeiev did not see a turning point despite Ukraine’s recent military successes, for example the attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. “A turning point would be if the Russian troops withdraw.”
According to the situation report from the Ukrainian General Staff, the battles on the ground war continued with heavy losses on the Bakhmut and Robotine sectors of the front. The Ukrainian army is attacking there. Russian attempts to regain lost positions were repelled. The military information could not immediately be verified.
In Russia, the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia a year ago was celebrated on Friday. However, the Russian army only partially controls the claimed areas.
Russia celebrates the partial annexation of Ukrainian territories at a concert on Red Square in Moscow.
AFP (Photo: Alexander Nemenov)
A big concert took place on Red Square in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with soldiers who were reportedly deployed in Ukraine. At the meeting, he also observed a minute’s silence for former prisoners who were released from the prison camp to fight against the neighboring country and were killed there. Putin said that the war effort freed the prisoners from their guilt.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly recruited prison inmates for combat operations. Many of them died in the devastating fighting for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut a few months ago.
On the 82nd anniversary of the Babin Yar massacre under German occupation in 1941, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky remembered the victims. “In just a few days in September 1941, more than 30,000 people were killed,” said Zelensky in his evening video speech. “It is very important to keep alive the memory of these victims and that the evil perpetrated through the Holocaust was defeated and punished.”
On September 29 and 30, 1941, German forces shot more than 33,000 Jewish men, women and children in the Babin Yar ravine on the northwestern outskirts of Kiev. In total, around 100,000 people were murdered there during the German occupation, including Jews, Ukrainians, Roma and members of other ethnic groups, said Selenski.
Federal Councilor Ignazio Cassis provided information about financial aid for mine clearance in Ukraine. (archive image)
AFP (Photo: Hannah McKay)
Switzerland wants to finance a quarter of the necessary budget for mine clearance in Ukraine. Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis announced this in Bern. The country is providing $100 million of the $400 million that Ukraine found necessary. However, mine clearance can only begin on a large scale once the fighting has ended.
The US has already pledged half of the $400 million, said Cassis. The new Swiss money is to be used between 2024 and 2027.
That will be important on Saturday
The fighting continues along the almost 1,000 kilometer long front in the east and south of the country. (SDA)
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