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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pays his respects to victims of a deadly helicopter crash during a farewell ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, 21 Jan. AP/PA Images

'It's killing more of our people': Ukraine denounces 'global indecision' on tanks

Zelensky has said there is ‘no alternative’ but for the West to give Ukraine heavy tanks.

Ukraine today denounced the “global indecision” of its allies on whether to provide heavy-duty modern tanks for its fight against Russia, saying “today’s indecision is killing more of our people.”

“Every day of delay is the death of Ukrainians. Think faster,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted after the meeting of its allies on weapon supplies in Germany on Friday.

Negotiations 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday there was “no alternative” but for the West to give Ukraine heavy tanks, as Germany failed to commit its sought-after Leopard vehicles to a possible spring offensive by Kyiv.

A US-led meeting of some 50 Ukraine allies came through with billions of dollars’ worth of military hardware, including ample armoured vehicles and munitions needed to push back Russian forces.

But Zelensky stressed he needed battle tanks on top of that, as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Ukraine was expected to mount an attack against dug-in Russian troops in the coming weeks.

“We have a window of opportunity here between now and the spring… whenever they commence their operation, their counteroffensive,” Austin said at the meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Zelensky urged the group in a video address to “speed up” arms deliveries and stressed Germany’s Leopard tank was a primary need.

“Every day we make it more obvious that there is no alternative, that a decision about tanks must be made,” he said.

  German reticence

Expectations had grown ahead of the Ukraine Contact Group meeting, a grouping of arms providers led by Austin, that Germany would at least agree that other countries operating Leopards would be permitted to transfer them to Kyiv’s army.

The reasons for Germany’s reticence remained unclear, as Britain has agreed to send 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters: “We still cannot say when a decision will be taken, and what the decision will be, when it comes to the Leopard tank.”

Austin defended Germany against criticism that it was not doing enough to help Kyiv.

“We could all do more,” Austin said, emphasising that Berlin was a “reliable ally”.

  Offensive coming? 

US officials said Ukraine still faces an uphill battle against Russian forces, who still occupy one-fifth of the country, 11 months after invading.

But they spoke of a possible coming campaign by Ukraine to retake parts of that.

US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley pointed to the substantial amount of equipment — much of it armored vehicles and artillery — that Ukraine was being pledged at Ramstein, as well as the large-scale training of its forces by allies.

“I do think it’s very possible for the Ukrainians to run a significant tactical or even operational-level offensive operation to liberate as much Ukrainian territory as possible,” Milley said.

A senior White House official, speaking on grounds of anonymity, said Kyiv should not fixate on defending the eastern city of Bakhmut at all costs and instead use a window of opportunity to prepare a major counter-offensive against Russian forces.

The official said the months-long defence of Bakhmut has had little value for Ukraine and a Russian victory there would not result in any significant shift in the war.

Instead, Ukraine should focus on building a more sophisticated and heavily armed force capable of launching an offensive in the south, the official said.

Kremlin pushes back 

The Kremlin meanwhile warned Friday that Western tanks will make little difference.

“One should not exaggerate the importance of such supplies in terms of the ability to change something,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“We see an adherence to the dramatic delusion about the possibility of Ukraine having success on the battlefield,” said Peskov.

“This will add problems for Ukraine, but this will change nothing in terms of the Russian side advancing on the path to achieving its goals.”

 Homeless in Bakhmut 

The siege of Bakhmut hardly slowed, as on Friday a couple stood across the street from their apartment building in the city, watching helplessly as their home burned, set ablaze after a shell hit nearby.

“Look, look, it’s my flat, it’s the only flat I have,” said Olga Tomakh, 70, on the verge of tears.

About 15 kilometres from Bakhmut, in Soledar, the United Nation’s first humanitarian convoy arrived in the town that has been largely reduced to rubble.

Russia claims to have seized Soledar, but Ukraine insists the fighting, in which both sides have suffered heavy losses, is ongoing.

 Wagner dubbed global criminal group 

Meanwhile, the United States said it was officially designating the Wagner private military group, which has taken the lead in the Bakhmut-Soledar campaign, as a “transnational criminal organisation”.

The White House showed US intelligence photographs of North Korea supplying arms to Wagner for its Ukraine operations, and said the private army had become a rival to the formal Russian military.

burs-jj/pmh/caw

© Agence France-Presse

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    Mute Peter Cavey
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:12 AM

    It’s my fault folks. I took my BBQ out of storage and cleaned it yesterday. I’m cursed. Last summer I bought a brand new garden furniture set. Then, 3 days later it rained for 2 months.

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    Mute Football in the Groin
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:18 AM

    @Peter Cavey: We’ll remember this…

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    Mute Jules
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:19 AM

    @Peter Cavey: Yep, it’s all your fault.

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    Mute Joseph Crossan
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:47 AM

    @Peter Cavey: thank you for the laughs. Needed that today!

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    Mute Margaret O Neill
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    Apr 27th 2021, 12:02 PM

    @Peter Cavey: oh

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    Mute Bernadette Connaughton
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    Apr 27th 2021, 12:05 PM

    @Peter Cavey: Typical Peter isn’t it!!

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    Mute Elaine Gardner
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    Apr 27th 2021, 12:41 PM

    @Peter Cavey: In order to give us a fighting chance of decent weather, I trust the BBQ is back in storage and will remain there for the duration of the summer

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    Mute Ann Basquille Smith
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    Apr 27th 2021, 4:25 PM

    @Peter Cavey: So funny. I know how you feel. We made a big investment in our garden in 2007 and it rained for five years.

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    Mute Sue Kelly
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    Apr 27th 2021, 6:21 PM

    @Peter Cavey: not the only one. Got new outdoor furniture yesterday too

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    Mute Brian Kelly
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:53 AM

    That’s it! Summer is over for another year. When you think of it, it’s been like this the last number of years. We get a great week or so (7-8) days of sunny weather then it rains until September. Maybe after all Nostradamus was correct in his prediction, that the time will come when man can’t tell the difference between the seasons anymore. Certainly feels like it anyway today :-D

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    Mute Eoin Hennigan
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:55 AM

    @Brian Kelly: short memory, we had a glorious Summer last year throughout lockdown and afterwards.

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    Mute Paul Cunningham
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    Apr 27th 2021, 12:00 PM

    @Eoin Hennigan: I just remember Irish Water ruining it for everyone, the day they announced a hosepipe ban it rained for weeks in July

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    Mute Pat Breen
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    Apr 27th 2021, 12:33 PM

    @Eoin Hennigan: rained June July and August

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    Mute Brian Kelly
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    Apr 27th 2021, 12:58 PM

    @Eoin Hennigan: no!…. we had a great week in the very first lockdown then it went downhill. It was just back to normal Irish weather. Rain and showers. I’m a weather fanatic lol.

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    Mute NotMyIreland
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    Apr 27th 2021, 1:52 PM

    @Eoin Hennigan: we got all our sun in the first couple of weeks of lockdown when it was to early to have proper warmth. June had 28%, July 33% and August 24% more rain than the average year. So all in all summer last year could be considered a wash out.

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    Mute The Firestarter
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    Apr 27th 2021, 3:31 PM

    @Eoin Hennigan: No we didn’t, late April & May were stunning, so much so that Irish Water were threatening water shortages. However after the June Bank Holiday it was the usual Irish Summer of a few good days here and there, so it most certainly was not a glorious Summer.

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    Mute Pauline Gallagher
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    Apr 27th 2021, 4:45 PM

    @Brian Kelly: last year, it was above average temperatures and dry and sunny all through second half of March, all of April, May and the first two weeks of June. We were told not to water the flowers because of drought conditions. Summer 2018 was lovely as well.

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    Mute The Firestarter
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    Apr 27th 2021, 6:14 PM

    @Pauline Gallagher: You must be one of these Irish People who thinks it’s a lovely day if it’s not raining.

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    Mute Sue Kelly
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    Apr 27th 2021, 6:22 PM

    @Eoin Hennigan: 100%

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    Mute Petulant mcbarity
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    Apr 27th 2021, 7:14 PM

    @Brian Kelly: it was nearly two months of good weather last spring.

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    Mute Ed
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:19 AM

    Few showers, be grand.

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    Mute Sommer Church
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:01 AM

    Damn it, was really enjoying the lovely weather!

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    Mute ed w
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    Apr 27th 2021, 1:35 PM

    “met eireann forecasts rain for most of the week ” says the journal headline. reads on tommorrow will be cool and dry ?

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    Mute Ann Basquille Smith
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    Apr 27th 2021, 4:28 PM

    @ed w: most of the week not all of the week.

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    Mute BoJackHorseman
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:51 AM

    Great news :)

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    Mute Maximilian Cope
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:48 AM

    But… Where is the news? Actually this is a fact.

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    Mute Aaron92utd
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    Apr 27th 2021, 11:59 AM

    @Maximilian Cope: you implying normally news had no facts? Or is generally devoid of them?

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    Mute Paul Cunningham
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    Apr 27th 2021, 12:01 PM
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