war | Night at a glance: Kiev repels many attacks

Another missile alarm, but Ukraine says it has repelled many attacks. So far, 7,000 Ukrainians have been trained by the US military. An overview.

According to reports, Ukraine is still repelling Russian attacks, but a missile alarm has been triggered again. On the 400th day of the war against Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy drew a sober, but nonetheless positive, balance sheet.

According to their own statements, the Ukrainian troops repulsed several simultaneous Russian attacks on various front sectors in the east of the country. The sections near Kupyansk, Limansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marjinsk were “in focus”, as the General Staff in Kiev announced in its situation report on Thursday. “A total of 47 enemy attacks were repelled.”

Once again, the heavily contested city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine was the focus of the action. In the evening, air alerts were raised across Ukraine. In Kiev, residents were asked to get to safety because of impending attacks with so-called kamikaze drones. There were explosions in Kharkiv in the east of the country, and drone overflights were reported from several cities.

Ukraine survived “the worst days” of the Russian attack in February last year. “We survived this winter too,” Zelenskyy recalled, referring to the massive Russian air and missile attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure. “Behind these words is a tremendous effort.” Zelenskyy said Ukraine had shown its heroism in recent months by recapturing large areas. “We are preparing our next steps, our new actions, we are preparing for our imminent victory.”

Zelenskyy pointed out that Ukraine’s successes were also made possible with the help of Western partners. “Today, on the 400th day of resistance, of all-out resistance, I want to thank everyone in the world who is standing with Ukraine,” he said.

Poland initially does not want to deliver any fighter jets from former GDR stocks to Ukraine. The four Soviet-designed Mig-29s, the delivery of which the Polish government announced two weeks ago, did not come from Germany, the security adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, Jacek Siewiera, clarified in an interview with the German Press Agency. “These are not German planes.” It is therefore clear that the Federal Government does not have to agree to the delivery either. In 2002, Germany had sold 23 Mig-29 fighter jets to Poland. The Air Force still has about a dozen of them today, Siewiera told the dpa. “And they will initially remain in the service of the Polish armed forces.”

Finland’s path to NATO is finally clear. As the last NATO member, Turkey also voted late Thursday evening for the Nordic country to join the defense alliance – all that is missing now is formalities before Finland can soon become the 31st NATO member. 28 of the 30 current NATO members had long ago voted in favor of Hungary on Monday. Under the impression of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden decided last May to apply for NATO membership. Finland has a border with Russia that is around 1,340 kilometers long.

The US says it has trained more than 7,000 members of Ukraine’s armed forces since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The training took place at various locations at home and abroad, including in Germany, said US Department of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder. Just in the past few days, 65 Ukrainians in the state of Oklahoma have completed their training on the Patriot air defense system and are now back in Europe. The Patriot system is one of the most modern anti-aircraft systems in the world. Ryder stressed that training Ukraine’s armed forces is an international effort. More than 11,000 Ukrainians are currently being trained in 26 countries.