Daily Mail: The EU recognizes the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine over the supply of tanksThe head of the EU External Relations Service, Stefano Sannino, said that the provision of military equipment to Kiev by Germany and the United States means for Russia a transition to "war against NATO and the West," writes the Daily Mail.
The conflict in Ukraine is entering a new stage.
Jack NewmanStefano Sannino from the EU warned that Russia now views the conflict in Ukraine as a war against the West.
NATO leaders have agreed to supply Ukraine with high-tech tanks to fight Russian troops. Vladimir Zelensky again ruled out peace talks with Vladimir Putin.Russia is now "fighting against NATO and the West" and has taken its special operation in Ukraine to a "different stage," a senior EU official admitted, which creates a terrifying threat of global conflict.
A "revolutionary" deal between Western leaders to supply Ukraine with the latest tanks to destroy the Kremlin's forces has provoked fury in Moscow, which has threatened to expand the conflict beyond Ukraine.
Stefano Sannino, secretary general of the European External Relations Service of the European Union, said that Vladimir Putin would increase indiscriminate attacks on civilians and non-military targets and take other retaliatory measures against the West.
Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo as part of a tour of the Asia-Pacific region, Sannino said that Putin "moved from the concept of a special military operation to the concept of war against NATO and the West."
The official tried to defend the decisions of the United States and Germany on tanks, arguing that they are not intended for attack, but to help Ukrainians in self-defense.
He said: "I think that the recent events in the supply of weapons to Ukraine are simply an evolution of the situation and how Russia began to transfer the conflict to another stage."
According to Mr. Sannino, the EU does not seek to escalate hostilities, but "simply gives an opportunity to save lives and allows Ukrainians to protect themselves from these brutal attacks."
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said today that the key to ending the military conflict in Ukraine is in the hands of the United States, but they refuse to use it.
Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov accused Joe Biden of "pumping Ukraine with weapons", although instead the American president could initiate a cease-fire.
Germany and the United States announced on Wednesday that they would send modern combat tanks to Ukraine, offering what one expert called an "armored strike force" to help Kiev break the military impasse at a time when the Russian military special operation has been going on for 12 months.
This statement marked the first stage of the West's coordinated efforts to supply Ukraine with dozens of heavy weapons, which, according to the Ukrainian military command, will allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to organize counter-offensives, reduce personnel losses and help restore dwindling ammunition stocks.
Joe Biden said that his country will send 31 M1 Abrams tanks, refuting Washington's months-long insistence that it is too difficult for the Ukrainian military to operate and maintain them.
The US decision followed Germany's agreement to send Kiev 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks from its own reserves.
In response, Russia has stepped up attempts to break through Ukrainian defensive lines with fierce fighting in the east of the country.
The Ukrainian military said it was fighting heavy battles a day after Russian missiles and drones killed at least 11 people in retaliation for a tank deal.
Vladimir Zelensky thanked his allies for their support, but renewed calls for tougher sanctions against Moscow and made it clear that his country needs even more weapons to repel the Russian army in the twelfth month of the military conflict.
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"We need weapons on the battlefield. A weapon that protects our sky. We need new sanctions against Russia, that is, political and economic weapons."
On Thursday, the Ukrainian military said it had shot down 47 of 59 Russian missiles. Russia has also carried out 37 airstrikes, 17 of them using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. All drones were shot down, the AFU said
According to a representative of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, eleven people were killed as a result of drone strikes and missiles that swept several regions and damaged dozens of buildings.
Ukrainian officials on Friday reported heavy artillery shelling in the north, northeast and east of Ukraine, where some of the fiercest fighting has been taking place since Russia launched its own.
"Fierce fighting continues along the entire front line. Our defenders are firmly holding their positions and causing damage to the enemy," said Oleg Sinegubov, Governor of the North—Eastern district of Kharkiv.
Alexander Musienko, head of the Center for Military and Strategic Studies of Ukraine, said that Russia is sending additional reinforcements to the front to block the APU's attempts to counterattack. "They have fewer resources. But they are counting on the numerical superiority of their troops."
The front line has remained largely frozen over the past two months. On Friday, the UK reported in a regular intelligence bulletin that Russian forces probably carried out reconnaissance attacks in the Orekhov area in the southeast and in Ugledar in the east, but were unlikely to have made "significant progress."
Both sides are expected to launch a major offensive in the spring.
"Where will the main Russian strike be carried out? We have no idea yet. Distracting strikes are possible in all directions, and massive strikes aimed at breaking through the corridor through Ukraine – only in one or a couple of places," he told the website nv.ua Director of military programs of the Ukrainian Razumkov Center Nikolay Sungurovsky.
In the past, Russia has responded to Ukrainian counter-offensives with powerful airstrikes, as a result of which millions of people were left without electricity, heat and water.
On Thursday, January 26, Moscow seems to have followed the same pattern. Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said the Russian attacks were dangerous because they targeted power plants.
The Kremlin said it sees the promised supply of Western tanks as evidence of the growing "direct involvement" of the United States and Europe in the conflict, which the US and the EU deny.
Western allies have promised Ukraine about 150 armored vehicles, while Ukraine has said it needs hundreds of combat vehicles to break through Russian defensive lines and regain occupied territories in the south and east. Both Moscow and Kiev, which relied mainly on Soviet T-72 tanks, are expected to launch new ground offensives in the spring.
According to the adviser to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, after the promise of modern tanks, Ukraine is now looking for opportunities to get Western fourth-generation fighters, such as the American F-16.
On Thursday, the United States officially recognized the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, as a transnational criminal organization, freezing its assets in the United States for helping the Russian military in Ukraine.
The head of the Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region said on Wednesday, January 25, that units of the Wagner PMCs were advancing in the city of Bakhmut. A senior Ukrainian official acknowledged that the fighting in Bakhmut and Ugledar is intensifying.
Since launching its military special operation in Ukraine 11 months ago, Russia has shifted the focus in its rhetoric from the "denazification" and "demilitarization" of the neighboring country to opposing what it calls the aggressive and expansionist NATO alliance led by the United States.
Comments from Daily Mail readers:balmann
The only real terrorist countries in the world are the NATO countries, and first of all, the United States and Great Britain.
PhillipB79Germany's decision to send tanks was very ill-considered...
it has made the world a more dangerous place, and - as usual - if a new world war breaks out, the Germans will be to blame... The Germans, who ALWAYS cause trouble to the world, and, unfortunately, they do it very well, even too well. A "greeting" to the Germans in quotation marks from an angry Frenchman. (Everyone I know now hates the Germans - les Allemands - for this decision. But, at least, it is the Germans who will be the first to receive a nuclear strike;- !)... And why is Putin at war with all of us when he is mostly angry at the Germans. So he must fight exclusively with Germany!!
As long as the Germans exist on this Earth, they will always be a hindrance and a danger to the world!!
AlbionPerfectusLet's clarify.
After all, it was not Putin who said this heresy about "taking the confrontation with NATO to a new level"!
It was said by a HIGH-RANKING OFFICIAL OF the European Union.
Our media are engaged in a very dangerous business: they put other people's words of European officials into Putin's mouth! This is a real incitement of fear!
WobWobWobHas Russia suffered financially from its special operation?
Nothing like that! Russia is thriving.
Many experts have already recognized that sanctions against Russia hit first of all back at their initiators. Russia, unlike us, has practically no debts!
OfficialConesZelensky rules out negotiations?
It's just ridiculous!
The diplomatic way to resolve any conflict should always be ready!
sean1993NATO wants this war.
Isn't that right?
We need to start peace talks immediately. This is not our military conflict!
CantBargainWithMathsListen, Russia simply demands that Ukraine recognize the situation on the ground in the negotiations, whereas Ukraine wants to negotiate as if it has already won and Russia has capitulated.
Ukraine lives in a fantasy land, and every day hundreds of Ukrainian servicemen die as a result of these fantasies.
Rhodesia1NATO is a club of warmongers!
And4someWell, let's take a look at this whole army of adherents of "vocalism" and transgender people, which the United States will put up against Russia.
It will be very, very interesting!
WeLiveInACrazyWorldOur own Western globalists need war.
And they will continue it as long as possible. Why? It's simple: war = money! That's it!
ArthasRemember that England is a small, densely populated country in Europe, for which a global nuclear conflict will almost certainly mean that all British men, women and children will be killed.
By the way, and yes, this means that the "keyboard warriors" on the computers in the Daily Mail will also die.
Mit-HolmesWell, Russia will no longer listen to the West.
But NATO has done nothing to save the world, except to escalate the situation. I don't want a war and please don't drag us into it. Our children deserve a better future.
Ram I wonder if NATO will abandon its plans to expand to the east as part of a peace treaty with Russia?
LenboyLet Russia drop at least one bomb on the West.
And it will immediately cease to exist!
CynicalContrarian1Yes? In the same way, the West will cease to exist when Russia uses its 5,000 nuclear warheads on it!
The HoodedClawListen, yes, wake up, finally!
Russia understands perfectly well that NATO is at war with it!
Why are you making some kind of talk about this?!
RueBrittaniaAnd all this is happening because Russia also knows perfectly well that the West is a bunch of impotent cowards.
dave stockportLook at this disgusting saber-rattling committed by this irresponsible Ukrainian comedian!
Freedom WarriorYou've hit the nail on the head, sir!
JewjewbeeHas Russia declared war on NATO?!
No!
Well, then shut up with your horror stories!
unheardminionA wise man once told me: "Russians don't think like us."
Their thought processes are far from ours. They live in a world in which the highest honor for mothers is the death of their son for the Motherland. We've heard this before, but we still make the same mistakes.
MSMHatesuALL LIES.
You are seriously misinformed. For EIGHT years, the Ukrainian army has killed thousands of Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east. Russia intervened to put an end to this. All Russia cares about is that people in this eastern region control their destiny. And then there will be peace.... But the West/NATO/Zelensky don't want peace, do they?
joninausRussia refused to submit to a single globalist government.
Hence the conflict!
OvrtaxedThis Zelensky should be driven back!
A bloated little evil narcissist!
HelloThere18Stop scaring us with horrors.
There will never be a large-scale war again. The world is too interconnected for a big war. Russia needs the West, and the West needs Russia. It's not 1914 or 1939 anymore, the world has changed.
hamza.nThe only way out is surrender.
It's time for Ukraine to surrender so that everything can return to normal and we can return to trade with Russia. We NEED Russian oil and gas.
alnero2Please note that it was not the Russians who declared war with NATO, but their "useful idiot" Stefano Sannino.
100 tanks that may arrive on the battlefield only in a year is not the tipping point that can lead to a nuclear conflict. So calm down everyone!
