Small Diameter Bombs loaded on an F-15E Strike Eagle
EA on Monocle 24 and Ireland’s RTE: Fighter Jets for Ukraine?
Source: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1804 GMT:
A British official has ruled out the supply of fighter jets to Ukraine for now:
It’s currently not practical to send UK jets. We will continue to work closely with the Ukrainians to understand their needs and how allies can further support them.
Given the complexity of UK fighter jets and the length of time required to train them, we do not currently think it is practical to do so.
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, visiting Washington, has said the jets should be delivered.
The spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasized that Johnson’s trip was “in his own capacity and not on behalf of the UK Government”.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said, “Never rule anything in and never rule anything out”, but added:
For now, I don’t think that’s the right approach….What’s going to move on this conflict this year is going to be the ability for Ukrainians to deploy western armour against Russia.
UPDATE 1607 GMT:
As part of a corruption investigation, Ukraine security services have searched premises connected to oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, former Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, and the head of the Kyiv tax authority.
Kolomoisky, one of the country’s wealthiest people, is under scrutiny over his companies Ukrtatnafta and Ukrnafta. The firms allegedly evaded customs payments on oil products worth 40 billion hryvnias ($1.08 billion).
Kolomoisky has been indicted by the US and had his Ukrainian citizenship revoked by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in 2022.
Avakov was Interior Minister from 2014 to 2021. He said the investigation has been prompted by this month’s helicopter crash in Brovary, near Kyiv, which killed 14 people including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi and eight other Ministry staff.
The head of the Kyiv tax authority, whose four homes were searched, was not named. Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation said she had abused her “power and official position”.
The Ukraine Security Service also says it has discovered embezzlement of more than $1 billion from two oil companies.
President Zelenskiy has pledged a drive against corruption, with about 20 Government officials dismissed or resigning last week.
UPDATE 1005 GMT:
A Moscow court has sentenced journalist Alexander Nevzorov to 8 years in a penal colony on the charge of spreading “fake news” about the Russian military.
Nevzorov was prosecuted after he wrote of Russia’s deliberate shelling of a maternity hospital in Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
Nevzorov, whose YouTube channel has almost 2 million subscribers, and his wife left Russia last March. The journalist is now a Ukrainian citizen.
UPDATE 0956 GMT:
The Czech President-elect Petr Pavel, a retired NATO general, says Ukraine “morally and practically ready” to join the bloc once Vladimir Putin’s invasion is over.
Pavel added, “I am proud of my country being one of the first to provide Ukraine with significant military help. Probably very few people could imagine that Western countries would be willing to provide Ukraine with modern main battle tanks or long-range artillery or anti-aircraft systems.”
However, Pavel —- elected last weekend —- said military aid is still “not enough”: “We have no alternative. If we leave Ukraine without assistance, they would most probably lose this war. And if they lose – we all lose.”
UPDATE 0839 GMT:
The latest Russian attacks across the Donetsk region, including of settlements close to Bakhmut near the frontline, have killed four civilians and wounded six.
One person was killed and another killed in the Kherson region in the south amid 42 attacks.
A 60-year-old man was injured by Russian shelling of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region in the northeast.
UPDATE 0834 GMT:
Spain is sending an initial supply of four to six German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine.
Spanish officials are assessing 53 Leopard 2s, stored for a decade in Zaragoza, to assess the refurbishment needed before delivery to Kyiv.
UPDATE 0814 GMT:
Italy will likely join France on n the provision of a missile defense system to Ukraine.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said a forthcoming package of Italian military aid is “probably” going to include “weapons of defense against Russian missile attack”. He added that any decision on air defenses will be taken in conjunction with Paris.
Italy is expected to provide missile launchers while France would supply rockets.
UPDATE 0721 GMT:
Analysts assess that Russia may be able to renew its 8-month effort to overrun Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin had turned to Wagner Group mercenaries to lead the offensive since the autumn. Despite throwing tens of thousands of men —- including pardoned convicts —- onto the frontline, the campaign only succeeded in the “Pyrrhic victory” of the capture of the small town of Soledar, north of Bakhmut.
At the end of December, the Institute for the Study of War said that, with the high rate of battlefield losses, the quest to seize Bakhmut had culminated.
But on Tuesday the ISW noted the appearance of specialist Russian military units on the frontline: “The Russian command has committed sufficient conventional Russian forces to the effort to reinvigorate it.”
The commander of a Ukrainian unit in Bakhmut, Denys Yarolavskyi, said “super qualified” Russian conventional military troops are now reinforcing the Wagner Group assault units”.
Another Ukrainian frontline commander, Volodymyr Nazarenko, said Russian commanders have committed airborne troops to the offensive.
But the ISW assesses that “it is extraordinarily unlikely that Russian forces will be able to conduct a surprise encirclement of Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut”, although Ukrainian commanders may conduct a controlled withdrawal of forces to save troops’ lives.
The analysts emphasise that Russian officials continue to overestimate the capacity of their forces to make quick advances in the Donetsk region. The Russian proxy head of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, Denis Pushilin, declared Tuesday that the capture of Bakhmut will enable an advance to Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, approximately 25 miles to the northwest.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: The US is sending longer-range rockets to Ukraine for the first time.
The rockets are part of a package, worth more than $2 billion, which also has support equipment for Patriot air defense systems, precision-guided munitions, and Javelin anti-tank weapons, said “two US officials briefed on the matter“.
The military assistance may be annouced this week, they said.
An official said more than $1.7 billion of the package will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which enables the Government to obtain weapons from industry rather than from weapons stocks.
Those funds are earmarked for the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb, made by Boeing, which has a range of 94 miles.
Last summer the US began delivering High Mobility Artillery Systems, whose rockets have a range of about 50 miles. The systems have been prominent in Ukraine’s counter-offensives liberating territory in the east and south, striking Russian positions including bases, bridges, ammunition depots, and logistics and supply positions.
However, the longer range of the GLSDB glide bomb will enable Ukraine to hit targets further behind Russian lines.
The bomb is GPS-guided, can defeat some electronic jamming, is usable in all weather conditions, and can be used against armored vehicles. Its rocket motor, which is also the warhead, is able to glide more than 60 miles if dropped from an aircraft and can strike targets as small as 3 feet in diameter.
The US continues to deny Kyiv’s requests for the ATACMS missile, which has a range of 185 miles and could strike well inside Russia.
The US has provided about $27.2 billion of security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion was launched on February 24.
