The US is sending Ukraine a new $2.1 billion weapons package, the Pentagon said Friday, including a new ground-launched, bomb-tipped rocket. Canada sent the first of four Leopard 2 tanks it pledged to donate. Ukraine’s president spoke with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Russia said 63 of its servicemen were returned from detention in Ukraine, including some from a “sensitive category” it didn’t specify. Ukraine said 116 of its soldiers were released in the swap, the first of 2023. Top Ukrainian officials were urgently dispatched to Odesa as the Black Sea port city struggles with power outages effecting some 500,000 residents following what were termed two “accidents” at a substation previously targeted by Russian missile strikes.
The Ukrainians released include soldiers captured in Mariupol in the spring and others who served in Kherson, Bakhmut and other areas, said Andriy Yermak, chief of the presidential office.
Ukraine also received the remains of two British volunteers — Christopher Perry and Andrew Bagshaw — and of Yevhen Kulyk, a Ukrainian who served in the French Foreign Legion before returning after Russia’s invasion.
*Sensitive Russian servicemen among new prisoner swap
A prisoner swap involving 63 Russian servicemen included an unnamed number from a “sensitive category” released after mediation efforts involving the United Arab Emirates, Russia’s defense ministry said.
“A complicated negotiations process resulted in 63 Russian servicemen returned from Ukrainian territory,” the ministry said.
The UAE was also involved in the swap of US basketball player Brittney Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in December.
*Poland now training Ukrainian troops on Leopard 2 tanks
Poland is already training select Ukrainian soldiers on German-made Leopard 2 main battle tanks, defense minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in Kyiv on Friday. The first round of training is expected to be completed within weeks, as Ukraine and its allies brace for a potential new attack by Russian.
Countries that have issued firm declarations have also started the procedure of handing over the tanks, Blaszczak said during a joint appearance with Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defense chief.
The joint efforts of allies to create a Ukrainian tank battalion is “gathering pace,” he said, adding that final declarations from states willing to donate the Leopards are expected at the next meeting of the Ramstein group in Brussels in mid-February.
*US aid volunteer killed near Bakhmut
American volunteer aid worker Pete Reed was killed in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Thursday according to a statement from Global Response Medicine, the humanitarian group he founded.
Reed, 33, a US Marine veteran, was “killed while rendering aid” for another group, Global Outreach Doctors, GRM said in a statement posted on social media first reported by CNN.
“This is a stark reminder of the perils rescue and aid workers face in conflict zones as they serve citizens caught in the crossfire,” GRM said.
Yesterday, GRM founder Pete Reed was killed in Bakhmut, Ukraine. Pete was the bedrock of GRM, serving as Board President for 4 years. In January, Pete stepped away from GRM to work with Global Outreach Doctors on their Ukraine mission and was killed while rendering aid.
*Latest US weapons package oncludes new hybrid rocket/bomb
The US is sending Ukraine a new $2.1 billion weapons package, the Pentagon said, including a new ground-launched, bomb-tipped rocket.
The latest aid includes $425 million in equipment drawn from existing US stockpiles and $1.75 billion in contracts to the defense industry, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters at the Pentagon.
The new rocket from Boeing Co. combines two proven devices: an Air Force Small-Diameter Bomb guided by GPS satellites that’s currently in wide use and an Army rocket already being operated by Ukraine’s forces. An industry official said it would take about nine months for the first deliveries once the Air Force issues a contract.
