“This is a crucial moment for Ukraine and for the whole world.” Like this US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin opened the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine in Ramstein this morning. “We meet at a very difficult and turbulent time, but we feel determination and unity here,” he continued. “It’s time not to give in. We will not stop, we will not hesitate and we will not hesitate to help Ukraine,” he concluded. During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed: “We don’t have time. Time is of the essence. We must act quickly. We need defensive and battle tanks. Every weapon counts.”
Italy will do its part. He assured it Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, during an interview on the sidelines of the Ramstein summit with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “I reiterated to Stoltenberg that Italy, one of the protagonists of the Atlantic Alliance, will continue to support Ukraine and its people. We will continue to do our part,” the minister wrote on Twitter.
Moscow: “The West is wrong”. Austin’s words about helping Kyiv immediately provoked a reaction from the Kremlin: The West is “deceived” about a possible victory for Ukraine, said spokesman Dmitry Peskov, “Western tanks will not change anything on the ground.”
The Wagner mercenary group numbers up to 50,000 fighters in Ukraine, has become a key component of the conflict and is likely aimed at maximizing the goal of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and further legitimizing the increasingly high-profile organization. This was announced by the secret service of the British Ministry of Defense in a post on Twitter. Prigozhin, who only admitted in September 2022 to founding Wagner and opening an official office in St. Petersburg a month later, is very close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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