The Russian Ministry of Defense and the private military company Wagner have separately announced that Russian troops have completely captured the village of Vlahodatne in the Donetsk region, however it is not clear whether it was captured by regular Russian troops or mercenaries. has not been confirmed by Kyiv and cannot be verified independently.

The village of Vlakhodatne is located north of the town of Bakhmut, where fierce fighting has been going on for several months.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner, was quick to announce to the Ministry of Defense that his men had taken over the village.

This is not the first time the Russian Defense Ministry and a company believed to have close ties to the Kremlin have made competing claims of military success. In the end, the same thing happened with the capture of Solentar, where there were two different announcements.

Over the weekend, Kyiv was assured that the attacks on the village had been repulsed.

The Russian side is trying to surround Bakhmut from the north and south and force the Ukrainian army to withdraw its forces from this area.

It is reported that during the fighting, the warring parties suffer very heavy losses.

However, the main supply route to the northwest still remains under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine demands that the West send it heavy weapons to stop the advance of Russian troops and liberate the occupied territories.

The Russian Defense Ministry yesterday also announced the deployment of armored trains to the fronts, which will be used for reconnaissance, mine clearance, and destruction of enemy targets on the ground and in the air.

It is “an armored train armed to the teeth”, according to the ministry, which specified that the soldiers on it will have, in addition to individual weapons, weapons with a longer range so that they can perform tasks “even in the most difficult conditions.”

New help from Washington

However, the US government is preparing a new military equipment package for Ukraine worth more than $2 billion, which is expected to include longer-range missiles for the first time, as well as various types of ammunition, weapons and spare parts. officials who spoke to Reuters yesterday, Tuesday.

The package is expected to be announced, possibly even within a week, they said. According to the same sources, it will include spare parts for Patriot air defense systems, precision-guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank missiles.

Most of the amount ($1.7 billion) will come from a fund that allows President Joe Biden’s administration to purchase goods directly from industry rather than from US military stockpiles.

In addition to that part of the equipment package that will be purchased directly from industry, another, worth more than $400 million, will come from a special fund that is at the disposal of the American president and allows him to draw from his US reserves. military in emergencies.

Equipment for the three field hospitals will also be donated by a US ally, one official said. However, the White House declined to comment.

The United States has sent about $27.2 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine since Russian military forces invaded the country on February 24, 2022.

Lavrov: We will do everything to prevent Western plans from coming true

Russia faces a growing military threat in Ukraine as NATO member countries continue to arm the Ukrainian army, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukri on Tuesday.

During a meeting between the two men in Moscow, Lavrov said that Russian forces would do everything possible to thwart Western plans for Ukraine.

“We are taking the necessary measures to prevent Ukraine from becoming an even greater threat to our security,” the head of Russian diplomacy said, referring to recent announcements from Western capitals about the supply of heavy tanks.

Sergei Lavrov confirmed that the meeting took place because his Egyptian counterpart conveyed a message from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. However, according to him, the message did not contain any substantive proposals, but only demands for the withdrawal of the Russian army from the territory of Ukraine and the cessation of hostilities.

He reiterated that Moscow views the war as using the US and NATO to consolidate its global dominance and that it is at war with the entire West.

“Everything shows with absolute clarity that this is not about Ukraine at all,” the Russian foreign minister insisted, believing that Kyiv was not acting autonomously, as it undertook to translate the aspirations of the West into reality.

Lithuania: expel Russian diplomats from the EU

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister urged yesterday, Tuesday, the member states of the European Union not to receive any more Russian ambassadors on their territory, as diplomatic tensions between the Baltic states and Moscow have not stopped since the Russian army invaded Ukraine.

“It is useless to have a Russian ambassador in a European capital,” said Gabrielius Landsbergis at a press conference in Riga.

“In most cases, this is not a diplomatic institution, but a propaganda institution that covers up war crimes and generally promotes the genocide agenda,” he insisted.

Lithuania lowered diplomatic relations with Moscow, expelling the Russian ambassador in April 2022 following Ukraine’s accusations of a massacre of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Butsa.

Estonia announced last week that it was expelling the Russian ambassador in retaliation after the Kremlin declared the Estonian ambassador persona non grata.

“We adhere to the principle of proportionality in relations with Russia,” the Estonian Foreign Ministry commented on Twitter, specifying that the Russian ambassador will leave the country at the same time as his Estonian counterpart, whom Moscow asked to leave Russian territory by February 7. .

Latvia, the third Baltic state, announced that it would also send a Russian ambassador in solidarity with Estonia, adding that it was withdrawing its ambassador from Moscow.

Netanyahu: in favor of mediation at the right time

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday, Tuesday, that he is ready to mediate between Russia and Ukraine if the governments of the two countries and the United States ask for it.

“If I am asked by all interested parties, I will definitely consider it, but personally I do not insist on such a role,” he said in an interview with the American television company CNN. He added that for an enterprise to be successful, the initiative must be taken “at the right time” and “under the right circumstances”.

He explained that in order to take on such a role, he considers it a condition that Washington ask him directly, since “there can’t be too many cooks in the kitchen.”

Also, the Israeli prime minister, who returned to power at the end of 2022, said that shortly after the invasion he was asked to take on the role of mediator, but he shied away from it, because at that time he was the leader of the opposition and not the head of government. “I have the following rule: one (maybe) prime minister at a time.”

He did not say from which side he was approached to take on the role. He indicated that his request was made “informally”.

Kyiv asked Netanyahu’s predecessor Naftali Bennett to act as an intermediary. Bennett met with Vladimir Putin in March 2022 and also had contacts with Vladimir Zelensky. However, he failed to jumpstart efforts to end the war through negotiations.

Source: dpa, Reuters, AFP, CNN, APE-MPE.