Kiev promises ‘surprise’ for Russia
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleskii Reznikov has claimed that Kiev is receiving more military aid amid the ongoing Russian attack.
“I’m not going to comment on the deliveries of weapons and ammunition – it’s a delicate moment. Let there be a surprise for the enemy. Know this: there’s been a significant progress,” Reznikov wrote on social media on Monday.
The minister said Kiev has purchased more than 50,000 helmets and flak jackets, including the uniforms made for NATO member states.
On Sunday, CNN quoted a source saying that US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Mark Milley, had inspected an arms shipment hub at an undisclosed airfield near the Ukrainian border. The “massive” shipment operation was coordinated by the US European Command “in real time,” the source said. It was reported that as many as 17 flights have been landing at the airfield each day.
European countries previously pledged to supply Ukraine with anti-tank weapons, air defense missile systems, and machine guns. At the end of February, the EU promised €450 million ($487 million) worth of “lethal arms” to Kiev.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pleading with the West to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine, or at least provide military aircraft. NATO countries have so far refused to do so, fearing a conflict with Russia.
Russia attacked its neighbor on February 24, insisting that it was defending the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), which broke off from Ukraine shortly after the 2014 coup in Kiev. Moscow also said it was seeking “demilitarization and denazification” of the country, insisting that Ukraine should never become a NATO member.
Ukraine said the attack was completely unprovoked and denied the claim that it was planning to retake the breakaway republics by force.
