LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Dozens of secondhand German-made Leopard 1 tanks that once belonged to Belgium have been bought by another European country for Ukrainian forces fighting Russia's invasion, the arms trader who did the deal said.
- Dozens of ships are backed up around critical Danube arteries close to Ukraine's river gateways days after Russian drone attacks on the country's ports, shipping data show. The river and its mouth are Ukraine's last remaining waterborne grain export route.
- Britain slapped new sanctions on 25 companies and individuals to "close the net" on Russian President Vladimir Putin's access to foreign military equipment. Those targeted include people and businesses in Turkey, Dubai, Slovakia and Switzerland that the Foreign Office said are "supporting the illegal war in Ukraine.”
Germany has offered to extend the deployment of its Patriot missile defense systems in Poland, likely until the end of the year, the Defense Ministry said in a statement released Tuesday.
Berlin sent three Patriot units to eastern Poland in January after a deadly blast struck a Polish village in late 2022. The strike is believed to have been from a stray Ukrainian air defense missile.
Originally, the deployment of the U.S.-made systems was to be for a maximum of six months. But the Defense Ministry said it had offered Poland to keep the systems "over the summer, probably until the end of the year."
However, starting in 2024, the systems would be an “important contribution” to a NATO rapid response force, the ministry said, adding there would be no extension beyond 2023 for Poland.
Poland initially pushed back against Germany's offer of the Patriot units, instead calling on Berlin to send the weaponry to Ukraine. Germany, which has been a major contributor of weapons to Kyiv, later sent a Patriot system to Ukraine as well.
Rescuers in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk dug through the rubble of several buildings destroyed by two back-to-back Russian missile attacks Monday that killed at least nine people.
“This afternoon, rescue operations in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, after yesterday's missile attack by Russian terrorists, have been completed. Nine people were killed. My condolences to the families and friends,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that 82 people were wounded.
"Everyone is provided with the necessary assistance. There are two children among the wounded," Zelenskyy said in his evening video address.
Pokrovsk is in the Donetsk region, which has been the scene of some of the most intense fighting since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk, says the two missiles struck about 40 minutes apart, destroying residential buildings, restaurants, shops and administrative buildings and a hotel popular with foreign journalists, aid workers and the military.
Meanwhile two people were killed in Russian missile strikes in Kruhliakivka village in Kupiansk district, according to Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration.
Some information for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
