July 11, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Germany has pledged to send Ukraine a weapons and military package worth €700 million ($769.9 million), according to the country's Ministry of Defense on Tuesday.

In the statement, the German defense ministry said some of the equipment they would be delivering include two patriot launchers and 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. In addition, they would also send 25 Leopard 1 A5 main battle tanks and five Bergepanzer 2 from industrial stocks or industrial refurbishment.

The statement added that Germany pledged 31 items in total from Bundeswehr stocks, including 20,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and 5,000 rounds of 155mm smoke ammunition.

In addition, Germany will send a LUNA drone system and a mine interdiction package, the statement said.

On Tuesday, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said in a statement that the weapons package is designed to “support Ukraine in its defense against Russia.”

The White House sought to make clear that US President Joe Biden’s controversial decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine was a “temporary” measure, with national security adviser Jake Sullivan telling reporters that it will be a matter of “months” as Ukraine bridges a munitions gap.

He continued, “We were not prepared to leave Ukraine defenseless, period. So for us, when it came down to the choice, our choice was, despite the difficulty, despite the challenges, despite the risks of civilian harm associated with cluster munitions, the risk to civilian harm of leaving Ukraine without the ammo it needed was, from our perspective, greater," Sullivan said.

Biden told CNN's Fareed Zaharia Friday that he took the "difficult decision" to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions because "the Ukrainians are running out of ammunition" needed to sustain its counteroffensive against Russia.

Sullivan added that the US views the provision of cluster munitions as “temporary” until more unitary rounds can be produced.

“We view that as temporary because many months ago, we began the intensive process of ramping up our unitary round production. Once it hits a level where unitary round production can satisfy Ukraine's needs, then there will be no need to continue giving cluster munitions,” he said, declining to provide a timeline due to questions of usage rates and the defense industrial base hitting its production marks.

Pressed again on timing, he said, “It's months, but the question is, how many?”

Why are cluster munitions controversial?: Cluster munitions are canisters that carry tens to hundreds of smaller bomblets. The canisters break open at a prescribed height, depending upon the area of the intended target, and the bomblets inside are dispersed over that area.

Because bomblets fall over a wide area, they can endanger non-combatants.

Over 100 countries, including the UK, France and Germany, have outlawed the munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

NATO has not seen any movement of Wagner mercenary fighters to Belarus, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.

There has been widespread speculation about where the Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has been since the aborted mutiny on June 23-24.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko brokered an agreement for him to move to Belarus, but said last week Prigozhin was not in the country. 

Last week, the presidents of Lithuania, Poland and Latvia wrote a letter to the NATO Secretary General and the Heads of the NATO Alliance, warning them about the threat “posed by Russia’s aggressive actions and the evolving situation in Belarus.”

According to the Lithuanian President’s Communication Group, the three leaders also pointed out that “the relocation of the Russian Wagner Group mercenaries and their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin to Belarus would generate risks for the political stability in Belarus and in consequence a potential loss of control over conventional and nuclear weapons.”

The Polish Defense minister Mariusz Blaszczak tweeted on Friday that over 1,000 soldiers and almost 200 units of equipment from the 12th and 17th Mechanized Brigades were starting to move to the east of the country."

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence has disclosed what it says are the details of how a Russian submarine commander was shot dead in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, but stopped short of explicitly claiming responsibility for his death.

Stanislav Rzhitsky was killed on Monday by an “unknown person” according to Russia’s TASS news service, adding that “the motive for the crime is being investigated. Suspects are identified.”

In an unusually detailed statement on Telegram early Tuesday, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence disclosed how it had apparently happened.

“Due to heavy rain, the park was deserted, so there were no witnesses who could provide details or identify the attacker,” the statement added.

Rzhitsky commanded one of Russia’s Kilo-class submarine of the Black Sea fleet, capable of firing Kalibr cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian statement and Russian news reports.

Submarine-launched missile attacks have been responsible for some of the most destructive strikes on Ukrainian cities, including one almost exactly a year ago on the central city of Vinnytsia which killed dozens of people, including three children. 

The presence of four Asia-Pacific leaders at the NATO summit this week suggests that Ukraine is not the only major security issue on the agenda of the European-North American defense alliance.

The war in Ukraine has brought members of the US-led alliance closer than at any time since the Cold War, and on Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg summed up their collective concerns that what is happening in Ukraine today could occur in Asia tomorrow.

“Beijing is threatening its neighbors and bullying other countries,” he said, adding that the Chinese threat extends directly into the homelands of the 31 countries in the alliance as the ruling Chinese Communist Party attempts “to take control of critical supply chains and infrastructure in NATO states.”

Autocratic nations, including China, were looking at Russia’s actions in Ukraine, and weighing the costs and benefits of offensive action, he said.

While not naming the island of Taiwan, the self-governing democracy is the most obvious point of comparison given China’s ruling Communist Party remains committed to unifying it with the mainland – by force if necessary.

For its part, China says Taiwan is an internal matter and it sees no role for countries in the region, let alone NATO members, to be interfering.

Read the full analysis here.

NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday said that the alliance condemns the announcement that Russia will deploy tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

“We are monitoring closely what they are doing,” Stoltenberg said in a doorstep interview ahead of the NATO summit taking place in Vilnius, Lithuania.

“So far we haven't seen any changes in the Russian nuclear deployments posture that requires any changes from our side," he continued.

“But we remain vigilant, and we will ensure that we of course already to protect and defend every NATO allies against any potential threat.”

Some background: Russia announced plans in March to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, in a sign of a growing military alliance between the neighbouring countries.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in May that Russia had begun to transfer the weapons to its territory -- and even offered to provide nuclear weapons to other countries willing "to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus."

"There will be nuclear weapons for everyone," Lukashenko said.

However, there are doubts over whether the transfer of weapons has really begun. While Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that the facilities in Belarus necessary to store tactical nuclear weapons would be ready by July 7, Western officials have seen no signs of that.

Belarus still does not appear to have the proper infrastructure in place to house the weapons, officials said, and it will likely be months, if not longer, before doing so is even feasibly possible. Available satellite imagery has also not shown any signs of the kind of preparations and security that would be standard at a Russian nuclear facility. 

US President Joe Biden is “looking forward” to Sweden’s accession to NATO, he said as he began his engagements in Vilnius, Lithuania on Tuesday. 

“I am confident we’ll get that done,” he said of Sweden’s membership, which still requires a parliamentary procedure in Turkey to formally approve. 

Ahead of the summit’s start later Tuesday, Biden said the US was in attendance “to reaffirm our commitment to NATO."

“We are committed to Lithuania, and to the Baltics, and to NATO,” he said. “Our pledge to be with you has not wavered.”

He also looked ahead to the summit, which comes at a critical moment for Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia. 

And Biden reiterated the NATO commitment to Article 5, the principle that an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members.

Nauseda welcomed Biden to Lithuania and called it a “historic” summit “even before it started” due to the Sweden announcement.

Earlier Tuesday, Biden and Nauseda participated in a formal arrival ceremony outside the Lithuanian presidential palace. A military band played “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Lithuania national anthem, and the leaders inspected an honor guard – part of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas Staff Battalion – as they walked along a red carpet together.

Inside, Biden sat at a small table and signed a guest book, then smiled for a photo with Nauseda in front of both countries’ flags. 

Asked by a reporter whether he was surprised that Turkey agreed to Sweden’s accession, Biden said, “Not at all.”

Read more:

RELATED

Biden and NATO leaders enter summit with a show of force as Turkey agrees to Sweden's membership | CNN Politics

Russia targeted grain facilities in Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa overnight with Shahed attack drones, according to Ukrainian military officials.

The officials claimed almost all the drones were shot down, but two succeeded in evading air defenses and struck administrative buildings at the port.

Debris from successful interceptions caused fires in two terminals, including one holding grain, officials said, but damage from the fires was minimal before they were extinguished.

Odesa is Ukraine’s largest port and the starting point for grain shipments through the Black Sea and on to world markets.

The passage of ships carrying Ukrainian grain has been governed by a deal involving Russia, Ukraine and Turkey since July last year. The arrangement is currently due to expire next week and Russian officials have expressed reluctance to extend it.

Speaking ahead of the NATO summit in Lithuania, the bloc's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday he is “confident it will be a positive and strong message” on Ukraine's path to membership.

When asked whether NATO will issue an invitation to Ukraine, Stoltenberg replied, “You will see the language in a few hours because we are now finalizing the communique.”

Next steps: On Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said NATO has agreed to let Ukraine bypass the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a detailed formal process in its application to join the alliance.

Participation in the MAP does not prejudge any decision by the alliance on future membership, but can be a lengthy process.

"Ukraine is much closer to NATO, so I think the time has come to reflect that in the NATO decisions," Stoltenberg said.

US President Joe Biden and NATO allies will “send a united, positive signal” on a path to NATO membership for Ukraine at the summit, the White House said earlier, but declined to provide a specific timetable for Kyiv's accession.