What happened in the last few hours

On the 337th day of the war launched by Russia against Ukraine, here are the key data at 12:00 this Thursday, January 26:

Russia responds to the dispatch of tanks from Europe and the United States with bombardments throughout Ukraine. Russia’s response to the agreement to supply US and European tanks to Ukraine was not long in coming. Since yesterday evening, the Russian Air Force has fired several waves of drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities. The rockets hit this morning in Odessa, Zaporizhia and Kyiv. In the capital, the attack left one dead and two injured.

Moscow accuses the West of getting “directly” involved in the war by sending heavy tanks to Kyiv. The Kremlin on Thursday denounced what it considers “direct involvement” by the West in the war in Ukraine after kyiv’s allies announced throughout this week that they would deliver dozens of heavy tanks to Kyiv, which represents a new phase in arms support for the government of Volodimir Zelensky. “We see this as a direct involvement in the conflict, and we see that [esta implicación] grows,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Ukraine is already preparing its biggest counter-offensive with NATO armored vehicles. Ukraine and Russia are in a race against time to prepare for their spring offensives, a few months that both armies consider decisive for the future of the war. Whoever strikes first will have the advantage of altering the rival’s plans. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valeri Zaluzhni, is planning a counter-offensive which, in his own words, must be used to recover all the territory lost since the start of the invasion last February. Their plans necessarily go through the reception of NATO tanks.

Germany says it will deliver the Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine “at the end of March or beginning of April”. Germany’s new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said during a visit to German army troops during a military exercise in Altengrabow in the east of the country that his government planned to deliver the Leopard tanks 2 promised to Ukraine “at the end of March or beginning of April. He also explained that the training of Ukrainian soldiers in the handling of Marder – armored personnel carriers – will begin “at the end of January”. will be a bit later,” added Pistorius.

Ukraine welcomes Leopard tanks but asks for fighter planes. The Ukrainian government has thanked allied countries for their decision to send tanks to fight the Russian invasion, but now says it also needs the supply of fighter jets. In a message on his Twitter account, Dimitro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister, thanked Poland for its help, because “it was the first country to publicly announce the delivery of the Leopard 2, thus contributing in a crucial way to the training of a coalition of [países que suministren] tanks”. Kuleba now called for “Western-style fighter jets, sanctions and the implementation of a formula for peace”.

In the photograph, which is Fabrice Bensch German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited German troops on Thursday during a military exercise in Altengrabow, in the east of the country, according to Reuters.