Here is the situation as it stands on Wednesday, January 25, 2023:
Weapons
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed to supply Ukraine with Leopard 2 battle tanks, according to media reports, after weeks of mounting pressure on Berlin to give Kyiv the heavier weapons it says it needs to drive back invading Russian forces.
- Germany’s decision reportedly came after the United States was said to be poised to start a process that would eventually send dozens of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine’s front lines.
- Delivery of tanks by the US to Ukraine would be “another blatant provocation” against Russia, Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador, said.
- A Swiss parliamentary body proposed waiving a re-export ban that prevents ammunition it manufactures from being re-exported from another country to Ukraine.
- The US determined that some Chinese companies are providing non-lethal assistance to Russia for use in the Ukraine war and officials noted their concern to the Chinese government, a source familiar with the matter said.
Economy, politics
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired some senior officials in Ukraine’s biggest political shake-up amid the war, saying he needed to clean up internal problems hurting the country.
- Ukraine’s governing party drew up a bill aiming to boost transparency in defence procurement after an army food contract became the focus of high-profile corruption allegations, according to the parliament’s website.
- President Vladimir Putin said there were shortages of some medicines in Russia and that prices had gone up, despite the production of more of its own drugs.
- Ukraine’s prime minister said his country has enough coal and gas reserves for the remaining months of winter despite Russian attacks on its energy system.
