British Prime Minister Johnson calls the Russian attacks on Ukraine "increasingly barbaric". His country wants to arm the Ukrainian troops against the attacks and promises more weapons. The goal: Putin should fail.
Britain is massively expanding its military aid to Ukraine. The British government announced on Wednesday evening that it would increase aid by one billion pounds (almost 1.2 billion euros), almost doubling it. In total, Britain has pledged £2.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine, the government said. Accordingly, air defense systems, drones and equipment for electronic warfare are to be delivered.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Russia's attacks on Ukraine were "increasingly barbaric" after the military successes hoped for by Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to materialize. "British arms, equipment and training are transforming Ukraine's defenses against this onslaught." Britain will continue to stand behind Ukraine "to ensure that Putin fails in Ukraine," Johnson said. The announcement came at the same time as the NATO summit in Madrid, which is marked by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the governor of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday, said the Russian attacks on the city of Lysychansk were "violent". The city is "constantly bombed with large calibers," Hajdaj said on Ukrainian television. "Fighting in the suburbs of the city continues. The Russian army is constantly trying to attack." According to the governor, around 15,000 civilians are still in the city.
The enemy is trying to blockade the city with artillery support, the Ukrainian General Staff said in its situation report this morning. There are attacks around the city's oil refinery. "The fighting continues." The representative of the Luhansk separatists in Moscow, Rodion Miroshnik, wrote on Telegram that the area around the plant is under its own control. The military in Kyiv accused Russia of also shelling civilian infrastructure. This information cannot be independently verified. According to the separatists, troops loyal to the government are withdrawing in a north-westerly direction.
Lysychansk is the next key target for Russian troops, after taking the neighboring town of Sievarodonetsk after weeks of fighting over the weekend. The Luhansk region, one of the two sub-regions of the Donbass, is almost completely under Russian control.
