Russian advances in Kharkiv region as Zelenskyy tours Europe for more aid | DW News

Russian advances in Kharkiv region as Zelenskyy tours Europe for more aid | DW News

now the Ukrainian President Vladimir zalinski is touring Europe to drum up support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s fullscale Invasion he’s currently meeting representatives from the Belgian government who have pledged 30 F-16 fighter jets the first deliveries are planned for this year the announcement comes as EU defense ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss further military aid for ke and we’ll hear more about Ukraine’s reaction from DW Roman gurenko in just a moment but first Terry Schulz has been following the meetings in Brussels for us Terry tell us about zeny’s tour so far has it been successful well the Ukrainian president arrives here in a very somber state of mind and anyone who’s seen the pictures in the aftermath of those devastating attacks on kke understands why he even had to cancel this trip once due to the seriousness of the situation on the ground that said as you mentioned he has had some success in getting support from Spain yet which he visited yesterday and today in Belgium each country has signed a long-term Security deal with Ukraine as well as agreeing to give1 billion euros over the course of this year and ongoing financial support uh in the years to come those f-16s are going to be very much appreciated although of course Ukraine’s been asking for them almost since the War Began and we should all remember that he’s forced to go to each of these individual governments asking for bilateral support because there’s no chance at the moment that Ukraine can get what it really wants and that would be of course membership in the NATO alliance and the security of an article 5 security guarantee and Roman what’s uh what’s been the reaction from keev to what zeni has been able to achieve on this tour well as teres just said um it’s very important that he’s traveling at all because the visit was cancelled due to the situation in the north of Ukraine where the Russian army was advancing in the past days so it’s important he could go it’s important that that news came that two bilateral agreements were signed in Spain and now in Belgium of course the news about f-16s is very welcome here in ke uh because um Ukraine is still waiting for uh Western countries to deliver those fighter jets uh the preparations are ending now uh the training of UK of Ukrainian Pilots started in uh late Summer and Autumn last year so so now the pilots are preparing to come back to Ukraine and of course uh the first Jets will be arriving this year this is a very important information I’ve been talking to a us uh military pilot just a few days ago and he said Ukraine would probably need about 100 f-16s per year and this war is not going to end soon this is the impression that’s why it is very important for Ukraine to have guarantees that those Jets will be coming also in the coming years and Terry are the EU defense ministers who are meeting are they on the same page regarding support for keev most of them are on the same page when it comes to um as we’ve discussed increasing bilateral support for the government uh just this morning the Netherlands announced a new initiative to try to send to keev uh parts of patriot air defense systems and then assemble them there in Ukraine that’s very important although of course Ukraine would like to see countries coming forward saying we don’t need our Patriots right now and we will send them to Ukraine we didn’t hear anything about that at the arrivals this morning simply this new initiative to send pieces of of Patriots which if if that’s all Ukraine’s going to get it’s going to be thankful for that but I’ll come back to on the same page and that is because Hungary continues to block billions of assistance that’s been earmarked for Ukraine uh they absolutely refuse to let things go forward but we have seen an increasing amount of frustration by the other members of of the European Union um some of them saying that there has to be a way to to force Hungary to allow this money to go forward because Ukraine needs it now and every delay is costing Ukrainian lives and Roman given the situation that Ukraine finds itself in right now just remind us what Ukraine’s greatest needs are at this point in the war well um the the B the basic needs are of course um the same it’s air defense more air defense that’s why president zinski is appealing nearly every day to Western countries to donate those petriot system to Ukraine because they’re very very effective Germany did that Germany has just delivered one more IR German made air defense system to Ukraine but Ukraine needs much more because there are a lot of towns and cities close to the Russian border that are being shell as we speak Ukraine also needs to make sure that the situation um that it was about um half a year when the United States could not deliver because for uh because of internal political reasons um there was a pause a long pause uh in weapons deliveries from the United States Ukraine Ukraine wants to be sure this will never happen again that’s why those bilateral agreements are so important with Spain with Belgium with other countries but basically UK Ukraine needs to make sure that the flow of ammunition will not stop Roman G sheno thanks so much for that update from keev and Terry Schultz reporting uh from Brussels thanks so much to you both in Ukraine soldiers are trying to hold back or at least slow a Russian incursion near KH twws Max sand went to the front lines to see how they’re doing it we are racing towards the new front line with a comma drone unit that calls itself the piy blinders Northeast of their hometown harke if you hear the command to turn on the electronic warfare it’s the one nearest the button he means the jamming system to stop enemy drones 3 km from the Russian side these men are not the only ones hunting Anon commands this group many of them used to play football together there is even a father and his son very while their focus is on vehicles no enemy targets are safe they use cheap improvised devices which can destroy equipment worth millions it could be any kind of Target from an infantrymen to a tank and that depends on what kind of explosive we’ve got here with the right payload drones can even penetrate armor as another unit demonstrated in recent days all systems are in place and the men start their search for targets they find a group of soldiers they’re walking along the edge of the forest I think they’re going to come out the Russians are sitting ducks as we soon see firsthand while the soldiers at the other end of the trench make out the targets Commander Anton flyes the attack sties his team have been in this area for 2 months already well before the recent Russian attack everyone heard the rumors of what was going to happen our commander set us some tasks to see where there’s a cluster of enemies to find it and identify it on May 10 the Russians open up this new front in the beginning the pey blinders killed dozens each day now the Russians are concealing themselves better and intercepting many of the Ukrainian drones did you see the explosion yeah there’s a hit let’s get closer and take a look it’s an enemy truck it’s heavily damaged but not yet destroyed drones like these have completely changed the battlefield they now destroy more Hardware than any other weapon despite their Simplicity firstperson viewed drones are constantly evolving since I started this is already the fifth or sixth upgrade that’s been added to these drones I’m constantly learning something Reading communicating with others to stay current even as an old warhorse as they say Commander Anon takes us to a fellow unit close by always wary of enemy drones the Commander in this Foxhole is Anton’s brother Sasha as we arrive they’ve begun attacking the Russian group spotted earlier I’m going to guide you now look this is the biggest tree yes enter from this side it’s pilot vitali’s first combat about to zero into the enemy awesome right on target vitalic you did great hey check this out look they’re burning let’s go for another one we’ll do another one they at least two soldiers now they’re trying to send in fpv drones but it seems at the moment they’re running into issues with connection or rather with the Russian jamming they send in drone after drone that end up crashing I want to do my job as well as possible because eliminating the enemy saves the lives of our boys there’s a lot that depends on this work so of course we feel the adrenaline after overcoming the jamming problems the ukrainians managed to kill or injure the entire Russian assault group The pey blinders used to be an infantry unit but they switch to combat drones their role is less immediately horrifying now but it’s still dangerous when The Invasion began it was much more difficult to deal with this everything was just unclear during the first 6 months there was no physical or moral fatigue at all but now it’s chronic but we’re holding on as we finish talking a reminder of the imminent danger yes don’t move they’ve heard a drone that isn’t theirs the rifles are the Last Resort a Russian lanced kamakazi drone flew over we started shooting at it we didn’t realize it right away a powerful loitering drone looking for equipment this time it got away and we are told it hit a Ukrainian vehicle

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is on a whirlwind tour of the European Union looking for military aid. He’s currently in Belgium where the government has committed to equipping Ukraine with 30 F16 fighter jets. The first deliveries are planned for later this year. The announcement comes as EU defence ministers meet in Brussels to discuss further military aid for Kyiv.

In Ukraine, soldiers are trying to hold back or at least slow a Russian incursion near Kharkiv. DW’s Max Zander went to the frontlines to see how they’re doing it.

For more about the reaction from Ukraine, we talk DW’s Roman Goncharenko while Teri Schultz has been following the meetings in Brussels for us.

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