The German company Rheinmetall applied to the German Federal Government with another application for the export of 88 tanks Type 1A5 Leopard to Ukraine, the Welt newspaper reported, citing documents provided by the manufacturer.
According to the edition, the application was submitted at the end of last week. Delivery could take place in a few weeks if German Chancellor Olaf Scholz decides.
In addition, earlier bids from Rheinmetall for 100 Marder armored personnel carriers and from Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Group for 100 PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers were sent for approval.
It is noted that the decision on deliveries is approved by the Federal Security Council, which is headed by the chancellor. So far, Scholz has not agreed to direct deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
The cost of used Leopard 1A5 tanks, which can be delivered to Ukraine, is about EUR 115 million. Together with Marder BMPs and self-propelled howitzers, the amount of heavy weaponry aid to Ukraine could amount to more than EUR 2 billion.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian discussed tougher sanctions against Russia, Ukraine’s European integration, and treatment of Ukrainian children in France.
“Discussed further sanctions on Russia, arms deliveries to Ukraine, and Ukraine’s EU candidate status. We both welcomed the treatment of Ukrainian children in France under the important initiative led by Ukraine’s and France’s First Ladies,” Kuleba said on Twitter on Monday.
He also congratulated French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election to office in the regular presidential elections held on Sunday. “I congratulated President Macron and his team on their victory. My French counterpart affirmed that France’s support of Ukraine will grow even stronger,” Kuleba said.
Civilian casualties from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 00:00 on April 24 amounted to 5,718 civilians (in the previous report on Friday some 5,381), including 2,665 killed (2,435), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Monday.
The daily summary traditionally states that the increase in the previous summary should not be attributed only to the cases on April 22 to April 24, since during this period the office verified a number of cases from previous days.
“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” the UN said in document.
According to him, this concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), and Popasna (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the UN said.
According to confirmed UN data, some 855 men, 563 women, 69 boys and 59 girls killed, while the gender of 67 children and 1,052 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 3,053 wounded were 71 boys and 64 girls, as well as 161 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to Friday’s report, some 11 children were killed and ten more wounded, according to the UN.
OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on April 25, there were 1,136 (933) killed and 1,132 (1,097) wounded in government-controlled territory, and 81 (79) killed and 341 (330) wounded in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics.”
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 1,448 (1,423) killed and some 1,580 (1,519) wounded.
The agro-industrial group Kernel, due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports by Russian warships, reduced the rate of export of agricultural products by 90% compared to the pre-war period, from 7.5 million tonnes per year to approximately 750,000 tonnes per year, the group said, citing its CEO Yevhen Osypov.
“Today, Kernel’s export performance has reached only 10% of pre-war results, despite the fact that we export more than 7.5 million tonnes of the products annually. We, like colleagues from other companies, are constantly working on alternative channels for the sale and delivery of products,” his words are quoted in a message from Kernel on the group’s Facebook page on Monday.
According to Osypov’s forecasts, the war unleashed by the Russian Federation could lead to a 40% reduction in sunflower oil exports. Taking into account its exports in the 2020/2021 marketing year (MY, September-August) at the level of 5.13 million tonnes, in the current MY 2021/2022, supplies to foreign markets may be reduced to 3.1 million tonsne.
“The war can become a humanitarian catastrophe for the whole world, but we are doing everything possible to ensure food security,” Kernel’s CEO stated.
As reported, before the Russian military invasion, Ukraine monthly exported up to 5 million tonnes of agricultural products through the ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv, however, due to the blockade of these ports by the aggressor country, Russia, Ukraine can transport no more than 500,000 tonnes of grain monthly, which leads to a monthly shortage of $1.5 billion in export earnings.
Denmark has become the first donor to the Energy Community’s Fund to rebuild war-torn energy infrastructure in Ukraine, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko has said.
“Sincerely thanks to the first donor, Denmark, for responding to Ukraine’s call for urgent support to the energy sector in these difficult times of war,” Haluschenko was quoted as saying by the press service of the Ministry of Energy in a release on the website on Monday.
The amount of funds sent by Denmark was not specified in the message.
At the same time, the minister called on other countries and international partners to become donors to the Fund, noting that Ukrainian power engineers every day, despite enemy shelling, again and again resume electricity and gas supply.
Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Artur Lorkowski, for his part, assured that the corresponding funds would be sent to Ukraine as soon as possible.
“The Secretariat, together with the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, will work quickly so that all contributions paid are directed to meet the most important needs of the Ukrainian energy sector,” Lorkowski said, cited by the press service of the Ministry of Energy.
As reported, in early April 2022, the Energy Community created a Fund to rebuild war-torn energy infrastructure in Ukraine, the donors of which should be mainly EU member states, as well as international companies and corporations.
The German company Rheinmetall has applied to the German federal government with another application for the export of 88 Type 1A5 Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Welt reports citing documents provided by the manufacturer.
According to the publication, the application was filed at the end of last week. Delivery can be carried out in a few weeks, if German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives the appropriate decision.
In addition, Rheinmetall for the supply of 100 Marder armored personnel carriers, and from the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann group for the supply of 100 PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, were previously sent for approval.
It is noted that the decision on deliveries is approved by the Federal Security Council, which is headed by the Chancellor. So far, Scholz has not agreed to direct deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
The cost of used Leopard 1A5 tanks, which can be delivered to Ukraine, is about 115 million euros. Together with the Marder infantry fighting vehicle and self-propelled howitzers, the volume of assistance to Ukraine with heavy weapons could amount to more than 2 billion Euros.
