A Russian business announced today that it will pay five million roubles (£58,000) to the first soldiers who destroy or seize Western tanks in Ukraine, after the Kremlin threatened to ‘burn’ any ally armoured vehicles transported to Kyiv.
As the war nears its one-year anniversary, the United States, Germany, and other Western allies are preparing to join Britain in sending dozens of heavy tanks to Ukraine in the coming months to bolster the country’s military power.
The Kremlin has criticized the NATO allies’ choice as a hazardous escalation, saying that the fresh Western supply will “burn like the rest.”
Now, Fores, a firm based in the Urals that manufactures proppants for the oil industry, is promising cash incentives to Russian military who “capture or destroy” German-made Leopard 2 or American-made Abrams tanks.
A self-propelled artillery is spotted on a road near a frontline in Donetsk area, Ukraine, on Sunday, amid Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine.
Berlin will initially provide Ukraine with at least 14 Leopard 2 tanks (file image)
Washington is providing Ukraine with 31 of its swift M1 Abrams tanks (file image)
The business has stated that it will pay five million roubles (£58,000) to the first Russian soldier who destroys one of the tanks, and 500,000 roubles (£5,800) for successive attacks.
Fores, echoing Russian leaders and pro-war state TV personalities, asserted that NATO was supplying Ukraine with a “unlimited” number of armaments and escalating the conflict.
It also stated that it will offer a reward of 15 million roubles (£174,200) for Western-made fighter jets delivered to Ukraine.
Washington is deploying 31 of its quick-moving M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, while Berlin will initially provide at least 14 Leopard 2 tanks and permit other NATO nations, including Poland, Norway, Finland, and Spain, to send their own to Kyiv.
The United Kingdom has already stated that it will provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks, and Ukrainian forces arrived in Britain on Saturday to study how to use these tanks against Russian troops.
According to Ukraine’s envoy to France, it could take months for 321 heavy tanks to arrive on the battlefield, despite the fact that they have been pledged by numerous countries.
In the next weeks, both warring parties are expected to undertake spring offensives, thus Ukraine is eager to expedite the delivery of heavy weapons.
Sergey Nechayev, the Russian ambassador to Germany, stated last week that the plan to send Leopald II tanks to Ukraine was “extremely dangerous.”
He stated that it “shifts the conflict to a new level of confrontation and contradicts German politicians’ statements about their reluctance to become involved”
France has not yet committed to sending a squadron of its Leclerc tanks, but President Emmanuel Macron is under pressure to match his partners’ pledge of heavy armor.
On the Ukrainian front lines, battle raged in the eastern Donetsk region, with Russia shelling the strategic town of Vuhledar once more.
Ukraine formerly relied on Soviet-era T-72 tanks, but the delivery of NATO vehicles will modernize its force.
Just days after allies agreed to give Kyiv with heavy battle tanks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated that Ukraine faced a difficult situation in Donetsk and required speedier military deliveries and new types of armaments.
“The circumstance is quite difficult. Bakhmut, Vuhledar, and other sectors in the Donetsk region are under relentless attack by the Russians,’ Zelenskiy claimed in a late-Sunday video message.
“Russia desires that the war drag on and wear out our forces,” Therefore, we must make time our weapon. We must accelerate events, expedite supplies, and provide Ukraine with new armament options.
A top assistant to Zelenskiy stated on Saturday that Ukraine’s requests for long-range weapons are also the subject of discussions between Kiev and its partners. The Ukraine has also requested American F16 fighter fighters.
Rheinmetall is prepared to significantly increase production of tank and artillery munitions to meet demand in Ukraine and the West, according to CEO Armin Papperger of Reuters. Rheinmetall may also begin building HIMARS multiple rocket launchers in Germany.
HIMARS systems are now manufactured in the United States, and the Ukrainian military has utilized them to terrible effect.
Since the beginning of the conflict, Russia’s defense ministry has claimed that hundreds of Western weapons had been destroyed in Ukraine.
Kyiv has repeatedly denied these claims, noting, for instance, that Russia has claimed to have destroyed more HIMARS launch pads manufactured in the United States than were ever shipped to Ukraine.
Previous supply of modern Western armaments, particularly HIMARS, have been credited with shifting the course of the 11-month battle, aiding Kyiv in securing a series of unexpected wins and pushing back Russian forces from territory taken at the beginning of the invasion.
Sunday night, Russian missile attacks in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson killed three and injured six more. A hospital, school, bus station, post office, bank, and residential structures were damaged by the bombardment.
A nurse and a cafeteria worker in the hospital at the time of the incident were among those reported hurt.
Sunday in the city of Kherson, Ukrainian firefighters battle a house ablaze caused by Russian bombardment.
Sunday in Kherson, Ukrainian doctors transport the body of a local citizen killed in a residential building by Russian shelling.
Shortly after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian troops conquered Kherson and held it until Ukrainian forces recovered it in November.
Since its liberation, Russian troops across the Dnieper have regularly shelled the city.
An elderly woman was killed Sunday evening after a missile damaged an apartment building in the northern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to regional governor Oleh Synehubov.
Ukraine’s General Staff announced on Monday that Ukrainian troops had defeated a Russian offensive in Bakhmut, the epicenter of Moscow’s offensive in the eastern Donetsk area, as well as in numerous other cities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The previous evening, the Ukrainian military published a statement noting the recent escalation of fighting near Vuhledar, southwest of Bakhmut.
According to TASS, the administrator of Russian-controlled areas of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, stated on Monday that his forces had established a foothold in Vuhledar.
Mykola Salamakha, a Ukrainian military analyst and colonel, told Ukrainian Radio NV that Russian troops were launching waves of attacks against Vuhledar.
“From this site, we oversee virtually the whole Russian rail network utilized for logistics… The town is situated on a hilltop, and a highly effective defensive centre has been established there,’ he said.
This is a repeat of the event in Bakhmut, where several waves of Russian troops were defeated by the Ukrainian military.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited U.S. ally and major arms exporter South Korea on Monday and urged Seoul to enhance its military support for Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russia’s RIA news agency as stating on Monday that since the United States had chosen to deliver tanks to Ukraine, it made no sense for Russia to speak with Kyiv or its Western puppet masters.
On Sunday, however, a Kremlin spokesman told RIA that Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to engage in dialogue with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The German newspaper Tagesspiegel cited Scholz as stating on Sunday, “I will also speak with Putin again because it is necessary to speak.”
He said, “Putin must withdraw his troops from Ukraine to end this horrific, senseless war that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.”
»Russian firm pays first Ukrainian troops who destroy or seize Western tanks«