Connect with us

Published

on

The UK is considering supplying Ukraine with British tanks for the first time to fight Russia’s invading forces, Sky News understands.

Discussions have been taking place “for a few weeks” about delivering a number of the British Army’s Challenger 2 main battle tank to the Ukrainian armed forces, a Western source with knowledge of the conversations said.

Such a move would mark a significant step-up in Western support to Ukraine and could help prompt other NATO allies, in particular Germany, to follow suit.

Russia’s military bloggers hit out at ‘fictional’ Kremlin claim – Ukraine latest

“It would encourage others to give tanks,” a Ukrainian source said.

No final decision has yet been made by Rishi Sunak’s government, but if the UK did sign off on such a delivery it would become the first nation to respond to pleas from Ukrainian leaders to equip their military with powerful Western tanks.

A US-led grouping of some 50 nations – including the UK – that is delivering military support to Ukraine is due to hold its next meeting on 20 January. Any announcements about new assistance, such as tanks, could be made to coincide with the Contact Group gathering.

One source suggested Britain might offer around 10 Challenger 2 tanks, enough to equip a squadron.

The source said this in itself would not be a “game changer” but it would still be hugely significant because the move would breach a barrier that has so far prevented allies from offering up Western tanks to Ukraine for fear of being seen as overly escalatory by Russia.

That could in turn prompt other allies to do the same, sources said.

“It will be a good precedent to demonstrate [to] others – to Germany first of all, with their Leopards… and Abrams from the United States,” the Ukrainian source said.

A Leopard II battle tank
Image:
Ukraine has long requested German-made Leopard II tanks

Read more:
Why is Bakhmut so important to Russia?
Putin’s ceasefire is useful for a different reason
CCTV shows moment Russian soldiers scour orphanage for children

Germany more cautious

Ukraine has long requested the mass-produced, German-made Leopard II tanks, used by several European allies, including Germany, Poland, Finland, the Netherlands and Spain.

Warsaw and Helsinki have already signalled a willingness to supply their Leopard tanks to Kyiv but this requires approval from Berlin because Germany holds the export licence.

Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, has adopted a more cautious approach to equipping Ukraine with weapons than other countries such as the UK and the United States.

But he has slowly been ramping up his country’s assistance.

US and Germany promise armoured combat vehicles

Last week, Berlin and Washington said in a joint statement that they would supply Ukraine with armoured combat vehicles in an important policy shift. For Germany, this means the Marder infantry fighting vehicle. For the US, it comprises the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

Over the weekend, the economy minister said that Berlin cannot rule out the delivery of Leopard tanks, which are heavier fighting vehicles than the Marder. But a German government spokesperson on Monday said it has no plans to send tanks.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence would neither confirm nor deny that the British government was considering supplying Ukraine with tanks.

A spokesperson said: “The government has committed to match or exceed last year’s funding for military aid to Ukraine in 2023, and we will continue to build on recent donations with training and further gifting of equipment.

“We have provided over 200 armoured vehicles to Ukraine to date – including Stormer vehicles armed with Starstreak missiles.

“We have also donated tens of thousands of items including helmets and body armour, mobility and logistics vehicles, anti-tank weapons, air defence missiles and systems, winter and medical equipment.”

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

Last year, the UK sent 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Poland as part of a deal to help Ukraine by freeing up capacity for Warsaw to supply its Soviet-era T-72 tanks to Kyiv.

In service since 1994, the Challenger 2 tank weighs 62.5 tonnes and is armed with a 120mm rifled gun and a 7.62mm chain gun.

Western tanks could ‘tip balance’

A squadron of Challenger tanks is in Estonia as part of a NATO mission in eastern Europe to deter Russian aggression. The Challenger 2 has previously been deployed in Bosnia and during the 2003 Iraq war.

Colonel Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a former commander of 1st Royal Tank Regiment, said the introduction of Western tanks could “tip the balance” on the battlefield in Ukraine’s favour.

“Strategically this sends a very firm message to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that nothing is off the table,” he said.

“Challenger 2 and Leopard II are modern tanks. They are much better protected, more reliable, quicker,” he added.

By contrast, Ukraine’s military is operating Soviet-era tanks like the T-72, including some that have already been supplied by partners that also use them.

Russia’s military has also largely been relying on tanks manufactured during the Cold War.

The UK’s Challenger tanks – while modern by comparison – were last updated in the 1990s and are themselves in the process of being upgraded again. Ukrainian soldiers would need to be trained up on how to operate and maintain them.

Russia said on Monday that new deliveries of Western weapons to Kyiv would “deepen the suffering of the Ukrainian people” and would not change the course of the conflict.

Continue Reading

World

‘Where are they?’: Flood-hit Spanish towns desperate for leadership

Published

on

By

'Where are they?': Flood-hit Spanish towns desperate for leadership

For days, the people of Paiporta have been dealing with the devastation of their town. But what hurts them now is the sense that they have been forgotten by their country.

As we walk through this town, what we see is relentless hard work – clearing mud, pumping out water, recovering cars.

But none of it is being done by people in uniform. Paiporta is being saved by its own residents, by friends, and by volunteers.

“The town feels like chaos,” says Cristina Hernandez, who moved here a year ago from Madrid

“Nobody has organised anything so we are doing our best. We feel we are abandoned by the government and there are also a lot of thieves in the night, so we are scared.

“It is a nightmare not only because of the floods but also because of the anarchy that we are living through now. After the catastrophe, the worst thing is that we are still scared.

Spain floods latest: King Charles ‘utterly heartbroken’

“We don’t have food or clothes. Some of our friends are still missing and some have lost their houses with all their things in them.

“So it is pretty sad that we see trucks going past but nobody is helping with the mud and clearing the houses, so we are alone.”

As if on cue, we can see a helicopter flying above us, but it passes by. She shakes her head.

Volunteers and residents cleanup the mud four days after flash floods swept away everything in their path in Paiporta, outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Angel Garcia)
Image:
Volunteers and residents clean up the mud four days after flash floods swept away everything in their path in Paiporta. Pic: AP/Angel Garcia

“We see them, but we don’t know what they are doing,” she says. It is, at the moment, a cruel sight – a tantalising vision of help that comes and goes.

Around us is a tapestry of devastation – dozens and dozens of wrecked cars, many of them lying in a lake of stagnant water. Cloying mud covers piles of debris. On the road, there is a child’s booster seat, a shoe and a small purse. Tangled wires lie like a web.

Mud covers the area in the aftermath of last Tuesday and early Wednesday storm that left hundreds dead or missing in the region, in Paiporta, outskirts of Valencia, Spain, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.(AP Photo/Angel Garcia)
Image:
AP/Angel Garcia

Along the road, every house is affected, splattered with mud. You can see the dark waterline where the water reached its highest point.

Ruth is sweeping water along the street, time after time, pushing it towards an open manhole cover. She rests for a second, then starts again.

She takes a break and tells me that she has not seen a policeman, a soldier, a doctor or any other official. “It’s only us who clean up,” she says. “Where are they?”

Read more:
Spain reels from deadly flash floods
The ‘utterly random damage’ in town where 40 died
Floods hit ‘like a tsunami’ – eyewitness

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Aerial footage captures aftermath of floods

I start to ask her if she is angry with the government, and she interrupts. Her fury is palpable. “Angry? I am so, so angry with the government.

“I don’t care which political party you support, because my flag is Spain. And this is so bad.”

She wanders off, then returns and gently grabs my arm. “Come this way,” she says. “The world should see this.”

We round a corner and come to a street that is entirely packed with a wall of cars, mixed with huge piles of debris.

A fridge freezer, a microwave. Ruth clambers on top of a shattered bonnet and pulls me alongside her. “Nobody can reach these houses; nobody has looked in these cars,” she says. “They have forgotten.”

A man talks to a Guardia Civil officer on November 1, 2024, in Paiporta, Valencia, Valencia (Spain). The sixth death toll from the passage of the DANA through the province of Valencia leaves 202 fatalities. Since late on Tuesday, the Multiple Victims Procedure has been activated, which is carrying out the balances provided through the information received from the different security and emergency bodies and forces. In addition, the material damage is uncountable, with roads cut off and areas isolated by water, mud and landslides. Approximately 23,000 people are still without electricity supply in the province of Valencia because of the storm of the DANA, after having recovered more than 132,000 affected since Wednesday, 85 percent of those initially damaged. This DANA is the most tragic atmospheric catastrophe that has been registered in Spain in more than half a century. 01 NOVEMBER 2024 Rober Solsona / Europa Press 11/01/2024 (Europa Press via AP)
Image:
A man talks to a Guardia Civil officer in Paiporta. Pic: AP/Angel Garcia

It’s not true to say that no officials have come to Paiporta. We see local police, civil guard, ambulances and firefighters. As we’re leaving, we even see a military truck pull up.

But nobody seems to be coordinating any of this. At one point, I saw a policeman try to take control of a vehicle recovery, but nobody listened to him. He had a short row with his colleague, and then they both drove off.

As for the military, I had a chat with one of the officers as they stood by the road, waiting for a lorry to move so they could drive in.

The soldier was evidently frustrated. “We want to help, we know we can help, but so far we don’t have the orders about what we have to do,” he said.

“So you need a chief – someone to take control?” I asked. A question answered with a deep, long nod.

Paiporta has suffered grievously in these floods. At least 60 people are dead, a figure that shocked Cristina when I told her. They have no access to the internet, of course, and cannot leave their town. “There will be more,” was her response.

But what makes that pain so much worse is the time it is taking to be helped. Last year, I went with my colleagues to an appalling earthquake in Morocco, and within two days there were well-equipped Spanish response teams helping out, saving lives and leading the response.

And yet now, in their own country, the response is sluggish and indecisive.

A French offer to send in help was turned down. We are told that huge numbers of troops are being mobilised but we have seen hardly any and the ones we’ve met don’t know what they’re supposed to do.

These towns are desperate for leadership, reassurance, help and certainty. Instead, right now, they are fending for themselves.

Continue Reading

World

Dmitry Medvedev warns US it should take Russia nuclear warnings seriously to avoid World War Three

Published

on

By

Dmitry Medvedev warns US it should take Russia nuclear warnings seriously to avoid World War Three

Moscow has warned the US it should take Russia’s nuclear warnings seriously to avoid World War Three.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s security council and who served as the country’s president from 2008 to 2012, warned the US on Saturday it was “wrong” to believe “that the Russians will never cross a certain line”.

He told Russian-state broadcaster RT that Moscow believed the current US and European political establishments lacked the “foresight and subtlety of mind” displayed by the late Henry Kissinger.

“If we are talking about the existence of our state, as the president of our country has repeatedly said, your humble
servant has said, others have said, of course, we simply will not have any choice,” Mr Medvedev said.

Russia has been signalling for weeks to the West that Moscow will respond if the US and its allies help Ukraine fire longer-range missiles deep into Russia.

US diplomats have previously said Washington is not seeking to escalate the war in Ukraine.

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

It’s not the first time Mr Medvedev has warned of a serious escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

Back in September, he threatened that Ukraine’s incursion into the Russian territory of Kursk had given Russia formal grounds to use nuclear weapons.

👉Listen to The World With Richard Engel And Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈

It comes as Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv became the subject of an overnight aerial attack which lasted until midday today and saw one person injured, city officials said. All drones had been shot down.

Read more from Sky News:
Queen Elizabeth II will appear in Paddington 3

Combative past of new Tory leader

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has recently seen North Korean troops join the fight alongside Russia’s army, said strikes were also reported in the central Poltava and northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

“This year, we have faced the threat of ‘Shahed’ drones almost every night – sometimes in the morning, and even during
the day,” he wrote on social media, referring to the Iranian-made attack drones used by Russia.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

North Korean troops are near the Ukrainian border

Kyiv’s military said on Friday that Moscow’s forces had launched more than 2,000 drones at civilian and military targets
across Ukraine in October alone.

Russia has denied aiming at civilians and said power facilities are legitimate targets when they are part of Ukrainian military infrastructure.

Continue Reading

World

Children among 25 people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza – as 41 killed in attack on northern Lebanon

Published

on

By

Children among 25 people killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza - as 41 killed in attack on northern Lebanon

An 18-month-old boy and his 10-year-old sister are among 25 people who were killed in a series of Israeli strikes on central parts of Gaza, hospital officials have said.

Sixteen people were initially reported to have been killed in two strikes on the central Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday, but officials from the Al Aqsa hospital said bodies continued to be brought in.

The hospital said they had received 21 bodies from the strikes, including some transferred from the Awda hospital, where they had been taken the day before.

Strikes on a motorcycle in Zuwaida and on a house in Deir al Balah on Friday killed four more, hospital officials said, bringing the overall toll to 25.

Five children and seven women are among those who have been confirmed dead.

The mother of the 18-month-old boy is missing and his father was killed in an Israeli strike four months ago, the family has said.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA earlier reported that 57 people had died in the Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military did not comment on the specific strikes but said its troops had identified and eliminated “several armed terrorists” in central Gaza.

Palestinians watch as smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Palestinians watch as smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. Pic: Reuters

It also said its forces had eliminated “dozens of terrorists” in raids in northern Gaza’s Jabalia area – home to one of the territory’s refugee camps.

It comes as the Israeli military said on Friday it killed senior Hamas official Izz al Din Kassab, describing him as one of the last high-ranking members, in an airstrike in Khan Younis.

A displaced Palestinian boy in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
Image:
A displaced Palestinian boy in Gaza City on 28 October. Pic: Reuters


The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have over the past few weeks resumed intense operations in the north of Gaza, claiming they are seeking to stop Hamas, the militant group ruling Gaza, from regrouping.

Meanwhile, top UN officials said in a statement on Friday that the situation in northern Gaza is “apocalyptic” and the entire Palestinian population in the area is at “imminent risk of dying from disease, famine and violence”.

The overall number of people killed in Gaza in the 13-month war is more than 43,000, officials from the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, reported this week.

Read more:
‘This is our land, we deserve it’

Charity demands UK evacuate critically ill children from Gaza

Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

Tap here

Civil defence members work at a site damaged in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, Lebanon, November 1, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Yassin
Image:
Civil defence members work at a site damaged in the aftermath of Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs. Pic: Reuters

It comes as at least 41 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s Baalbek region on Friday, the regional governor said.

The deaths were confirmed hours after Lebanon’s health ministry said 30 people had been killed in Israeli strikes on the country in the past 24 hours.

It is not clear if any of those killed in the Baalbek region were included in that figure.

In recent days, Israel has intensified its airstrikes on the northeast city of Baalbek and nearby villages, as well as different parts of southern Lebanon, prompting roughly 60,000 people to flee their homes, according to Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese official representing the region.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Israel has issued evacuation orders for people living in parts of Lebanon

Israel’s military said in a statement that attacks “in the area of Beirut” had targeted Hezbollah weapons manufacturing sites, command centres and other infrastructure.

Israeli planes also pounded Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight, destroying dozens of buildings in several neighbourhoods, according to the Lebanese state news agency.

More than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated after Hamas’s 7 October attack last year, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, in northern Israel, seven people, including three Israelis and four Thai nationals, were killed by projectiles fired from Lebanon on Thursday, Israeli medics said.

Continue Reading

Trending