Russia Selenskyj: Need timely weapons support for defensive combat

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns against delays in the delivery of promised weapons or ammunition from the West for the defense of his country.

"It is important for us that a minimum of time elapses between the announcement of the packages and their deployment on the front", he said in his evening video contribution. He said he was grateful to all partners who kept their promises on time. In addition, his government is already working on new packages that could strengthen Ukraine's position in the fall. Selensky did not provide any further details.

Experts are considering additional fighter jets

Following the arrival of the first American-made F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine, experts are already speculating about other types of aircraft. "If we are already talking about needing 128 fighter jets, it doesn't just have to be F-16s," said Valery Ryabych, head of the Kiev-based consulting firm Defense Express, which specializes in military issues. "It could also be the (French) Mirage 2000/5 or the (Swedish) Saab Gripen." Nothing should be definitively ruled out.

Ukraine will definitely continue to be armed with Western-made combat aircraft. Over time, Ukraine's air force could also be equipped with so-called fifth-generation fighter jets such as the F-35. "Because aircraft are not about tactics - they are about strategy," Ryabych said on television. "So if we have already received F-16s, our pilots will also master other Western aircraft."

President Zelensky presented the first F-16s in service with the Ukrainian air force on Sunday. According to various media reports, Kiev initially received between six and ten of the fighter jets. The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Belgium have promised Ukraine a total of more than 60 of these fighter jets. The aircraft are to be armed and equipped by the USA. Pilots and ground personnel have been trained in the West in recent months.

Ukrainian secret service exposes Russian agents

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian secret service SBU has reportedly unmasked a Russian agent network and taken it out of circulation. The SBU announced in Kiev that the Russian secret service had recruited potential employees in six regions of Ukraine via a chat page on the Telegram platform. They were supposed to pass on information about critical infrastructure and military targets. The SBU had been observing the spies for some time and had now struck.

A total of nine men have been arrested - including two municipal administrators from Dnipro and Yuzhne in the Odessa region. They had been recruited because they were active as "commentators" in pro-Kremlin chats. Their senior officer in the Russian secret service FSB had also been exposed, it added. The information could not be independently verified.

Heavy fighting continues in eastern Ukraine

Russian and Ukrainian troops continue to engage in heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine. The focal point of the fighting was once again the city of Pokrovsk, where Russian troops have been trying to break through Ukrainian positions for days, suffering heavy losses. The regional crisis management team ordered the evacuation of children and their families from over a dozen threatened villages due to the heightened danger level.

According to the General Staff in Kiev, repeated Russian attacks were also reported from Torezk. These were supported by fighter jets, which dropped ten glide bombs on the city.

In the late evening, air and missile alerts were triggered in several regions of Ukraine. Residents of the capital Kiev reported several explosions, which were possibly the result of an air defense operation.

SDA