The first American Abrams tanks arrived in UkrainePresident Volodymyr Zelensky announced this on Monday, happy with the “good news” at a time when his army is trying to take advantage of the last weeks of good weather before the cold.

“Good news from Minister (of Defense Rustem) Umerov: ‘The Abrams are already in Ukraine and are preparing to reinforce our brigades,’” Zelensky said in a statement on social networks, without specifying how many armored vehicles arrived. He said he was “grateful to the Allies for the promises they kept.”

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The delivery of these tanks was announced last week by US President Joe Biden during a visit to the White House. The delivery of these tanks was announced last week by US President Joe Biden during a visit to the White House. Zelensky’s White House is seeking additional support amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive to liberate Russian-occupied territories.

“The first American Abrams tanks will be delivered to Ukraine next week,” Biden said at the time. The United States had promised Ukraine a total of 31 Abrams tanks equipped with 120mm depleted uranium ammunition.

This ammunition can penetrate armor, but is also controversial due to its toxic risks to the military and its population.

These first armored vehicles were delivered to Kiev “months ahead of schedule,” the American newspaper The New York Times reported on Monday.

Two dead in Odessa

By taking advantage of the arrival of Western weapons, Ukraine launched a major counter-offensive in the south and east in early June to repel Russian forces, who launched their invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The operation is progressing slowly and has only allowed the recovery of a handful of locations, but this appears to have accelerated in recent weeks.

Ukrainian troops say they have managed to reach the first Russian lines on the southern front and regain ground in the east.

This Monday, Ukrainian authorities announced the death of two civilians in a “massive” Russian attack on Odessa, on the shores of the Black Sea, three days after Ukraine bombed the headquarters of the Russian fleet in the same sea, located in Sevastopol . in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow since 2014.

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Two people were found dead in a grain warehouse in Odessa. according to a report announced on Telegram by the regional governor, Oleg Kiper, who had initially reported an injured civilian.

Combat drones and Oryx and Kalibr missiles were used in the attack, Ukraine said, saying most were shot down.

The Russian Defense Ministry, in turn, indicated that massive “bombings” were being carried out on centers housing “foreign mercenaries” and others used to form “sabotage groups.”

Also in the south, two people in their 70s were killed this morning in a Russian airstrike on Beryslav in the Kherson region, Governor Oleksander Prokudin announced.

Ukraine estimates that 420,000 Russian soldiers are deployed in the occupied territories

According to Kiev, the Russian commander is dead

Moreover, the Ukrainian special forces stated this on Monday They killed the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleetor in a bombing carried out this Friday on the headquarters in Sevastopol.

“Thirty-four officers, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, died” as a result of the attack, the special forces said on Telegram.

AFP is not in a position to verify these claims. Russia almost never reports on its victims in Ukraine, even when it concerns high-ranking officials.

Russia said on Friday that only one soldier was missing after the attack that severely damaged the headquarters of its Black Sea Fleet.

This attack demonstrates the difficulties of Russian air defenses in stopping regular bombings on this Ukrainian peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014 and is an important logistics center for Moscow’s forces.

The Russian Defense Ministry also indicated on Telegram on Monday that four Ukrainian drones were destroyed while flying over Crimea and the northwestern Black Sea.

According to the same source, two other drones were also shot down in the Kursk region (southern).

In the neighboring Bryansk region, Governor Alexander Bogomaz reported three downed Ukrainian drones, two of them in the Surazh district (west), without reporting any casualties or damage. (JO)