Ukraine war – voices and developments: “The Ukrainians shoot up to 20,000 rounds – actually impossible”

Despite the blowing up of the Kakhovka dam, the major Ukrainian offensive continues. For the first time, German-made Leopard 2 tanks are rolling towards the front. Now Putin has also confirmed the start of the offensive. All the latest news about the war against Ukraine in the ticker.

Rheinmetall boss: armaments manufacturers themselves were surprised by the stability of the weapons

07:26: The head of Germany’s largest armaments group, Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, has admitted losses in Ukraine from weapon systems supplied by Germany, but at the same time praised their basic quality. “There are always losses in life,” said Papperger in an interview with the editorial network Germany (RND), but one does not talk about it.

In principle, the weapons systems developed and produced in Germany have proven themselves in the Ukraine, emphasized the armaments manager. “The feedback from Ukrainians on the German weapons is very positive,” he said. Some of the manufacturers themselves were surprised by their stability. “Take the PzH2000 self-propelled howitzer, whose chassis and weapon systems were supplied by Rheinmetall. We actually say that the barrel needs to be changed after about 4500 shots. But the Ukrainians shoot up to 20,000 shots – actually impossible, “says Papperger. “Other pipes would have buckled long ago.”

The EU’s promise to supply Ukraine with one million rounds of artillery ammunition for its defense against Russia within a year can only be fulfilled if governments fall back on their arsenals, said the Rheinmetall boss: “In the short term, Ukraine will have one million rounds of artillery ammunition only get if European armies make stocks available.”

The industry is working flat out to increase production capacities, but Rheinmetall itself wants to increase its artillery ammunition capacity from the current 450,000 rounds to 600,000 rounds per year in the next few months, Papperger explained. “However, it will take six to ten years before all European ammunition depots are filled.”

Putin: Nuclear weapons to be stationed in Belarus in July

4:10 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that tactical nuclear weapons will be stationed in Belarus from July. Preparations in the relevant facilities would be completed on July 7 and 8, Putin said on Friday after a meeting with Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, according to the state news agency TASS. Then the transfer will begin. Everything is on schedule. This would start the deployment just before the NATO summit in Lithuania, a neighboring country of Belarus. The summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius will take place on July 11-12.

Putin had already announced on March 25 that he would transfer Russian nuclear weapons to the former Soviet republic of Belarus. He also justified the announced stationing of the weapons with the fact that the USA had nuclear weapons in Europe, including Germany, for years. The West had heavily criticized the plans. At the end of May, Lukashenko had already said that the announced transfer of arms to his country had already begun.

After the voluntary surrender of its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus has received nuclear missiles for the first time since the 1990s. Iskander missiles, which can be equipped with nuclear warheads, are to be stationed. Several Belarusian fighter planes were also converted to the new weapons.

Water level in flooded parts of Ukraine is gradually falling

Saturday, June 10, 2:14 a.m.: After the partial destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, the water level in parts of the affected areas is beginning to fall, according to Ukrainian authorities. 35 settlements on the right bank of the Dnipro River are still flooded, more than 3,700 houses are under water, “but the water is gradually receding,” said Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the Ukrainian military administration in the Kherson region, on Friday.

The water level in the region dropped from an average of around 5.4 meters to almost five meters over the course of Friday, Prokudin continued. His colleague in the Mykolayiv region, Vitali Kim, also stated that the level there is falling.

Putin: Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun

5:17 p.m.: According to Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, a long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive is underway more than 15 months after the start of the war of aggression he ordered. “We can say with certainty that this offensive has begun,” Putin told journalists on Friday, according to the Interfax agency. Previously, some international media, citing Ukrainian military representatives, had suspected that the operation to liberate areas occupied by Russia had been going on for a few days. Kiev itself is keeping a low profile, but has always emphasized that it will not comment on the start of its own offensive.

Putin said there had been “intense fighting” for the past five days. He also claimed that the Ukrainians had not achieved their objectives on any sector of the front. However, this could not be verified independently. Since the beginning of the war, the Russian side in particular has repeatedly made false military statements.

Ministry denies reports of destruction of German miracle weapon

11.10 a.m.: According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ), reports that the Russian army destroyed an Iris-T-SLM air defense system supplied by Germany are not correct. The SZ learned this from security circles. A so-called kamikaze drone fired by Russia is said to have hit and destroyed the radar system for air surveillance. According to SZ information, the system works perfectly, at least that’s what Ukraine reported. There was talk of Russian “fake news”.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense emphasized on request: “We have no knowledge that a radar from the Iris-T-SLM system was destroyed.” The system was developed by the company Diehl from Baden-Württemberg, the high-performance radar that one The Hensoldt company is able to monitor an area covering an area of ​​40 kilometers.

So far, Germany has delivered two systems, each costing around 200 million euros as a whole; Targeted enemy attacks can be intercepted with guided missiles via launch pads. Kiev’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko emphasizes that it has a hit rate of 100 percent and has helped a lot to better protect the capital against Russian attacks. The Bundeswehr also wants to purchase up to six Iris-T SLM systems for Germany.

Russia: Ukrainian elite unit involved in offensive

Friday, June 9, 7:05 a.m.: According to a Russian commander, an elite Ukrainian unit is involved in the ongoing counter-offensive. According to the commander of the Russian 58th unit, the 47th brigade of Ukraine entered the fighting. According to Oliver Carroll, a journalist with The Economist, the 47th brigade is one of the best equipped with western materiel brigades at Ukraine’s disposal.

Dam burst: Selenskyj chairs crisis meeting on drinking water supply

11:55 p.m.: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held an emergency meeting on drinking water supply in the Dnipropetrovsk region after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. There are problems with the water supply in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Marganets, Pokrov and Nikopol, reported the military governor of the region, Serhiy Lysak, according to a statement from the presidential office. The Minister of Development and Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov presented a project for the construction of a new reservoir, which should be at least partially on the territory of the existing one.

The Kachowka Dam was destroyed on Tuesday night. As a result, huge amounts of water flowed into the lower reaches of the Dnipro, which burst its banks and flooded large areas of southern Ukraine. At the same time, the level in the actual reservoir dropped dramatically. According to the authorities, the drinking water supply in the adjacent regions is at risk.

According to the Office of the President, the meeting also dealt with the construction of new water pipes in the Dnepropetrovsk region, which are to replace the old ones from the Kakhovka reservoir. At a previous meeting with environmental activists, Zelenskyy put the number of people potentially affected by drinking water shortages in Ukraine at “hundreds of thousands”.

Water level in Kachowka reservoir falls below critical mark

9:12 p.m.: “The level is already 12.50 meters, which is below the dead point of 12.70 meters,” said the head of the hydroelectric power plant operator Ukrhidroenergo, Ihor Syrota, on Ukrainian television on Thursday. This means that no more water can be taken to supply drinking water to the surrounding villages and to cool the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant on the south bank of the Kakhovka reservoir.

According to Syrota, the water level in the reservoir falls by about a meter every day. He estimates that this trend will continue for another week. If the dam is destroyed to the core, the level could drop to up to 3 meters. This means that the Dnipro will return to its original riverbed before it was dammed.

The Kachowka Dam was built in the 1950s. The building was destroyed on Tuesday night, and Ukraine and the West blame Russia for it. Moscow denies this and blames Kiev. The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located on the south bank of the reservoir, but is not affected by the floods. The lowering of the water level there will of course make the cooling of the decommissioned reactors more complicated in the future. There is no acute danger yet, because the nuclear plant has artificially created cooling ponds.

Recordings show German Leopard 2 tanks in the Ukrainian offensive for the first time

3:22 p.m.: The supplied Leopard 2 tanks are intended to provide important support for the major Ukrainian offensive. Now pictures show for the first time that the German battle tanks are in action. As the “Bild” newspaper reported, Russian drone footage was published in the Messenger service Telegram, which shows exactly this.

Ukrainian units are to return to the front south of the city of Orikhiv (between Zaporizhia and Mariupol in the south-east of the country). The formation is led by two Leopard 2A4 tanks. According to “Bild”, there are also British and US combat vehicles in the column.

There is no confirmation of the information from the “Bild” newspaper from the Ukrainian side. The course of the major offensive is top secret. There is an information blackout. However, there were reports from Russian sources that Ukraine had massively shelled nearby sectors of the front in the Zaporizhia region.