BERLIN — German lawmakers have voted to send heavy weapons to Ukraine, a symbolic decision that reflects the government’s change of course on the issue.
Germany had initially refused to send offensive weapons to Ukraine and later refused to send heavy equipment such as armored vehicles.
Under domestic and allied pressure, Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz’s government recently agreed to allow Ukraine to buy German weapons and support arms swaps with allies who, in turn, ship heavy equipment to Ukraine.
Germany has already sent some 2,500 anti-aircraft missiles, 900 bazookas and millions of ammunition, hand grenades and mines to Ukraine, the dpa news agency reported. It now plans to give Slovenia armored vehicles to replace the Soviet-era tanks the country is sending to Ukraine, send mortars directly to Ukraine, and allow kyiv to buy idle armored self-propelled anti-aircraft guns from Germany.
German companies have also applied to send 88 Leopard tanks, 100 Marder armored vehicles and 100 howitzers to Ukraine, permission for which has yet to be granted.
Thursday’s non-binding motion, with 586 lawmakers in favour, 100 against and seven abstentions, received support from the ruling parties and the main opposition bloc in former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Union.
___
KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:
— European leaders criticize Russian gas cutoff as ‘blackmail’
— Key actors urge accountability for the atrocities in Ukraine
— A chilling Russian cyber target in Ukraine: digital files
— Russia frees US Navy veteran in surprise prisoner swap
Follow all AP stories on Russia’s war against Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
___
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
LVIV, Ukraine — Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show Russian fire is intensifying at a steel mill that is the last Ukrainian-controlled area in the city of Mariupol.
Planet Labs PBC images taken on Wednesday show that concentrated attacks have heavily damaged a core facility at the Azovstal steelworks.
An estimated 1,000 civilians are sheltering along with some 2,000 Ukrainian fighters in the steelworks, a massive Soviet-era complex with a maze of underground facilities built to withstand air raids.
Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Sea of Azov, is seen as crucial to the Russians in the war.
The new footage comes as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visits Ukraine and plans to speak with Ukraine’s president about his efforts to negotiate with Moscow a corridor for people to leave the besieged area.
___
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says Finland and Sweden would be welcomed with open arms if they decided to join the 30-nation military organization and could join fairly quickly.
Stoltenberg’s comments on Thursday come as public support in Finland and Sweden for NATO membership grows in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine. Media speculation in the two countries suggests the two could run in mid-May.
Stoltenberg says that “it’s your decision. But if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be very welcome, and I hope that the process will be quick.”
He did not give a precise time frame, but said the two could expect some protection if Russia tries to intimidate them from the time they apply until they formally join.
Stoltenberg says he is “sure there are ways to get through that interim period in a way that is good enough and works for both Finland and Sweden.”
NATO’s collective security guarantee ensures that all member states must come to the aid of any ally under attack. Stoltenberg added that many NATO allies have now pledged or provided a total of at least $8 billion in military support to Ukraine.
— This article has been corrected to say that NATO allies pledged or provided at least $8 billion.
___
LONDON — Britain’s Defense Ministry says the Russian navy still has the ability to hit coastal targets in Ukraine, even after the loss of two warships.
In an intelligence report released Thursday morning, the ministry says that around 20 Russian warships, including submarines, are currently operating in the Black Sea operational zone.
But the ministry says Russia cannot replace the Moskva cruise ship, which sank earlier this month in the Black Sea, because the Bosporus remains closed to all non-Turkish warships.
Russia also lost the landing ship Saratov, which was destroyed by explosion and fire on March 24.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s General Staff says Russia is stepping up the pace of its offensive in the country’s east, aimed at taking full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and establishing a land corridor to Crimea.
Russian forces “are applying heavy fire” in almost all directions, the General Staff said in its Thursday morning update, with the “increased activity observed in the Slobozhanske and Donetsk directions.”
Attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, are continuing, according to the update, with more forces being moved into the city of Izyum. In the direction of Donetsk, the Russian troops concentrate on encircling the Ukrainian forces.
Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have repelled six attacks in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, the General Staff said.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said Thursday that four civilians had been killed in the region in the past 24 hours and four more had been wounded.
The Russian shelling also destroyed 10 houses in the city of Popasna, Haidai said on the Telegram messaging app.
“The Russian military shelled the residential area in the Luhansk region 29 times with planes, multiple rocket fire, tube artillery and mortars,” Haidai wrote. “The enemy bombarded Popasna and Lysychansk ten times, and Hirske four very long times.”
___
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. — The war in Ukraine has National Guard troops in the US state of Indiana preparing equipment for transport to help kyiv fight Russia.
Images released by the Indiana National Guard on Wednesday show them preparing M113 armored vehicles.
The M113 is an older armored vehicle dating back to the 1960s and the height of the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.
But these armored personnel carriers are still functional and appear battle-ready. At Camp Atterbury, just south of Indianapolis, guards checked their treads, engines and other equipment before loading them onto trucks to be shipped to the battlefield.
It is part of a massive effort by the United States and other Western allies to arm Ukraine.
___
KYIV, Ukraine — In the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, a series of explosions rang out near the television tower on Wednesday night and at least temporarily took Russian channels off the air, news organizations reported. Ukrainian and Russian.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said missiles and rockets were fired at the city from the direction of Ukrainian forces to the northwest.
Kherson has been occupied by Russian forces since the beginning of the war.
Ukrayinska Pravda, an online newspaper, said the attacks started a fire and took Russian TV channels off the air.
RIA Novosti said the broadcast was later resumed. He said Russian channels started broadcasting from Kherson last week.
Russia has been determined to strengthen its control over the city, but residents have continued to take to the streets to protest the occupation.
___
BERLIN — An independent research group says Germany was the biggest buyer of Russian energy for the first two months since the start of the war in Ukraine.
A study published by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air estimates that Russia has earned $66.5 billion from fossil fuel exports since Russian troops attacked Ukraine on February 24.
Using data on ship movements, real-time tracking of gas flows through pipelines and estimates based on historical monthly trade, the researchers calculate that Germany paid Russia around 9.1 billion euros ($9.5 billion) for deliveries. of fossil fuels in the first two months of the war.
The German government says it cannot comment on the estimates and refuses to provide any figures of its own.
Reference-apnews.com