Ukraine has launched a video paying tribute to the assist it has acquired from the UK in its defence towards Vladimir Putin‘s invasion, full with a soundtrack by The Conflict and photographs of Russian tanks being destroyed by British-built NLAWs.
The UK has been one in all Ukraine’s most stalwart allies within the face of Russian aggression – together with Poland, Estonia and Latvia and others – committing practically £3billion in humanitarian help and grants.
That features 120 armoured autos, air defence techniques and greater than 6,500 of the now-famous NLAW anti-tank missiles, based on a authorities web site.
The weapons techniques have been put to good use by Ukraine’s NATO-trained military as they’ve laid waste to an estimated 1,000 Russian tanks – even bringing the very way forward for the tank into query.
Beforehand, the under-equipped Ukrainian army had been relying totally on ageing legacy gear from the Soviet Union.
The tribute video opens in cinéma vérité type, with sweeping photographs of London and the English countryside and captions that reference William Blake’s well-known line, ‘that inexperienced and nice land of…’
Some well-known figures of British tradition and historical past flash previous the display screen, together with William Shakespeare, David Bowie, the Queen in the course of the Second World Warfare, and sports activities stars Steven Gerrard and Lewis Hamilton.
David Bowie is without doubt one of the well-known figures of British tradition and historical past that flash up on the display screen in the course of the intro to Ukraine’s tribute video to the UK
The phrase ‘that inexperienced and nice land’ references the well-known William Blake poem Milton: A Poem in Two Books from 1808
A Ukrainian serviceman wields one of many 6,500 Swedish-British NLAW anti-tank missiles donated by the UK on his shoulder
The burning husk of a Russian tank destroyed by an NLAW exterior a suburban home, one in all an estimated 1,000 Russian tanks taken out by the Ukrainian military
An NLAW missile is launched (proper of shot) from the constructing window at a passing Russian tank, destined to hit its high rear, one of the crucial susceptible components of a tank
The video rounds out with the enduring James Bond gun barrel sequence the place 007 shoots straight on the display screen in direction of an implied murderer and blood runs down the display screen, with the phrases: ‘Thanks, UK!’
Then there is a step change as Joe Strummer’s guitar riffs and vocals kick in. The well-known lyrics ‘I fought the legislation and the legislation gained’ are intercut with battlefield video of NLAW missiles strike and destroy Russian tanks.
‘Simply keep in mind that each Russian villain an NLAW takes out in Ukraine… is one much less Russian villain he’ll need to take care of,’ flashes on the display screen.
The video rounds out with the enduring James Bond gun barrel sequence the place 007 shoots straight on the display screen in direction of an implied murderer and blood runs down the display screen, with the phrases: ‘Thanks, UK!’
The NLAW, or Subsequent era Gentle Anti-tank Weapon, is a Swedish-designed, British-built weapons system that has change into a preferred meme. Its catchy affiliation with The Conflict music has impressed the punk insurgent affiliation between the NLAW and Ukraine standing as much as Russia.
Of all of the nations supporting Ukraine, by far the biggest amount of army techniques and different help has come from the USA, which has introduced it’s sending one other $450 million in recent armaments, together with Himars rocket techniques.
A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon throughout an train within the Joint Forces Operation, within the Donetsk area, japanese Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, a bit of over per week earlier than Russia invaded
The well-known meme that got here out of the early days of the battle and impressed the punk insurgent affiliation between the NLAW and Ukraine standing as much as Russia
The techniques can concurrently launch a number of precision missiles at an prolonged vary, and supply a functionality that Ukraine is sorely missing within the raging battlefields round Luhansk and the Donetsk within the east.
The Ukranian army is being pressured to retreat from Severodonetsk, based on a senior Ukrainian official, because of a brutal Russian offensive that’s lowering the battleground metropolis to rubble with massed heavy artillery shelling that the Ukrainians can not match.
‘Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to fifteen Russian artillery items,’ Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s army intelligence stated two weeks in the past, ‘and we’re shedding by way of artillery’.
‘All the pieces now is determined by what [the west] offers us,’ stated Skibitsky. ‘Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to fifteen Russian artillery items. Our western companions have given us about 10% of what they’ve.’
Capturing Severodonetsk, within the Donbas area, has change into a key objective of the Russians as they focus their offensive on japanese Ukraine after being repelled from Kyiv following their February invasion.
The strategically vital industrial hub has been the scene of weeks of avenue battles because the outgunned Ukrainians put up a fierce defence.
However Sergiy Gaiday – governor of Lugansk, which incorporates the town – stated the Ukrainian army must retreat.
‘They’ve acquired an order to take action,’ he stated on Telegram.
‘Remaining in positions which have been relentlessly shelled for months simply would not make sense.’
US army personnel stand by a M142 Excessive Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) in Saudi Arabia
The US is cooperating with Ukrainian calls for to supply correct, long-range weapons techniques such because the HIMAR to match and exceed Russia on the battlefield
The Himars use precision-guided munitions with a spread is about 50 miles (80 kilometres)
The town has been ‘practically turned to rubble’ by continuous bombardment, he added.
‘All important infrastructure has been destroyed. Ninety p.c of the town is broken, 80 p.c (of) homes must be demolished,’ he stated.
The Ukrainians had already been pushed again from a lot of the town, leaving them accountable for solely industrial areas.
Capturing Severodonetsk and its twin metropolis of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk’s sister metropolis throughout the Donets river, would give the Russians management of Lugansk, and permit them to push additional into the broader Donbas.
Gaiday stated the Russians had been now advancing on Lysychansk, which has been going through more and more heavy Russian bombardment.
The state of affairs for people who stay within the metropolis was more and more bleak.
Liliya Nesterenko stated her home had no gasoline, water or electrical energy and she or he and her mom had been cooking on a campfire. She was biking alongside the road, and had come out to feed a pal’s pets.
However the 39-year-old was upbeat in regards to the metropolis’s defences: ‘I imagine in our Ukrainian military, they need to (have the ability to) cope.
‘They’ve ready already.’
A consultant of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine earlier informed AFP the resistance of Ukrainian forces attempting to defend Lysychansk and Severodonetsk was ‘pointless and futile’.
Smoke billows over the oil refinery exterior the city of Lysychansk. The neighbouring metropolis of Severodonetsk has been ‘practically turned to rubble’ by continuous bombardment
A Ukrainian serviceman on a place within the metropolis of Severodonetsk of Luhansk space. Ukrainian forces have been given the order to retreat, in accordance the the mayor of Luhansk
Ukrainian troop trip a tank on a street of the japanese Ukrainian area of Donbas on June 21, 2022, as Ukraine says Russian shelling has prompted “catastrophic destruction” within the japanese industrial metropolis of Lysychansk, which lies simply throughout a river from Severodonetsk the place Russian and Ukrainian troops have been locked in battle for weeks
Locals take a look at destroyed buildings in Lysychansk after heavy preventing within the Luhansk space. Capturing Severodonetsk and its twin metropolis of Lysychansk, Severodonetsk’s sister metropolis throughout the Donets river, would give the Russians management of Lugansk, and permit them to push additional into the broader Donbas
‘On the charge our troopers are going, very quickly the entire territory of the Lugansk Individuals’s Republic will probably be liberated,’ stated Andrei Marochko, a spokesman for the Moscow-backed military of Lugansk.
Off the battlefield, Ukraine made promising progress in its bid for European Union membership, with EU leaders granting it and neighbouring Moldova candidate standing at a Brussels summit on Thursday.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the information as ‘a novel and historic second’, including: ‘Ukraine’s future is inside the EU.’
French President Emmanuel Macron stated the choice by EU leaders despatched a ‘very sturdy sign’ to Russia that Europeans assist the pro-Western aspirations of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin had declared Ukraine to be a part of Moscow’s sphere and insisted he was performing because of makes an attempt to carry the nation into NATO, the Western alliance that comes with safety ensures.
President of the European Fee Ursula von der Leyen (L), President of the European Council Charles Michel (C) and France’s President Emmanuel Macron (R)
Ukraine and neighbouring Moldova had been granted candidate standing by the EU at a Brussels summit on Thursday
European powers earlier than the invasion had distanced themselves from US assist for Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, and EU membership is no less than years away.
Ukraine and Moldova must undergo protracted negotiations and the European Union has laid out steps that Kyiv should take even earlier than that, together with bolstering the rule of legislation and preventing corruption.
Putin reacted to the information of Ukraine’s potential accession to the EU with surprising equanimity, saying final week that he had ‘nothing towards’ it.
‘We now have nothing towards it. It’s not a army bloc. It is the fitting of any nation to hitch financial unions,’ Putin stated on Friday when requested in regards to the prospects of Ukraine becoming a member of the EU.
Western officers have additionally accused Russia of weaponising its key exports of gasoline in addition to grain from Ukraine, contributing to international inflation and rising starvation on the planet.
A US official warned of latest retaliatory measures towards Russia on the Group of Seven summit being attended by President Joe Biden in Germany beginning Sunday.
Germany ratcheted up an emergency gasoline plan to its second alert stage, only one wanting the utmost that would require rationing in Europe’s largest economic system, after Russia slashed provides.
‘Gasoline is now a scarce commodity,’ German Economic system Minister Robert Habeck informed reporters, urging households to chop again on use.
Demand for gasoline is decrease in the summertime however shortages might trigger issues with heating within the winter.
A Kremlin spokesman reiterated its declare that the provision cuts had been because of upkeep and that essential gear from overseas had not arrived.
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