The very first weeks of January have observed a wave of western arms commitments to Ukraine – unparalleled in scale and firepower, but devoid of essential weapons Kyiv suggests it wants to liberate occupied territory from Russia’s military and stop the war.

Official declarations led by Washington and echoed in capitals throughout Europe pursuing the New Year, and culminating in the run-up to the Jan. 20 Ramstein Conference, have – in just 3 weeks – promised Ukraine near to $3 billion really worth of modern day military package.

The beef-up operates the gamut, starting up with significant ticket merchandise like NATO-normal infantry combating cars, bleeding edge anti-aircraft programs, precision-guided munitions for HIMARS and M270 rocket programs, anti-radar missiles and strike drones. Sweden is sending the world’s ideal howitzer.

The adult males and gals of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are, at the identical time, now on observe to obtain coach-and airplane-masses of a lot more further package required for fighting a traditional war in opposition to Russia, like smaller arms and ammunition, armored troop carriers, jeeps and pickup vans, access to tactical education locations and instructors, tactical cargo vehicles and (even extra hundreds of) anti-tank rockets.

Poland, 1 of Ukraine’s most outspoken supporters, is sending S-60 anti-plane cannon – a typically obsolete Planet War II period weapon – but neatly matching Ukraine’s ongoing search for inexpensive, helpful usually means to shoot down Iranian kamikaze drones sent by Russia to attack Ukrainian cities.

Elusive must-haves

In spite of the stream of weaponry into Ukraine, two crucial types of arms that have been top precedence asks from the Ukrainian federal government considering the fact that early times of the Russian invasion are even now practically absent: prolonged-range missiles and the NATO-conventional, German created, Leopard 2 primary fight tanks.

With out these weapons, Kyiv officials have stated consistently that Ukraine’s prospects of conducting swift offenses to eject Russian troops from its territory will be slowed down worse, at danger of struggling better casualties.

There are additional than 1,600 Leopard 2 tanks in European army inventories. Some operators, led by Poland and Finland, have been outspoken about their willingness to hand in excess of the diesel-powered tanks to aid Ukraine fight off Russia’s troops from its have soil. The recent impediment is Berlin, which retains an effective veto on transfers of Leopards to 3rd bash nations. Also, Germany’s authorities, led by the left-leaning SPD, has dragged its toes because the war’s outset on sending Ukraine any weapons that may well be construed as usable in an offensive capacity. In brief according to the SPD, sending Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine is “complicated”.

President Volodymyr Zelensky was caustic in responses on the Leopard 2 saga to Germany’s ARD tv broadcaster on Jan. 19. 

“Listen fellas, you [Germany’s political leadership] are older people, of training course you’ve been indicating for the very last fifty percent yr, you’re ‘checking the influence’ [of sending tanks to Ukraine], but each individual day [Ukrainian] people today are dying,” Zelensky explained.

“If the risk exists, nicely, then transfer them. Transfer them. We’re not attacking. If another person is apprehensive, Leopards would not go into the territory of the Russian Federation (RF). We’re defending ourselves.”

Germany’s new Protection Minister Boris Pretorius (an SPD appointee) in afternoon reviews at the Ramstein Convention shipped Berlin’s hottest rejection, saying that members of the Ukraine support coalition conference to discuss armed service assist to Ukraine had been “in disagreement” on irrespective of whether the time is suitable to ship the Munich-created Leopard 2 to Kyiv.

The upshot is that no German tanks will be sent to Ukraine for the time getting. This has left the AFU armed, as it has been in the earlier, with a number of hundred Soviet-period tanks inferior to Russia’s tank fleet which selection in the hundreds. 

France and Britain not long ago promised Ukraine a overall of 20 tanks, the French variations being an outdated kind operating not on tracks but on wheels. In conclusion-of-calendar year opinions, Valery Zaluzhny, commander of the AFU, explained he needed at minimum 500 modern-day tanks to launch a practical offensive towards the Russian army. After the British Challenger 2 tanks arrive, he will have 10. 

The U.S., one particular of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters, in the latest round of arms transfers dedicated to initially-time shipping and delivery of potent Bradley infantry battling autos, battle-examined Stryker armored personnel carriers, and additional medium-vary precision-guided missiles for the hugely thriving M270 and HIMARS artillery method.

The $2.5 billion U.S. dedication, formally promised on Jan. 20, is made up of neither the American version of the Leopard 2 (the M1A3 Abrams) nor extensive-array (150-300 kilometer) missiles Ukraine says it critically requirements to strike Russian ammunition dumps and headquarters. The U.S. helps make various types using reducing-edge systems, between them a ballistic missile termed ATACMS capable of erasing an ammunition dump, air strip or vital bridge in a single strike.

The producer Lockheed-Martin states ATACMS is nearly not possible to intercept. The missiles the People are sending to Ukraine have a assortment of 80 kilometers, leaving strategic Russian targets the Ukrainians terribly want to strike, like Russian military airfields in Crimea, or the Black Sea Fleet warships primarily based in Sevastopol, capable to launch strikes of their own on Ukrainian targets with impunity.

U.S. officers have explained the AFU’s logistics and servicing chains cannot support the Abrams tank, and have expressed problems that very long-selection missiles in Ukraine’s palms could make Russia aggressive. No other member of the Ukraine assistance coalition, moreover the U.S., manufactures the missiles.

VISEGRAD, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Tons of waste dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into the waterways that flow across three countries end up accumulating behind a trash barrier in the Drina River in eastern Bosnia during the wet weather of winter and early spring.

This week, the barrier once again became the outer edge of a massive floating waste dump crammed with plastic bottles, rusty barrels, used tires, household appliances, driftwood and other garbage picked up by the river from its tributaries.

The river fencing installed by a Bosnian hydroelectric plant, a few kilometers upstream from its dam near Visegrad, has turned the city into an unwilling regional waste site, local environmental activists complain.

Heavy rain and unseasonably warm weather over the past week have caused many rivers and streams in Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro to overflow, flooding the surrounding areas and forcing scores of people from their homes. Temperatures dropped in many areas on Friday as rain turned into snow.

“We had a lot of rainfall and torrential floods in recent days and a huge inflow of water from (the Drina’s tributaries in) Montenegro which is now, fortunately, subsiding,” said Dejan Furtula of the environmental group Eko Centar Visegrad

“Unfortunately, the huge inflow of garbage has not ceased,” he added.

The Drina River runs 346 kilometers (215 miles) from the mountains of northwestern Montenegro through Serbia and Bosnia. and some of its tributaries are known for their emerald color and breathtaking scenery. A section along the border between Bosnia and Serbia is popular with river rafters when it’s not “garbage season.”

Some 10,000 cubic meters (more than 353,000 cubic feet) of waste are estimated to have amassed behind the Drina River trash barrier in recent days, Furtula said. The same amount was pulled in recent years from that area of the river.

Removing the garbage takes up to six months, on average. It ends up at the municipal landfill in Visegrad, which Furtula said “does not even have sufficient capacity to handle (the city’s) municipal waste.”

“The fires on the (municipal) landfill site are always burning,” he said, calling the conditions there “not just a huge environmental and health hazard, but also a big embarrassment for all of us.”

Decades after the devastating 1990s wars that accompanied the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Balkans lag behind the rest of Europe both economically and with regard to environmental protection.

The countries of the region have made little progress in building effective, environmentally sound trash disposal systems despite seeking membership in the European Union and adopting some of the EU’s laws and regulations.

Unauthorized waste dumps dot hills and valleys throughout the region, while trash litters roads and plastic bags hang from the trees.

In addition to river pollution, many countries in the western Balkans have other environmental woes. One of the most pressing is the extremely high level of air pollution affecting a number of cities in the region.

“People need to wake up to problems like this,” Visegrad resident Rados Brekalovic said.