Western weapons continue to flow into Ukraine

The German arms company Rheinmetall has announced that it will send thousands of anti-aircraft shells to Ukraine by the end of 2023. Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall in Germany, said that the country plans to produce and supply Ukraine with 300,000 cartridges for the Gepard self-propelled air defense system. Papperger added that by the end of 2023 he would send the first batch of this ammunition to Ukraine, including 40,000 bullets. In addition, Rheinmetall has opened a new production line at its Unterlois plant to help Ukraine increase its stockpiles of ammunition, he stressed.

Earlier, Rheinmetall announced that it would build in Kyiv, in partnership with the Ukrainian state company Ukroboronprom, a plant for the production of ammunition, armored vehicles, and Panther tanks. The CEO of Rain Metal said that we would not refuse to help Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday, July 20, that the German Rheinmetall armored car plant would become a legitimate target for the Russian military if it were built in Ukraine. In the meantime, Bulgaria has approved a plan to send the first batch of heavy weapons to Ukraine, which includes about 100 armored personnel carriers. Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the pro-Russian political party Vozrozhdenie, called the recent decision of the Bulgarian government "insidious and shameful."

The Socialist Party of Bulgaria strongly opposed this decision. Bulgaria has so far sent only one military aid package to Ukraine, which mainly consisted of protective vests and helmets. The new pro-European government of Bulgaria came to power in early June and put on the agenda the supply of weapons to Ukraine, including ammunition. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday evening that those responsible for the brutal murder of Russian journalist Rostislav Zhuralev would be punished, and all responsibility would fall on those who delivered cluster munitions to their assistants in Kiev. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Zhuravlev died during the transfer from the combat zone to the front line due to injuries received from the explosion of cluster bullets, as a result of this incident another 4 journalists were injured. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that everything indicates that the attack on this group of journalists was not accidental. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military confirmed that Kyiv was behind the attack on an ammunition depot on the Crimean peninsula. Sergei Aksyonov, Russia's appointed governor for the Crimean peninsula, said on Sunday that a Ukrainian drone attack in the area caused an ammunition depot to explode. He also ordered the evacuation of people living within a radius of 5 kilometers from the site of the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, called for the formation of a "NATO-Ukraine Council" on Saturday evening. The President of Ukraine said that in our cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, we have reached a new level and entered the Ukraine-NATO Council mechanism, and this mechanism can work. Former US President Donald Trump said on Saturday evening that the current administration in Washington is leading the world into a third world war and called consideration of Ukraine's membership in NATO pure insanity. Criticizing the government of President Joe Biden, this American politician added that the current government is incompetent and should not risk starting a war with Russia or China.