Leopard issue, US decision on Abrams, nomination of Ukrainian film for Oscar: today's highlights

The US is leaning toward providing Ukraine with Abrams tanks

The administration of US President Joe Biden is leaning toward sending a significant number of Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine. The decision may be announced as early as this week. The Wall Street Journal writes about this, citing sources among officials.

According to the publication, the United States may announce the transfer of tanks as part of a broader agreement with Germany. Berlin, for its part, is expected to agree to send Ukraine a small portion of its Leopard 2 tanks and to approve the supply of German-made tanks by Poland and other countries.

The WSJ writes that the United States began to lean toward changing its position on the supply of tanks after a telephone conversation between President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on January 17. At that time, Biden allegedly agreed to consider the issue of American tank deliveries against the Pentagon's decision.

Already 12 countries have agreed to supply Leopard tanks

Already 12 countries have agreed to supply Ukraine with German-made Leopard 2 battle tanks if the German government gives its approval. It is about approximately 100 tanks for the Ukrainian Defense Forces. This was reported by ABC with reference to a “senior Ukrainian official”.

As noted, the agreement of 12 countries became known following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (the so-called Ramstein format) on January 20. Officially, the countries were unable to decide on the transfer of tanks. However, Poland reported that another meeting was held on the sidelines of this meeting, a meeting of the countries that own Leopard.

Bundestag to discuss the transfer of tanks to Ukraine

The Bundestag reported that the opposition factions of the German parliament, the Alliance of two political parties in Germany: the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and the Christian Social Union in BavariaCDU/CSU, initiated a discussion on the issue of providing Leopard tanks to Ukraine on Wednesday, January 25.

As noted, the opposition wants to “end the Leopard blockade of the federal government” and fears a loss of confidence in the federal government among its allies.

Meanwhile, the German newspaper Spiegel writes that Chancellor Scholz has already made a decision on tanks for Ukraine. However, there is no official confirmation of this.

Ukrainian film “A House Made of Splinters” is nominated for Oscar

The Danish-Ukrainian-Swedish documentary “A House Made of Splinters” has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category. This is stated on the award website.

The film was supported by the Ukrainian State Film Agency. The film was directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont. The second director and line producer is Azad Safarov. The film tells the story of several social workers in eastern Ukraine who work in an orphanage and create a safe space for children.

The film previously won the Best Director Award in the international documentary competition at Sundance Film Festival.

Success of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

During the day on January 24, units of the Ukrainian Air Force's anti-aircraft missile forces destroyed three Russian Ka-52 attack helicopters that were performing missions near the town of Yevhenivka in Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian defenders also shot down a Su-25 attack aircraft near Bakhmut. This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

During the day, Ukrainian aviation conducted 8 strikes on the areas of concentration of occupiers' personnel, weapons, and military hardware, as well as three strikes on the positions of anti-aircraft missile systems of the Russian troops.

Over the past day, units of the missile troops and artillery of the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck 8 areas of the occupiers' concentration.