Poland called for the formation of an alliance to provide Ukraine with modern combat tanks, and Britain is considering supplying Kyiv with this heavy weapon, at a time when the Ukrainian and Russian forces are fighting fierce battles on the "Soledar" front in the Donbass region (east).

Pawel Jablonski, Poland's deputy foreign minister, and other officials told public radio that Poland is calling on other countries to form a broad alliance to supply Ukraine with modern combat tanks such as the German-made Leopard tanks.

Jacob Komuch, security advisor to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said in radio statements that his country could be part of such an alliance, but it would not take a step on its own because it is not in a position to do so, noting that Warsaw had discussed the possibility of providing Kyiv with some Dozens, not hundreds as reported, how many Leopard tanks.

For its part, the British "Sky News" network quoted today, Monday, a Western source, that Britain is considering providing Ukraine with tanks for the first time to help it confront the Russian forces.

The network said that discussions have been taking place for a few weeks regarding the delivery of the main battle tank of the British army, "Challenger 2", to Ukraine.

In Italy, the newspaper "La Repubblica" said today, Monday, that Rome will not take any decision on providing new military aid to Ukraine before February, and last year Italy granted aid to Kiev, which included military equipment.

German officials are also discussing supplying combat tanks to Kyiv. A few days ago, the United States and Germany announced new military aid to Ukraine, including American Bradley combat vehicles and German Marder armored vehicles.

In turn, the French president pledged to hand over Western-designed light tanks to Kyiv, in a precedent that is the first of its kind since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 24 of last year.

Ukrainian forces bombard Russian positions with a rocket launcher near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk (European News Agency)

Fierce battles

On the ground, fierce battles are taking place in the city of Solidarb, in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine, amid conflicting news about the military situation there.

A spokesman for the Eastern Region Operations Command of the Ukrainian army said that the Russian army bombed the city of Solidar more than 100 times and launched 22 attacks in an attempt to storm the city during the past hours.

The spokesman added that his country's forces are consistently carrying out air strikes and missile strikes on the sites of "Wagner" mercenaries and Russian forces, and that the Ukrainian Operations Command has sent military reinforcements to the front of the city of Solidar.

Yesterday, Sunday, the commander of the special forces of the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said that the Russian forces were fighting fierce battles in the city of Solidar, adding that the Ukrainian forces were suffering heavy losses there.

Before that, the Russian army talked about the progress of its forces inside Solidar, but the Ukrainian army denied this, stressing that it still controls the city.

Yesterday, Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the situation in Solidar as very difficult, but confirmed that it and the nearby city of Bakhmut are still steadfast in the face of Russian attacks.


In another development in Donetsk, the Regional Defense Headquarters of Donetsk Province announced that Russian forces had taken control of the town of Bakhmutskoye, adjacent to the city of Solidar, and simultaneously the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the progress of its forces in the Oglidar region of the same province.

Regarding the city of Bakhmut - which was inhabited by about 70,000 people before the war - the founder of the Russian Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, revealed that the importance of Bakhmut lies in the network of salt and gypsum mines.

Also in Donetsk, the pro-Russian local authorities said that about 4,400 people, including 132 children, have been killed by Ukrainian bombing throughout the province since the start of the war.

In Kharkiv (northeast), the governor of the Ukrainian province said that a civilian was killed and dozens wounded in a Russian bombing that targeted a market in the town of Chivchenkova, in the center of the province.

Local authorities said that the Russian bombing came in response to the advance of the Ukrainian army in the Kobyansk-Lyman axis and the eastern axes.

Western support for Ukraine

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that Western arms supplies to Ukraine would not be able to fundamentally change anything, and that the delivery of French tanks to Ukraine would not change anything and would not prevent the achievement of the goals of what it described as a special military operation, referring to the ongoing attack on the western neighbor since about a year

Regarding mobilization operations, the Kremlin said that allegations of a new wave of partial mobilization in Russia are untrue.

For his part, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said that his country is not fighting Ukraine.

In an interview with the Russian newspaper "Argomenti e Facti", the Russian official described what is happening at the present time as a confrontation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), led by the United States and Britain.

Patrushev said that Washington and NATO's long-term goals are to weaken or destroy Russia at any cost, as he put it.

On the Ukrainian side, Advisor to the Presidency Mikhail Podolyak said that targeting Russian lands is a direct result of what he described as Russia's aggression against his country.

Podolyak added in a televised interview that Ukraine has the full right to target Russians in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.