Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it is unacceptable to delay their supply of weapons, and considered – during a speech addressed to the European Council meeting – that what he called the "delay" in providing his country with long-range missiles that it is already large, and on the other hand, a senior Russian official did not rule out his country's troops going to Kiev or Lviv in Ukraine.

In a joint statement on Thursday, European leaders said the EU would step up efforts "to help meet Ukraine's urgent military and defense needs" and welcomed an agreement to send one million artillery shells to Kiev next year.

This comes at a time when Norwegian military authorities published photos of the dispatch of 8 German-made Leopard-2 tanks and other military ammunition to Ukraine, as part of the so-called NATO Tank Alliance formed to support Kiev.

To date, in addition to Norway, this alliance includes Germany, Poland, Portugal and Canada to send 48 Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine.

The Norwegian armed forces said they were training Ukrainian soldiers to use tanks in Poland.


In turn, the Slovak Ministry of Defense announced the delivery of the first 4 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, adding that it would deliver other aircraft in the coming weeks.

Poland, in turn, announced two weeks ago the delivery to Ukraine of the first batch of Leopard-2 tanks, which have capabilities, most notably comprehensive protection against improvised explosive devices, mines and missiles.

Other NATO countries are expected to decide whether to proceed with sending batches of their high-tech tanks, led by the American tank "Abrams", which the Pentagon describes as the best in the world, and its British counterpart, "Challenger".

Crawling to Kiev

In Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the National Security Council, said it was President Vladimir Putin who could determine when the special military operation in Ukraine would end.

Medvedev added that Russian troops could not be ruled out going to Kiev or Lviv in Ukraine, and said that his country is not fighting the Ukrainian regime but the NATO army.

RIA Novosti quoted Medvedev as saying on Friday: "Nothing can be ruled out. If you want to go to Kiev, you need to go to Kiev, if you want to go to Lviv, you have to go to Lviv in order to destroy this infection."

Medvedev considered that the world has changed radically, noting that "the dictates of the Anglo-Saxon countries have come to an end and the era of regional agreements such as BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is coming."

Earlier, Medvedev warned of the repercussions of continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons, stressing that this increases the risk of nuclear war.

Battles of Bakhmut

On the ground, Russian media reported that battles broke out in various Ukrainian regions of Bakhmut, noting that the most violent of them are taking place in the area of "Orykhovo-Vasilyovma" northwest of the city.

It also said Ukrainian forces were trying to send reinforcements to Pakhmut from the city of Konstantinovka while Russian forces continued to bomb supply routes.

The pro-Moscow Donetsk authorities announced that Wagner forces had taken control of 70% of the territory of Bachmut, and besieged the city from all directions.

Yesterday, the Ukrainian army confirmed that it had detected "exhaustion" among Russian forces, announcing its intention to use this to launch an "imminent" counter-offensive.