'Moscow bound to lose', says Kyiv after Germany announces biggest arms package

Germany's defence ministry on Saturday announced that they are preparing the country's biggest yet military aid package for Ukraine, which is worth 2.7 billion euros ($2.95 billion) ahead of President Volodymyr Zelensky's trip to Berlin.

"We all hope for a rapid end to this terrible war by Russia against the Ukrainian people, but unfortunately this is not in sight," said Defence Minister Boris Pistorius in a statement.

"This is why Germany will supply all the help that it can, for as long as necessary," he added.

Welcoming the weapons package from Germany, which includes 30 additional Leopard-1 tanks, Marder armoured vehicles, air-defence systems and surveillance drones, Kyiv said that Moscow may now not see a victory in the war.

President Zelensky's adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the new arms package of Germany indicates that Russia was "bound to lose and sit on the bench of historical shame."

Increasingly powerful weapons have been delivered by the Western allies to Ukraine though they have still not given advanced fighter jets which Zelensky has requested.

Kyiv says 'moving forward' along Bakhmut front line

Ukraine's senior military commander on Saturday said that Kyiv's forces are advancing along part of the Bakhmut front line against Russian forces.

"Our soldiers are moving forward in some areas of the front, and the enemy is losing equipment and manpower," said the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces Oleksandr Syrskyi on social media.

Kyiv on Friday stated it had re-captured swathes of the area near Bakhmut, although Moscow insisted that the attack was repelled along a broad stretch of the front line.

WATCH | Russia acknowledges retreat north of Bakhmut, Wagner boss calls it a 'rout'

Kyiv using UK missiles to hit 'civilian targets', alleges Moscow

Moscow on Saturday said that British long-range missiles are being used by Kyiv to hit civilian sites in the eastern city of Lugansk where six children have been injured.

On Friday evening, the defence ministry said that two civilian enterprises have been hit by Ukraine's armed forces, adding: "Storm Shadow air-to-air missiles supplied to the Kyiv regime by Great Britain were used for the strike, despite London's declarations that these weapons would not be used against civilian targets.”

This week, the UK government announced that it would send Storm Shadow missiles, which made it the first nation to provide longer-range weapons to Kyiv, in what Russia said is "an extremely hostile step".

(With inputs from agencies)

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