Pentagon chief Austin said no announcement has yet been made about the supply of fighter jets to Kiev.

MOSCOW, February 14 – RIA Novosti. The West continues to discuss military aid to Kiev: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of the meeting of the heads of defense ministries of the alliance countries in Brussels that the supply of military aircraft to Ukraine is not an urgent matter, but it is. conversations continue. In response, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said that no announcement has yet been made about the supply of fighter jets to Kiev.

The Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response reported that Kiev, with the support of the West, is preparing a large-scale provocation before the special session of the UN General Assembly to accuse the Russian Federation of radioactive contamination of the area near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. plant during a special operation.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the supply of military aircraft to Ukraine is not an urgent matter, but such a discussion is ongoing. In response, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Washington has so far had nothing to announce about supplying fighter jets to Kiev.

He said the United States and its allies continue to assess Ukraine’s needs and expect to intensify action by Ukrainian troops in the spring. According to Austin, the Russian Federation still has a significant stock of fighter jets and airborne capabilities. Also in response to a question about warplanes, Austin said that the United States is not deterring Poland from providing any military capabilities to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak said that Leopard tanks will be delivered to Ukraine in March of this year. Earlier, the German government announced that, after pressure from NATO allies, it would hand over the Leopard 2 to Ukraine and allow the supply of German tanks to other countries that have them. On Tuesday, it was learned that the Norwegian authorities will deliver eight Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday that German authorities have signed agreements with the defense industry to establish their own production of ammunition for the Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (ZSU) and to deliver them further to Kiev. He said that the two previously promised IRIS-T air defense systems will be delivered to Ukraine in the coming months.

Since the beginning of the conflict, 32 Gepard self-propelled guns and 6,000 ammunition for them were delivered to Kiev. Ammunition for these ZSUs was produced in Switzerland, which, despite numerous requests from the German government, has not yet allowed deliveries due to its neutrality.

The Interdepartmental Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response said on Tuesday that Ukraine, with the support of the United States and Europe, is preparing a large-scale informational provocation to accuse the Russian Federation of radioactive contamination of the area near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Special operation before the special session of the UN General Assembly.

To this end, representatives of the Kiev regime plan to provide the world community with “hard evidence” that “it is a result of the actions of Russian military personnel at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and in the “forbidden zone” in February-April 2022, “Radioactive contamination of significant areas of Ukraine” has occurred. ”

Headquarters also said that Kiev was preparing false evidence that “radiated radioactive materials, chemical solutions and equipment theft by Russian military personnel” and that Russian troops moved “items containing dangerous radionuclides” out of the exclusion zone. “irradiation of populations in temporarily occupied areas.”

As stated in the humanitarian headquarters, Kiev especially needs a provocation to put pressure on countries that do not support sanctions against Russia.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on Tuesday that Ukraine lost about 170 soldiers killed in one day in Kupyansky and Krasnolimansky. As a result of attacks by operational-tactical and army aviation, artillery fire and heavy flamethrower systems of the “Central” group of forces, Ukrainian troops were hit in the residential areas of Terny, Krasny Port (DPR), Stelmahovka (LPR). ) and Serebryansky forestry.

During offensive operations in the Donetsk direction, the “southern” group of troops of the RF Armed Forces destroyed in one day more than 60 Ukrainian soldiers and a hangar with Ukrainian military equipment in the Avdiivka region.

In addition, the grouping of the troops of the RF Armed Forces “Vostok” destroyed up to 40 Ukrainian soldiers, 6 equipment and one artillery ammunition depot per day. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, a complex fire defeat was inflicted on Levadny and Orekhov in the South Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya directions, as well as Ukrainian troops in the Vogledar region in the DPR. in the Zaporozhye region.

In addition, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft and a Mi-8 helicopter in the DPR in one day.

The command center of the electronic warfare unit of the Ukrainian army was destroyed in the Monachinovka settlement of the Kharkiv region.

In total, it was noted that the artillery of operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and groups of the troops of the Russian Armed Forces struck 93 artillery units of the Ukrainian army, as well as manpower and military equipment in 108 districts. day. In addition, Russian troops destroyed two ammunition depots in the Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk regions, and Russian air defense systems shot down 7 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and 4 HIMARS MLRS shells.

In turn, the acting head of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that the Ukrainian troops would not give Artemovsk without a fight. He said that the capture of Paraskoviyivka would cut off the last supply route to Artemovsk – the route from Chasov Yar – for the Ukrainian troops.

In addition, according to Pushilin, the situation in the southeastern part of Vugledar is “very difficult”, there are violent conflicts, but there are certain successes.