Victorious news of 442nd day of war: Ukrainian army targets 5 Russian artillery units, and UK delivers missiles that can reach Crimean bridge

Britain gives Ukraine long-range missiles

The United Kingdom has confirmed the supply of long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. They will provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with a new strike capability ahead of a counteroffensive, BBC reports.

Storm Shadow is a long-range cruise missile developed jointly by the UK and France. It is usually launched from the air. With a range of more than 250 km, or 155 miles, it is only slightly inferior to the 185-mile US Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

Valerii Riabykh, a military expert at Defense Express, suggested that the first target for Storm Shadow could be, for example, the Crimean bridge.

"Keeping in mind that this missile can overcome enemy air defence, the Kerch Bridge does not have much chance, as well as other objects of the occupiers that they use for aggression against Ukraine," Riabykh said.

Despite the war, the NBU has significantly improved its economic forecast for 2023

The National Bank of Ukraine has published a new macroeconomic forecast as part of its quarterly forecast cycle. As previously expected, the central bank has significantly improved its forecast for economic growth this year from 0.3% to 2%. This was reported by Bohdan Danylyshyn, professor at the Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman and former head of the NBU Council.

The main factors behind this revision were the stability of the energy system and significant fiscal stimulus for the economy (due to the growth of expected international assistance). At the same time, the NBU revised its forecast for inflation growth in 2023 from almost 18.7% to 14.8% year-on-year. Such dynamics create the necessary conditions for easing monetary policy in the short term. The cycle of monetary policy easing may begin six months earlier than previously forecast.

Ukrainian Armed Forces targeted 5 enemy artillery units overnight

According to the General Staff, the aviation of the Defense Forces carried out 13 strikes on the areas of concentration of enemy personnel and military equipment over the past day.

In addition, during this day, our defenders destroyed 7 enemy UAVs of various types. 

Missile and artillery units struck 8 control points, 13 areas of manpower concentration, an ammunition depot, a fuel and lubricant depot, 5 artillery units at firing positions, an air defense facility and 2 other important enemy targets.

Ukrainian Armed Forces received Cobra II armoured vehicles from Turkey

The Ukrainian army has received Cobra II armoured vehicles from Turkey manufactured by Otokar. This is reported by the Militarny media outlet with reference to footage of the movement of this armoured vehicle, which was posted on social media.

According to the publication, there is currently no public information that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has ordered Turkish military equipment. The only information available is about the Turkish armoured vehicle Kirri, which is already in service with the Ukrainian army.

The video shows three Cobra II armoured vehicles, two of which have the Ukrainian flag on them, driving down a dirt road.

EU has found a way to legally allocate frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine

The European Commission has confirmed that it has developed legally acceptable options for using Russian assets, both private and state-owned, to rebuild Ukraine. This was announced by the European Commission spokesman Christian Wiegand.

According to Wiegand, the assets of Russian individuals and legal entities under EU sanctions worth about 24.1 billion euros are currently frozen in the European Union. The sanctions do not provide for the confiscation of these assets, as this violates the law.

"However, we have made a proposal to criminalize the violation of EU restrictive measures, and the relevant discussions with other EU institutions have already made significant progress. This will allow us to confiscate these assets in case of evasion of sanctions, which will allow us to do so in accordance with the law, in this case, criminal law," the European Commission representative explained.