German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Ukraine on Tuesday in a show of support for the country in its fight against the Russian invasion that began nearly three years ago.
German officials said the visit was aimed at reassuring Ukraine it will continue to receive support, with Pistorius to meet with top Ukrainian officials.
The visit comes less than a week before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and the questions about how U.S. policy toward Ukraine might change under the new administration.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia welcomed the fact that the incoming Trump administration had “started to mention the realities on the ground” more often. Trump has said he wants to end the war quickly.
Meanwhile, the Australian government said it is “making urgent inquiries” after reports that an Australian citizen who was fighting in the Ukrainian army died after being captured by Russian forces.
Oscar Jenkins, a 32-year-old teacher from Melbourne, was serving alongside Ukraine’s army when he was captured by Russian soldiers last year as a prisoner of war.
Australia’s Channel Seven, citing unnamed sources, reported his body has been found but has not been officially identified.
“These reports have not been verified, but we continue to have grave concerns for Mr. Jenkins’ welfare,” Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia’s military on Tuesday said it would retaliate against Ukraine after Kyiv attacked Russian regions with U.S.- and U.K.-made missiles and launched one of its biggest drone attacks to date.
“The actions of the Kyiv regime, supported by its Western curators, will not go unanswered,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
VOA could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
Officials in multiple Russian regions said Tuesday their areas came under major Ukrainian drone attacks, including in Saratov, where Governor Roman Busargin said there was damage at two industrial enterprises in the neighboring cities of Saratov and Engels.
That area is home to a base for Russian bomber planes. Last week, a Ukrainian attack hit an oil depot that serves the base.
Oryol Governor Andrei Klychkov said on Telegram that Russian air defenses shot down 17 Ukrainian drones in his region. He reported no damage or casualties from the attacks.
Rostov Governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram 14 drones were destroyed overnight, while officials in Voronezh said several Ukrainian drones were shot down without causing damage.
Russia’s defense ministry said it also shot down six U.S.-made ATACMS missiles and six British-made Storm Shadow missiles that targeted the Bryansk region, and two more Storm Shadow missiles over the Black Sea. There were no casualties or damage from the missiles, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s military said Tuesday it destroyed 58 of 80 drones that Russian forces used to target 11 different regions.
The Ukrainian air force reported damage to apartment buildings, commercial buildings and cars in the Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Sumy and Zhytomyr regions as a result of falling debris from downed drones.
Ukrainian air defenses also destroyed Russian drones over the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Poltava regions, the Ukrainian air force said.
Some information for this story was provided by Agence France-Presse and Reuters