Tanks, armour and loss: Ukraine's week before 23 January 2023
A look back at the days around 23 January 2023, when Western pledges of weapons arrived alongside the loss of Ukraine's interior ministry leadership.
What did Ukraine's allies put on the table in the days leading up to 23 January 2023, and what did Kyiv lose in the same period? The answer combined a growing list of military pledges with a national tragedy.
Loss in Brovary
On 18 January 2023, a helicopter crash in Brovary, in Kyiv Oblast, killed fourteen people and injured 25 others. Among the dead were interior minister Denys Monastyrsky, deputy minister of internal affairs Yevhen Yenin and state secretary of internal affairs Yurii Lubkovych. The crash removed three of the ministry's most senior figures at once.
Pledges from abroad
The same day, during a visit to Kyiv, Canadian National Defence Minister Anita Anand announced that Canada would send 200 Roshel Senator armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine.
On 19 January 2023, Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson set out Sweden's latest support package. It included the self-propelled Archer Artillery System, 50 Combat Vehicle 90 infantry fighting vehicles and NLAW anti-tank missiles.
The tank question
On 22 January 2023, German Foreign Affairs Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Germany would not prevent Poland from sending Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. Ukrainian officials described such tanks as pivotal to defeating Russian forces.
Taken together, the reports from 18 to 22 January 2023 show a week in which Ukraine's partners added armoured vehicles, artillery and anti-tank weapons to their support, while the question of Leopard 2 tanks moved closer to an answer. The same week brought the deaths of the interior minister and two senior colleagues in the Brovary crash.
