Give & take: West gives Ukraine weapons, bans Russian coal

Kyiv: On a day of give and take, Western nations made more pledges to send arms to Ukraine while the European Union's full ban on Russian coal imports kicked in on Thursday amid claims sanctions against Moscow now even affected its defense exports.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged Thursday that Germany is shipping arms a great, great many, sweeping and very effective. And we will continue to do so in the coming

time.

Germany, seen early in the war as a lackadaisical ally, has already approved military exports of at least USD 710 million. Scholz said Germany's commitment to such exports was a massive break with its past.

He added that Berlin would also provide further financial aid to Ukraine.

In Copenhagen, Britain and Denmark also made more commitments to shore up Ukraine's defense to push back Russia's invasion which has devastated the nation and reverberated across the world, causing anything from economic damage to the depletion of food supplies.

We will not let you down, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said as she opened a donor's conference.

Denmark said a new contribution of USD 113 million would push the total amount of funding from the small northern nation of 5.8 million to over 500 million. She called it a huge donation.

In comparison, Ukraine's top donor, the United States, has committed USD 9.1 billion in security aid since Russian troops invaded on Feb. 24.

And to put more pressure on Russia, Britain announced it will send additional multiple launch rocket systems and guided missiles to Ukraine to help it resist Russia's

invasion.

The new weapons, whose number wasn't specified, come on top of several rocket-launch systems given by Britain to Ukraine earlier this year. Britain said the new missiles can hit targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away with pinpoint accuracy.