Britain’s Challenger raises hopes of Western battle tanks for Ukraine

A retreat, a missile Blitz and a helicopter crash were the low points of a horrible 47th week of the war for Ukraine, but its Western allies may finally be moved to send in heavy armour

A French Cesar self-propelled howitzer. (Courtesy: Ukraine Armed Forces)

It was a terrible week for Ukraine. On January 12, Russian forces took effective control of Soledar in Donetsk, their first capture of a town since July.

Two days later, they unleashed 50 rockets on Ukraine’s cities. One levelled an apartment building in the city of Dnipro, killing 4…