Image: YURIY DYACHYSHYN (AFP)
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported successes from the Bakhmut region on Tuesday. Ukraine admits to being in a difficult situation there. However, it protests its resistance and once again demands more weapons from the West.
Russia attacked the neighboring country on February 24 last year – and according to a report by the US Institute for War Studies on the anniversary, Ukraine is expecting a large-scale Russian offensive. The Washington-based think tank also cited Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov. The Russian military leadership is in a hurry before Western military aid arrives for Ukraine and before the ground thaws in the combat zone, it said.
According to British intelligence officials, the Russians have not really made any progress so far. But in Moscow, Defense Minister Shoigu was satisfied with the situation on the front in eastern Ukraine. “Currently, combat operations in the Wuhledar and Artemowsk (Russian name for Bakhmut) regions are developing successfully.” Bakhmut in Donetsk region used to be a town with 70,000 inhabitants. Today there are only a few thousand.
The Russian military has experienced its deadliest day since the invasion began, according to Ukrainian sources. The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday that there had been heavy Russian losses in attacks in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours. A total of 1,030 Russian soldiers fell. According to Ukrainian sources, the number of Russian soldiers killed since the outbreak of war has risen to 133,190.
Russia denies high losses and, for its part, states a large number of Ukrainian soldiers killed. The reports could not be independently confirmed.
The Ukrainian side has been reporting on the difficult situation there for days. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj reiterated the resistance. “We oppose them,” he said in a video speech. The occupiers tried to encircle the city and break through Ukrainian defenses. In Kyiv, parliament extended martial law by 90 days. This means that general mobilization and a ban on leaving the country for men up to the age of 60 continue to apply.
According to information from EU circles, Zelenskyj could travel to Brussels this week for a summit meeting with the EU heads of state and government. There is a possibility that a special plenary session of the EU Parliament will take place on Thursday, in which Zelenskyj will take part personally, according to parliamentary circles. Moscow on Tuesday reported military successes of Russian forces in Donbass.
EU Council President Charles Michel officially invited Zelenskyy to attend “a future” EU summit, his spokesman said on Twitter. He declined to provide any further information “for security reasons”. The heads of state and government of the 27 EU member states meet on Thursday for a special summit in Brussels.
A visit to Brussels would be the second trip abroad by the Ukrainian president since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost a year ago, following a trip by Zelenskyj to the USA in December.
Shoigu renewed criticism of Western military aid to Ukraine. The delivery of offensive weapons will only prolong the fighting. “In fact, such steps draw the NATO countries into the conflict and can lead to an unpredictable escalation.” Several countries – including Germany – have promised to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk renewed the demand on ZDF to deliver fighter jets in addition to 14 Leopard 2 tanks. According to information from Brussels, Zelenskyj could travel to the EU summit in person this week. After the USA, this would only be his second visit abroad since the beginning of the war. At the Munich Security Conference next week, Kyiv will also ask for planes and missiles, as Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced.
The German federal government has so far refused to supply combat aircraft. There is also skepticism in the Union faction. CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt warned against calls for a “war economy”. The term sounds too much like “economic mobilization”.
Source: Nachrichten
