War in Ukraine: Selenskyj and Putin step up the pace of armaments

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on his Western partners to speed up the promised deliveries to strengthen air defense. “Not all of the promises made at the summit in Washington regarding air defense have yet been implemented,” he warned in his evening video address. However, it is particularly important to have an efficient air defense system at the beginning of autumn, he said, with a view to the systematic Russian attacks on energy and heat supplies.

Zelensky once again opposed freezing the conflict. Ukraine and the whole of Europe need long-term security. This can only be achieved through a just peace.

He did not comment in detail on the situation at the front. Right at the beginning he praised the drone attack on an ammunition depot near the small northwest Russian town of Toropets.

According to media reports, a Ukrainian drone attack had caused a series of explosions in the depot the night before. The fire spread to the nearby town of Toropets, and residents had to be evacuated. According to authorities, several people were injured.

Selenskyj: Everything is going according to plan in Kursk

According to him, the fighting in the western Russian region of Kursk, where Moscow troops tried to counter the Ukrainian counteroffensive, is proceeding according to Kiev’s plan. According to independent military observers, the Ukrainians were actually able to stop the Russian attacks for the time being. However, it is unclear whether the subsequent Ukrainian push to encircle Russian troops was successful.

He promised the defenders of the towns of Pokrovsk, Toretsk and Kurakhove in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, who are being besieged by Russian troops, that they would soon receive reinforcements. According to him, new brigades have now been set up, although they are not yet fully equipped with weapons.

Heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine

In its evening situation report, the General Staff in Kiev described the fighting between Pokrovsk and Kurakhove in particular as heavy. More than half of the more than 150 Russian attack attempts during the day had taken place in that sector of the front. Several of these attacks were still ongoing, it said.

Putin holds meeting on the situation of the military and defense sector

Meanwhile, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin held a video conference with high-ranking military officers and officials from the defense industry. In it, he also explained the recent increase in troop strength. This was necessary for the new military districts, he said. The units being created there would need new soldiers who were well trained in weapons. “The decree on determining the strength of the armed forces was published a few days ago precisely to solve this problem,” said Putin.

On Monday, Putin ordered by decree that the armed forces be increased to about 2.4 million men, including 1.5 million soldiers – the third increase in the military’s target strength since the attack on Ukraine in February 2022.

Reaction to NATO expansion

The Kremlin announced the creation of new military districts for the Leningrad region – the Soviet name Leningrad is still used in Russia for the area around St. Petersburg – and Moscow at the end of 2023. This will be accompanied by the construction of new military bases and units. At the time, Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov justified the need for the military districts with the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, among other things. Gerasimov did not address the trigger for these events, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

In the video conference, Putin called for further armament and militarization. In the future, the Russian army will no longer receive new, modern weapons piecemeal, but in series, he announced. The knowledge gained from the war should also be used in the weapons factories and missile laboratories, said the Kremlin chief, who plans to visit a weapons factory in St. Petersburg on Thursday.