The situation at a glance: Threatened Ukraine is reorganizing its army

With fresh troops and new commanders, Ukraine hopes to stabilize the threatening situation on the front in the east. After nine months, President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Army Chief Olexander Pavlyuk and installed Major General Mykhailo Drapaty in his post. The land forces are the backbone of the army, Zelensky explained in a video speech. “Changes are needed – changes in personnel management that will produce greater results on the battlefield.”

The new army chief Drapatyj has successfully brought the Russian offensive in the eastern Kharkiv region to a halt, the president said. He also promoted Oleh Apostol, previously a colonel and brigade commander, to deputy supreme commander. The new appointees should increase the army’s combat capability, Zelensky said at a meeting with his military leadership in Kiev. He appointed another brigade commander, Colonel Pawel Palissa, as deputy head of his presidential office so that he would be better informed about the situation at the front.

Fresh troops for Donbass

Russian troops have been advancing slowly but steadily in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine for months. The Ukrainian defenders lack weapons and soldiers. Therefore, Commander-in-Chief Olexander Syrskyj ordered reserves to the particularly threatened Pokrovsk and Kurakhove front sectors in the Donbass in the east. The aim is to thwart the enemy’s plans “that go far beyond these sections of the front,” the military said.

According to the General Staff situation report, the fiercest fighting took place again on Friday near Pokrovsk and Kurachowe. The cities are located on the western edge of the Donbass mining and industrial region. This is followed by an open steppe landscape up to the Dnipro River. A breakthrough would open the way for the Russian army to the important cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia.

There was an air alert again in the eastern part of Ukraine on Saturday night because the Air Force detected Russian combat drones in the sky. Power shutdowns were expected in several regions during the day to stabilize the energy system after damage from Russian missile attacks this week.

Zelenskyj brings up NATO protection for part of Ukraine

According to statements made by Zelensky, Ukraine could agree to a ceasefire with Russia if NATO extends its protection to the parts of the country controlled by Kiev. In the event of a ceasefire, his country needs guarantees “that Putin will not come back,” he said in an interview with the British TV channel Sky News.

“If we want to end the hot phase of the war, we should protect the territory that we have control over,” Zelensky said, according to an English translation. “We have to do that quickly. And then Ukraine can regain the other territories through diplomatic channels.”

Kiev has not yet considered this path because no one in NATO has officially suggested it, Zelensky said. In addition, a NATO invitation must still be issued to the entire Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. His country does not have the right to recognize occupied territories as Russian.

The demand for an immediate NATO invitation is part of his so-called victory plan, which he presented in Washington, Berlin and other capitals in the fall. However, the important NATO states USA and Germany are particularly opposed to establishing a quick path for Ukraine into the Western alliance. The plans that have so far become known from the future US government of Donald Trump do not provide for Kiev to join. Russia categorically rejects Ukraine’s NATO membership anyway.

Ambassador Makeiev calls on German parties to act

The Ukrainian ambassador Oleksii Makeiev wants the Russian war of aggression to be discussed in the federal election campaign. But he warns against drawing red lines when it comes to supporting his country. “Action is needed today like never before. And that’s what I expect from the democratic parties in this election campaign,” he said in an interview with the German Press Agency. “I believe it is wrong to draw red lines around yourself and not in front of the enemy and in front of the aggressor.”

Support for Ukraine is controversial among the parties represented in the Bundestag. While the SPD, Union, Greens and FDP support large-scale arms deliveries, AfD, BSW and Left are against it. But there are also differences between the supporters at one key point: Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is going into the election campaign as the SPD’s top candidate, rejects the delivery of the Taurus cruise missile with a range of 500 kilometers. The Union, FDP and Greens see it differently.

Makeiev called for Ukraine to be supported without restrictions in its defense against Russia. “All restrictions that have been in place for almost three years must be lifted,” he said. “Russia will not be stopped just with talks or diplomacy.”