Ukraine asks for emergency military assistance from allies
2023.01.05 08:02
Ukraine asks for emergency military assistance from allies
Budrigannews.com – While President Vladimir Zelenskiy urged the West to provide his army with heavy tanks to increase their firepower, Ukrainian and Russian troops engaged in combat in eastern regions on Thursday as Kyiv attempted to repel occupying forces.
According to the Ukrainian military, the Russians were planning an offensive in the Donetsk sector’s Bakhmut sector, but their attacks in the Kupiansk and Avdiivka sectors were unsuccessful.
In the meantime, the governor of the neighboring Luhansk region said that Ukrainian troops were retaking areas “step by step,” but that it was “not happening fast.”
The Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, is comprised of Luhansk and Donetsk. In 2014, Russian-backed proxies seized a portion of the region.
In September, following referendums that were condemned by Ukraine and Western nations, Russia added the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia to its territory. None of the four regions is entirely under Russia’s control.
After months of being battered by Russian artillery, Bakhmut is important because the Russian leadership wants to prove itself to the public after a series of setbacks in the war.
It is on a vital supply route that connects the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russia may be able to advance on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, two larger cities, if it takes control of the city, whose population has shrunk to close to 10,000 from 70,000-80,000 before the war.
There has been a lot of fighting, commanders on both sides calling it a “meat grinder.”
The fighting in Donetsk is where the majority of the estimated 800 Russian soldiers who died in the past day, according to the Ukrainian military. It was impossible to independently verify the figure, which would indicate a significant daily loss of life.
Serhiy Haidai, governor of Luhansk, stated that as temperatures continue to drop and the ground freezes, he anticipated that fighting would intensify across the eastern front.
He stated, “Then the opportunity to utilize heavy equipment will open up.”
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, called for a truce for the Orthodox Christmas holiday on Friday and Saturday in Moscow. The move was dismissed by Kyiv as propaganda from a person it believes supports Putin’s attack on Ukraine.
Heavy weapons and a senior official in the United States administration predicted a long road ahead in the nearly 11-month-old war.
The official stated in Washington on Wednesday, “The fighting is still quite hot (in Donetsk)…what we’re seeing in Bakhmut we should expect to see elsewhere along the front, that there will be continued fighting in the coming months.”
Zelenskiy urged Western allies to provide his army with tanks and heavy weapons to combat the Russian forces in his Wednesday evening video address.
On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that his government would contribute to the war effort by sending light AMX-10 RC armored combat vehicles.
While Zelenskiy thanked Macron, he added, There is no rational explanation for why Western tanks have not yet been delivered to Ukraine.
The head of Ukraine also stated that Russia was expanding its presence in the area and that his troops outside Bakhmut were sustaining numerous casualties against their adversaries.
According to the military of Ukraine, Russian air, missile, and rocket attacks on Bakhmut and two other Donetsk cities, Kostiantynivka and Kurakhove, had unspecified civilian casualties.
Russia denies using its so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine to target civilians.
When questioned on national television about the possibility of a Ukrainian counteroffensive in that region, Luhansk governor Haidai stated that the Russian occupation forces had destroyed the cities of Rubizhne and Sievierodonetsk and that they could no longer be used as strongholds.
“However, the occupiers have extremely fortified positions there, and we should not forget that they (Russian proxies) have been building the defense line there since 2014. As a result, liberating Luhansk will not be easy,” he stated.
Haidai added that Russia was bringing in additional troops, including conscripts.
According to Russia’s TASS news agency, Yegeny Balitsky, the governor of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, said that Ukrainian artillery had killed five people and wounded 15 others, including four emergency workers.
The Kyiv government has repeatedly requested heavier fighting vehicles like the Abrams and German-made Leopard tanks from Western allies as the war progresses.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden of the United States said that the country was thinking about sending lighter Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine. Since the middle of the 1980s, the Bradley has been a staple of the U.S. Army for troop transport. It has a powerful gun.
In addition to the approximately $21.3 billion in security assistance that has been provided to Ukraine thus far, the United States is preparing another package of weapons, which may be announced in the coming days.
The weapons that the United States has sent have become more powerful.
The United States pledged to send the Patriot missile system to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks when Zelenskiy paid a visit to Washington last month.
On February 24, Russia invaded, citing threats to its security and the need to safeguard Russian speakers. Russia is accused by Ukraine and its allies of waging an unprovoked war to seize territory.
According to data released on Thursday by the Ukrainian economy ministry, the country experienced its greatest economic decline in more than 30 years in 2022 as a result of the war, with a gross domestic product decline of 30.4%. Foreign aid and the “unbreakable spirit” of the people, according to the economy minister, helped prevent a worse outcome.
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