The situation on the front lines in eastern Ukraine is worsening, but local defenders are so far holding out against concerted efforts by Russia’s larger and better-equipped forces, a senior Ukrainian military officer said Thursday.
Nazar Voloshin, a spokesman for the Ukrainian strategic command in the country’s east, said Russia had massed troops in the Donetsk region in an attempt to penetrate the Ukrainian defensive line.
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“The enemy is actively attacking the entire front line and in several directions they have achieved some tactical advances,” he said on national television. “The situation is changing dynamically.”
Russia has pushed Ukraine on the backfoot on the battlefield as Kiev faces a shortage of troops and ammunition. ukrainian army There was now a race to build more defensive fortifications at locations along the nearly 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front line.
Ukraine’s troubles have been deepening for months as the military awaits vital new military aid from the United States. This support lingered in Washington for six months.
Ukrainian troops withdrew in February from Avdiivka, a town in the Donetsk region, under a weakened Russian barrier that had weakened their fighting strength and morale. Since then, Kremlin forces have used their military power to capture villages in the area, forcing them into submission, as they seek to capture parts of Donetsk they do not already hold. .
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency service workers work to extinguish a fire following the Russian attack in Odessa, Ukraine, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Services via AP)
in France, President Emmanuel Macron He reiterated in an interview published Thursday that he does not rule out sending troops to Ukraine.
“I’m not ruling anything out, because we’re facing a guy who isn’t ruling anything out,” he told the Economist, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Macron was quoted as saying, “If the Russians enter the front line, if there is a Ukrainian request – which is not the case today – we should legitimately ask ourselves the question of sending troops”.
When Macron first raised this possibility earlier this year, he faced criticism from Russia and Western allies. “If Russia wins in Ukraine, we will not have security in Europe,” he said in the interview. Who can pretend that Russia will stop there?
Cities in Russia’s crosshairs, including Chasiv Yar, a recent target in eastern Ukraine, have been destroyed by Moscow’s missiles, drones and glide bombs.
Donetsk and Luhansk provinces together make up Donbass, a vast industrial region bordering Russia that President Vladimir Putin had identified as a focus since the beginning of the war and where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.
In addition, Russia launched its third attack on Odessa in a week, firing ballistic missiles at the southern Ukrainian port city and wounding 14 people, local officials and emergency services said.
The attack took place on a sorting depot of Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private delivery company. The company said no workers were injured, but the strike resulted in a major fire.
Six people were killed in a Russian missile attack on Odessa on Monday, and three were killed two days later when Kremlin forces targeted civilian infrastructure there.
Long-range attacks have characterized Europe’s largest conflict since World War II, focusing mostly on attrition. Kiev officials have sought more air defense systems from Ukraine’s Western partners, but they have been slow to arrive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Russia said on Thursday that Russia had launched more than 300 missiles of various types, about 300 martyr-drones and more than 3,200 guided aerial bombs at Ukraine in April alone.
Odessa, a major export hub for millions of tons of Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, has been repeatedly targeted by Russia. Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of clashes between pro- and anti-Russian protesters in the city that left 48 people dead.
Ukraine has deployed increasingly sophisticated long-range drones to retaliate, aimed at targets on Russian soil, particularly infrastructure that sustains the Russian economy and war effort.
Governors of three Russian regions reported that energy facilities were damaged by Ukrainian drone attacks overnight. Oryol region governor Andrei Klychkov said energy infrastructure in two communities had been damaged. Smolensk and Kursk governorates reported one facility damaged in each area.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian drones were shot down in the Bryansk, Krasnodar, Rostov and Belgorod regions. It said most were intercepted in Bryansk, where five were shot down.
In other developments, Zelensky confirmed that a peace summit for Ukraine will take place on June 15 and 16 at the lakeside Bürgenstock resort near Lucerne, Switzerland.
Zelensky said he expected heads of state and government from all continents to attend the meeting “to discuss ways to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine in accordance with the UN Charter and international law.”
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The Swiss Foreign Ministry said more than 160 delegations, including international bodies, were expected, but Russia had not yet been invited.
Switzerland is ready to invite Russia, and is convinced that Russia should attend, but notes that the Kremlin has repeatedly said it has no interest in attending.
