Ukraine's army chief said Wednesday the situation on the battlefield was "difficult" and that Russian forces could be poised to strike deep into Ukrainian lines in the eastern Donetsk region.
Kyiv's forces are on the defensive across the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) front lines in the east and south after Moscow made its first territorial gains in almost a year.
Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said he had visited two brigades "where the situation is gradually becoming more complicated and there is a threat of enemy units advancing deep into our battle formations."
Ukraine is facing a shortage of both manpower and ammunition amid hold-ups to Western aid and a domestic debate over how to recruit more soldiers with the war now in its third year.
"In general, the operational situation on the eastern front remains difficult. The enemy continues to conduct offensive actions," in a number of areas of the Donetsk region, Syrsky said in a post on Telegram.
"At the same time, probably due to the high level of losses, the activity of the enemy in other areas of the front decreased significantly," he added, without providing further detail.
In an interview with French media on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's advance had been "halted" in the east and that the situation was "much better" than it had been three months ago.
Russian forces captured the symbolic frontline town of Avdiivka, just outside the Russian-held city of Donetsk, in February after one of the bloodiest battles of the two-year war.
Update on Russia’s ‘Massive’ Overnight Electric Grid Attack
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Comments (5)
Ukraine is fighting for democracy and freedom something which should concern all of Europe .Ukraine needs feet on the ground which Europe must provide. If Europe fails in this Ukraine's future is bleak.
Eventually Russia’s puppets in the US will no longer be able to delay aid. In addition to this, the F-16s will arrive, and the Russian Federation will pass into the history books.
Troll John from Canada, let’s hear your dumb take with Wikipedia links included.
@troll pretending to be Joseph Swanson,
Sure, no problem.
Albeit I've written >320 pages worth of original or cited Ukraine supportive Kyivpost comments. Please clarify on which topic you wish to learn more about.
Also note I did already respond to another MRGA troll below with some new content so don't miss that.
@John, You have writtin >320 pages here? Get a life John the loon from Canada. You're a shameless, arrogant idiot. No one gives a damn about your >320 pages. You are a waste of a life.
@Troll jack THE LOON FROM MRGAland IS A WASTE OF A LIFE,
Hi MRGA troll jack. I had lots of time the last few weeks so I'm up around 430 pages now. Mind you that includes Newsweek as well. Plus another 80 or so letters to various leadership. I've had a long career with this kind of stuff research / report writing now coming pretty easy to me. Isn't it great I can still use these skills to help Ukraine in my spare time....even if only in a small way.
MRGA throws out false facts....I do a bit of research and in the minimum make them look stupid.
The main goal though remains to tie up your time here where you have zero impact.
I'm always looking for new content to research though, so please do continue to act as my muse.
Always remember David and Goliath. Encourage ingenuity and effective imagination. A dry spell turns vast forests to tinder. One providential tsetse bite can bring a sleeping sickness. One well directed drone can paralyse supplies. Never give in. Be courageous and bold. God be with us all.
The situation is much worse than just 'complicated'. the Ukrainian boat is sinking and although Budanov's special operations are nice to present on the first pages of newspaper, they're just 'mosquito bites' which won't in any degree change the direction on the front. Zaluzhny was realistic with what is required to win this war but unfortunately this could not be provided moreover he's been replaced. Really tough time ahead of Ukraine as it faces the reality check
@Depau, Budanov's covert ops are just making things worse, he launches attacks on Russian critical infrastructure and Russia hits back at civilian infrastructure killing dozens per day, war isn't won by winning the hearts of men & earning world sympathy.
@Wolfinsheepsskin, The data disagrees
Budanov's covert options remain highly effective at thwarting putin's offensive operations. Taking out russian supply depots, logistics and key longer range military targets prevents these from supporting putler's front line troops. He is thus forced to throw more russian meat in the grinder; undertrained and ill-equipped as it may be.
De-activated russian troops are now estimated at 426,870. What were russia's losses from their invasion of Afghanistan: 15->26K troops after ~9 years of fighting..... Wow.....I mean just wow.
Counting the millions able to flee russia, that country's productivity and more youthful demography is being is being severely gutted.
This latest putler invasion's military equipment loss's are similarly horrendous compared to their past invasion standards. We are now on Day 749 of his intended 3 day Special Military Operation. With 4x less population and similarly way less weaponry, Ukrainian security and military leadership are all Einstein level genius in what they are accomplishing.
The ROI in supporting Ukraine's fight against our shared enemy thus also remains spectacular.
@John, Let's not forget that Ukrainian is not a small country with the substantial population. Secondly, they have access to a) best NATO weapons (with some exceptions) b) Western Intelligence. They wouldn't survive without this by now - I think we can agree that's the case - that is why you can compare them with Einstein today (although the things they achieved are not solely because of their mastermind but mainly thanks to the Equipment/Intelligence). They were not that clever back in 2014 when they lost Crimea without a fight (and they learned from that)
@Depau,
I agree allies should keep the weapons and intelligence rolling into Ukraine as fast as possible. Lets aim for a pre November defeat of putins' invaders just in case hi buddy putinrump get the chance to cut off even the US intelligence services then.
Note to bipartisan GOP that want to get further Ukraine aid approved......You also have to have that in Ukraine's hands before November in case putin gains another ally then.
The world hopes an American majority is not stupid enough to elect putinrump, but hey it happened once before, so who really knows.
@Depau, sure, word of captain findus!
@Sasha, Not sure what do you mean by that.