About half of Russian assaults across a 1, 000km- (620-mile-) front have focused on the town of Pokrovsk, in Ukraine’s east, throughout the past week.
The town is regarded as a gateway to the region of Donetsk, one of the most heavily fortified areas in Ukraine.
Ukrainian commanders reported last week that significant numbers of Russian forces were stationed there as part of a coordinated effort to retake the town, which has been a year.
“The enemy is trying to advance around the clock”, Maksym Bakulin, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Guard units fighting in Pokrovsk, told Army TV on Tuesday.
After a period of infantry attacks, he claimed, Russian forces were returning to using heavy armor and vehicles.
“Previously, they often sent]troops] on foot, now in most cases they bring them closer, land them and try to fight under the cover of artillery and multiple launch rocket systems”, added Bakulin.
He claimed that the Russian forces were causing significant vehicle losses.
On Wednesday, Ukraine also claimed the Russian military lost 1, 670 men in 24 hours, updating its estimated toll of Russia’s wartime losses to 834, 670 soldiers.
They don’t have an unrestricted workforce, they claim.
A telethon revealed that the 68th Jaeger Brigade’s UAV platoon commander claimed that Russian forces occasionally dispatched up to 30 UAVs to attack a single position.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, claimed on Sunday that Russia had dropped 1,250 glide bombs over the previous week, which is roughly twice the usual number, indicating how heated the situation had become on the battlefield.
On the front lines of Ukraine, glide bombs are frequently used by Russia. Russia won the battles for Severodonetsk in 2022 and Bakhmut in 2023, surviving as a result of massive human assault waves.
In Pokrovsk, that is no longer the case, said Viktor Tregubov, a spokesman for the Khortytsia Group of forces fighting there.
“They don’t have an unlimited number of personnel, which they used to simply throw into the city wave after wave, until they started to cling to some suburbs, then enter the city, then destroy buildings closer to the centre, and so on. They have already abandoned this tactic in Pokrovsk”, he told a telethon.
Deep strikes hit Russian logistics
Ukraine continued to use drones in its logistics-related strategic interdiction campaign on Russian soil.
On Friday, Ukraine’s general staff said they had struck the Kremniy El factory in Bryansk, which they said makes electronic components for air defence systems, including combat aircraft and the vaunted S-300 and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.
On Monday, Ukrainian forces struck the central radar of an S-400 air defence complex, which provides targeting coordinates at medium and high altitudes.
The most expensive air defense system ever created by Russia is the S-400. In 2018, India contracted to buy four complexes, consisting of a central radar, launch vehicles and rockets, for $5.5bn.
On Sunday, Ukraine hit warehouses in Russia’s Oryol region filled with drone and thermobaric warheads, causing secondary detonations. The Ryazan oil refinery, which produces diesel for tanks and jet fuel, is where the general staff reported their drones hit.
Russia’s defence ministry said it thwarted a huge Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Wednesday, downing 104 UAVs over several regions.
But Ukraine’s general staff said drones had successfully attacked the Nizhny Novgorod refinery, which supplies the Russian military, setting it alight.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, said the Lukoil-owned plant was the fourth largest oil refinery in Russia, producing up to 17 million tonnes of products per year.
Zelenskyy stated on Sunday that the US election had not yet affected Ukraine’s weapons supply, despite the impact of executive orders from US President Donald Trump on humanitarian initiatives.
“What I do is focused on military aid, it has not been stopped, thank God”, Zelenskyy said.
In response to concerns that US military support might be cut, European allies have rushed to pledge aid.
On Monday France pledged 6 billion euros ($6.2bn) in military and financial aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s gas flows are condemned by Slovakia.
Meanwhile, Robert Fico, the Slovak premier, called Zelenskyy “an enemy of Slovakia,” a simmering conflict between Ukraine and NATO allies.
The remark, reported by Dennik N, an independent news service, was said during a discussion about Russian fossil gas in Slovakia’s parliamentary economic committee on Tuesday.
“Our enemy is Zelenskyy. The issues we are currently facing were caused by Selenskyy. I don’t like him because he is harming Slovakia”, Fico reportedly said.
He made reference to the end of Ukrainian gas flows on January 1st, the day Ukraine’s contract with Gazprom expired.
“There will not be a contract – that is clear”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in December. “Okay, we will cope – and Gazprom will cope”.
Russia’s energy exports support Moscow’s military, according to Ukraine’s long-standing grievances.
This month, Ukrainian President Vladyslav Vlasiuk told EU ambassadors in Kyiv, “It’s time to stop the petrodollar flow that fuels Russia’s aggression.”
Nine days later, Putin boasted that the 2024 budget received $13.15bn more from oil and gas sales than expected.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “Russia is interested in continuing this trade”.
In this conflict, both sides have attempted to use force, with Russia and Russia restricting Russian oil flows, putting pressure on European economies and stifling Ukraine’s military aid.
Because they are landlocked, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria claim to rely on Russian gas more than the majority of EU and NATO members to support their economies.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy claimed that the US’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) would make a better choice than Europe.
“American LNG must be paid for with money, but Russian gas must be paid not only with money, but also with independence and sovereignty”, Zelenskyy said. Many people in Europe have already chosen to maintain their independence and sovereignty. But not Mr. Fico”.
The two men don’t lose each other’s love.
Last December, Fico became the second EU leader to visit Moscow during the war, after Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
Zelenskyy claimed that Fico was pursuing personal gain.
“We are fighting for lives, Fico is fighting for money, and hardly for Slovakia’s money”, Zelenskyy said in his evening address on December 23.
He claimed Fico refused to pay Slovak consumers’ higher gas prices because of the higher costs. “For some reason, he finds Moscow more profitable”, said Zelenskyy.
This week, Fico faced a challenge to his rule after surviving an assassination attempt last year.
Opposition parties, citing his pro-Russian foreign policy, attempted to hold a no-confidence vote against his government on Tuesday and Wednesday. They were scheduled to try again on February 4 after failing to gather the MPs’ quorum required to support the motion.
There will be more punishment.
An EU agreement to introduce a new package of sanctions against Russia reportedly contained guarantees for Hungary’s energy security.
Hungary has previously opposed sanctions against Russia, but it has reportedly been accepted for a 16th round of sanctions.
Unnamed individuals cited by Bloomberg reported on Monday that the EU was considering ejecting 15 Russian banks from the interbank secure transfer system and imposing a gradual ban on imports of Russian aluminum. 70 vessels involved in Russian oil-related illicit trafficking were also sanctioned.
On Monday, the EU and Russia both agreed to extend their current sanctions.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply