Ukraine Prepares Counteroffensive As Russia Assaults Bakhmut Flags

The Ukrainian army said Friday morning that 1,020 Russian soldiers had been killed in the previous 24 hours when they launched unsuccessful attacks on the towns of Lyman, Avdiivka, Mariinka and Shakhtarske. But his main focus was still the mining town of Bakhmut.

“The enemy has not stopped his assault on Bakhmut”, UkraineGeneral Staff in a report.

Russian forces have been trying for months to capture Bakhmut as they seek to extend their control over eastern Ukraine, in Europe’s deadliest infantry battle since World War II.

Ukrainian forces have stopped them, as they did again at Avdiivka, Mariinka and Shakhtarske, among 80 Russian attacks repelled by Ukrainian defenders over the past day, the army said. There was no immediate word from Russia about the latest fighting and Reuters he was unable to verify the reports from the battlefield.

A Ukrainian defender fires at the enemy with an American PSRL-1 RPG. #bakhmut. pic.twitter.com/Gooo346Wal

— NEXT (@nexta_tv) March 22, 2023

Ukraine’s ground forces commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said earlier that his forces would soon begin a counteroffensive after holding out against Russia’s winter campaign. He said Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, who have been at the forefront of Moscow’s assault on eastern and southern Ukraine, “are losing considerable strength and running out of energy.”

“Very soon, we will seize this opportunity, as we have done in the past near Kyiv, Kharkiv, Balakliya and Kupiansk,” he said, listing Ukrainian counter-offensives last year that recaptured swathes of land.

There was no immediate response from Moscow to suggestions that its forces in Bakhmut were losing momentum, but Wagner’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin issued statements in recent days warning of a Ukrainian counterattack.

‘Calmer’

Reuters Journalists near the front north of Bakhmut saw signs consistent with the suggestion that the Russian offensive in the area may be winding down. In a Ukrainian-controlled village west of Soledar, on the northern outskirts of Bakhmut, the intensity of the Russian shelling decreased markedly from two days earlier.

“It was very hot here a week ago, but in the last three days it has been calmer,” said a Ukrainian soldier who used the call sign “Kamin” or “Stone”.

“We can see this in enemy airstrikes. If before there were five-six air strikes in one day, today we had only one helicopter attack,” said the military.

Zelenskyy said Europe must increase and accelerate its arms supply, again calling for long-range missiles, ammunition and modern aircraft, and impose additional sanctions on Russia.

“If Europe waits, the evil may have time to regroup and prepare for years of war,” a clearly frustrated Zelenskyy said in a video address to European Union leaders Thursday, delivered from a train.

At the EU summit, leaders approved a plan agreed by foreign ministers on Monday to send 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next year. They also discussed global food security and sanctions on Russia.

Britain has pledged to supply armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to help destroy Russian tanks, a move that President Vladimir Putin said would force a response from Russia since the weapons had “a nuclear component.” Slovakia said on Thursday that it has delivered the first four MiG-29 jets it has promised to Ukraine, with the rest to be delivered in weeks.

focus change

A Russian slowdown in Bakhmut could mean it is diverting its troops and resources to other areas. Britain said on Thursday that Russian troops had advanced further north this month, partially regaining control over the approaches to the city of Kreminna. Further south, heavy battles were also raging.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov agreed with that assessment. He said on YouTube that Russia’s attacks on Bakhmut were subsiding and that he was shifting his efforts south to the town of Avdiivka.

Russian forces have become more active in northern areas in the Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, as well as in the central Zaporizhzhia and southern Kherson regions, he said.

Zelenskyy had continued a tour of the frontline provinces on Thursday, visiting the southern Kherson region a day after meeting troops near Bakhmut.

A video showed him meeting with residents in Posad Pokrovske, a bombed-out town on the former Kherson front line recaptured in Ukraine’s latest breakthrough last year.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it calls a “special military operation,” saying Ukraine’s ties to the West were a security threat. Since then, tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides have been killed.

Russia has destroyed Ukrainian cities and forced millions of people to flee. She says that she has annexed almost a fifth of the Ukraine. kyiv and the West call the war an unprovoked assault to subdue an independent country.