Russia’s feared new offensive has already begun says NATO chief

Russia’s feared new major offensive in Ukraine has already begun, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Monday, warning that Ukraine is using more munitions than the military alliance produces.

“We do not see any sign that (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin is preparing for peace (…) What we see is that President Putin and Russia continue to want to control Ukraine,” he said, almost a year after Moscow started the war. in February 2022.

“We see how they are sending more troops, more weapons, more capabilities.”

Russia is widely believed to be planning a major new offensive to regain momentum in the war, which has been stalemate since Ukraine’s counter-offensives last year that recaptured vast swaths of its territory.

Ukraine says it needs main battle tanks, fighter jets and long-range missiles to counter this and take back more of its lost territory.

Stoltenberg said he expected the issue of the planes to be discussed at the next two-day meeting in Brussels of NATO defense ministers starting Tuesday.

“Now there is also a discussion on the issue of planes and I hope it will also be taken up tomorrow at the Brussels meeting,” he said.

Stoltenberg also stressed that NATO countries supplying Ukraine with fighter jets would not make NATO a party to the conflict.

He said that while there was ongoing discussion among the allies over Ukraine’s demands that aircraft be sent to the battlefield, the key focus was on making sure that the necessary amounts of weaponry reached the Kiev forces on time and that the allies comply with the commitments already assumed. in heavy weapons and armored vehicles.

“It’s clear we’re in a logistics race,” Stoltenberg said.

“Key capabilities like ammunition, fuel, and spare parts must arrive in Ukraine before Russia can seize the initiative on the battlefield. Speed ​​will save lives.

Norway’s former prime minister called on NATO to “increase production” of ammunition, as he said Ukraine’s rate of use is far exceeding current capabilities and depleting stockpiles.

‘Ukraine’s current rate of spending on ammunition is many times higher than our current rate of production. This puts our defense industries under pressure,” he said.

Stoltenberg admitted that NATO was facing a “problem” as current lead times for large caliber ammunition have increased from 12 to 28 months.

But he insisted that he was confident that the steps taken so far meant that NATO members were “on the path that will allow us to continue to support Ukraine, but also to replenish our own reserves.”

Ukraine’s Western backers, who have supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons, will meet in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss Kiev’s arms demands, as Stoltenberg said Russian President Vladimir Putin is “launching new offensives”.

As defense ministers prepare to meet, Ukraine’s presidential office said fierce battles were continuing on the outskirts of Bahkmut as Russian forces advanced on the eastern Ukrainian city with heavy shelling and infantry attacks.

At least five civilians have been killed and as many wounded in fighting across the war-torn country in the past 24 hours.

Ukraine’s presidential office said the situation in the northern Bakhmut suburb of Paraskoviivka is “difficult” as Russian forces continue to hit the area with “heavy shelling and assault actions.”

The nearby town of Vuhledar is also under heavy shelling.

Russian forces shelled a dozen cities and towns in the Donetsk region in the past 24 hours, including in Druzhkivka, where a missile hit a hospital, and in Pokrovsk, where shelling damaged seven houses and a nursery.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said: “The shelling is intensifying and the Russians are amassing more forces to attack peaceful cities.

“We are looking at a very tough battle in which the Russians are not forgiving themselves or us.”

In the neighboring Lugansk region, Russian troops withdrew after several days of heavy fighting near the key city of Kreminna, although they are not running out of strength, Governor Serhii Haidai told Ukrainian television.

In the partially occupied southern region of Kherson, artillery fire hit more than 20 cities and towns in the past 24 hours, including the regional capital of the same name, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in November.

Two men were killed in one of the villages when their car hit a land mine.

In the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, the Russian shelling of the city of Nikopol killed one person and wounded two others. The shelling also damaged a residential building, a water treatment plant and a university.

Meanwhile, the UK Defense Ministry said Russian forces are reinforcing defensive fortifications on the edge of the battlefront in southern Ukraine to protect their flank, despite their focus on the Donbass region.

“This is demonstrated by the continued construction of defensive fortifications in the Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk oblasts and the deployment of personnel,” he told a briefing on Monday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied on Monday that a second round of mobilization is in the offing.

Although many people have fled Donetsk province, where most of the fighting is concentrated, those who chose to stay are dependent on sporadic deliveries of food and water.

In the northern Donetsk city of Sviatohirsk, the few remaining residents rely on volunteers from the World Central Kitchen organization for food and supplies to cope with freezing temperatures. Sviatohirsk was liberated by Ukrainian forces in September.

On Sunday, the area was covered in snow, hiding the massive destruction from repeated shelling and heavy fighting.

Standing next to the ruins of the town hall building, resident Valeriy Andrievskiy said the building used to be “beautiful.”

‘God forbid our forces withdraw and we stay (behind enemy lines). God forbid. I will not survive this one more time,” he said.

Walking near the ruins of her home, Tamara Yevdokimova, 80, said she had been “tortured” by Russian forces.

‘I haven’t been able to hear for five months… They (the Russians) have broken my teeth. What I can do?’ she said. In her yard were the charred remains of a Russian tank.

People who left the front in search of safety are still struggling to adjust to a new life elsewhere.

In kyiv, dozens of people from the Donbas, Kherson and Kharkiv regions are receiving help from the Center for Hope and Recovery, an organization that provides temporary housing and meals.

“These are people who have left in the past what they have gained over the years, and this is a very traumatic experience,” said the center’s director, Anna Harkun.

They receive psychological and medical help, while volunteers help them find work and permanent accommodation, he added.

Russian rockets destroyed the home of 80-year-old Anatoly Zakharenko in the Donetsk village of Terny.

His disabled wife, daughter and granddaughter were evacuated and are being helped in the city.

Missing his hometown, he wrote a poem to ease the pain of displacement. ‘I’ll come back to you, believe me,’ she said, reading it aloud.