The future of Ukraine depends on the eastern battlefields: Zelenskyy
Ukraine’s future depends on the outcome of the battle raging around Bakhmut and other key cities and towns in the east of the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said in a video address late Monday that Ukraine’s future depends on the destruction of Russian forces attacking Bakhmut and other war-torn areas in the country’s eastern Donetsk region.
“It is very hard in the east, very painful. We must destroy the enemy’s military power, and we will,” Zelenskyy said.
“Bilohorivka and Marinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Kamyanka,” said Zelenskyy, naming the main battlefields and adding, “and all the other places where our future is being decided. Where our future, the future of all Ukrainians, is being fought for.”
“I am grateful to everyone who is in the fight right now…. to all who never abandon those who are next to them on the front lines.”
Russia has said capturing Bakhmut opens a path to taking control of the entire Donetsk region, a central war target for Moscow.
After weeks of hard and bloody fighting, the Ukrainian army says it has not withdrawn from Bakhmut and intends to keep fighting to inflict serious casualties on the Russian strike force, which reportedly has a large number of soldiers in the fight thrown. fighting without regard for casualties.
Russian forces led by Wagner’s mercenary army have taken eastern Bakhmut but have so far failed to encircle the city, despite announcements in recent weeks that a Ukrainian defeat was imminent.
NATO also warned last week that Bakhmut could fall within days.
Ukraine’s armed forces that continue to fight have drained and exhausted Russian forces in Bakhmut, which has also diverted Russia’s focus and firepower from launching a planned counterattack in the spring, Ukrainian officials say.
A Ukrainian counterattack to relieve Bakhmut is increasingly expected.
According to Russian reports, several Ukrainian brigades were assembled for this purpose between the cities of Sloviansk and Kostyantynivka. However, so far the mud typical of this time of year, when winter snow melts in Ukraine, has not allowed a rapid advance of paved roads.
Ukrainian soldiers deployed near Kreminna, north of Bakhmut, said Monday they were fighting off intensified Russian attacks.
In a wooded area some 5 miles from the front in Bakhmut, Ukrainian artillery roared, firing at Russian positions to the northeast, while explosions rumbled constantly in the distance as the heavy battlefield progressed.
Mykhailo Anest, a 35-year-old Ukrainian medic, told Reuters news agency there was still heavy artillery and mortar fire, but the fighting was less than last month.
“Two or three weeks ago the fighting was at its peak, but it has calmed down a bit,” he said.
The battle over Bakhmut is also being fought on social media as Russia spreads disinformation, Kiev alleges.
Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communication said on Monday that Russia was spreading Facebook ads about alleged successes by Russian troops through anonymous channels.
It claims, among other things, that the battle for Bakhmut is “lost from a Ukrainian point of view” and that “the West does not believe in Ukraine”.
Other reports include that the US would cut its arms shipments because “Ukrainian authorities have been caught in theft”.
“The occupiers want to undermine the confidence of Ukrainian society in the government by claiming that the battle for Bakhmut is lost and that our allies have abandoned us,” the communications authority wrote.
Bakhmut officials said on Monday that more than 4,000 people still live in the city, including 33 children.