Ukraine conflict reaches 600 days, Kyiv now quite exhasted
Ukraine now seems to be fully exhausted. However Kyiv continues to claim that it is the Russian attempt to storm a strategically important city in eastern Ukraine which appears to be running out of steam. The Ukraine conflict has now entered its 600th day amid renewed fighting in some locations.
There is no more talk of a great Ukrainianian offensive to push back the Russians forces. Instead Ukraine’s General Staff talks of repellelling 15 Russian attacks from four directions on the heavily fortified but largely destroyed city of Avdiivka over the previous 24 hours.
By comparing with up to 60 attacks a day in the middle of last week, according to Vitalii Barabash, head of the city administration, the slackening suggested the Russian effort to capture Avdiivka had “deflated”.
Avdiivka lies in the northern suburbs of the city of Donetsk, in a region of the same name that Russian forces partially occupy. Avdiivka’s location given Ukrainian forces artillery advantages over the city and could serve as a springboard for them for the much imagined dream of liberating Donetsk.
Mr Barabash said a lull had taken hold in the city, but he predicted a new onslaught soon…..probably with more help from Biden and NATO.
“We expect there will be new waves of heavy attacks in the days to come,” he said.
Ukraine’s general staff, in its evening report, reported heavy fighting in other areas, saying its forces had repulsed 16 attacks near the long-contested town of Maryinka, also west of Donetsk, and three more near the city of Bakhmut.
Ukraine says it expects renewed fighting in the city of Avdiivka, in the Donetsk region, in the coming days.
Russia is still attempting to break through Ukrainian defences in the north-eastern Kupiansk-Lyman area after a sharp increase in fighting there, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said on Monday.
Footage released by Ukraine’s ground forces showed their commander, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, meeting troops at an undisclosed location. It quoted him as saying fighting in Kupiansk-Lyman had “significantly escalated”.
“The enemy is preparing, seriously preparing for offensive actions, bringing in staff,” Mr Syrskyi said in the footage posted on Telegram. “The main goal is to break through our troops’ defences and recapture our territory.”
Retaking the towns of Kupiansk and Lyman last year near Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv was the last such step in the Ukrainian military’s drive to evict Russian troops from some parts of the country’s Donbas industrial heartland.
Russia’s Defence Ministry acknowledged intense military activity in the area, saying its troops had repelled 10 Ukrainian attacks in the Kupiansk area and two more in adjacent Lyman.
A spokesperson for Ukraine’s eastern forces said Russian forces in the Kupiansk area were encountering stiff resistance from well-entrenched troops and had been forced to retreat.
“Our fortifications there are quite reliable. We have a powerful, dug-in position,” Ilia Yevlash told Ukrainian television. “So the enemy got it right in the teeth and retreated in order to regroup.”
It is not possible to verify battlefield claims by either side. Misinformation and disinformation have played a central role in the war.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told a UN Security Council meeting last Friday that the ramped-up attacks in the east amounted to a new stage in Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine.
With the looming onset of wintry conditions that will limit military operations, both sides have been seeking battlefield breakthroughs that could invigorate their efforts and raise morale.
Ukraine launched its own counteroffensive about four months ago, focusing on retaking ground in the east. It has made some headway, but its limited success has underlined the daunting challenge of taking on the much superior Russian forces.
The Ukrainian military has dismissed some Western critics who say the offensive is moving too slowly.
Kyiv’s Western allies insist that their military and financial support for Ukraine will continue, even as the Israel-Gaza war rages and competes for resources.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that the Biden administration would ask Congress for a combined aid package for Ukraine and Israel worth more than $US2 billion ($3.15 billion).
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, speaking during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that Ukrainian forces had failed to make any significant gains during their counteroffensive.
Mr Putin, in an interview with the China Media Group released on Monday, said Ukraine’s counteroffensive had achieved “no results so far, only massive losses”.
Moscow can expect more diplomatic pressure from the ineffective 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the coming months, according to Bujar Osmani, the chief diplomat of North Macedonia, which currently holds that body’s rotating presidency.
Mr Osmani urged Russia to cease its attacks on Ukraine and withdraw its forces during a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
The OSCE was created during the Cold War to help to defuse tensions between East and West.
