War in Ukraine | Apparent stagnation in Donbass

Fierce fighting continues in southern and eastern Ukraine, where Russian troops are advancing with difficulty. The Kremlin says military aid from the West has slowed its “special operation” but will not prevent it from achieving its objectives.

Mark Thebodo
Press

Ukrainian troops oppose

Russia and Ukraine continue to engage in intense fighting in the east and south of the country, which, according to Moscow, has killed hundreds of soldiers in recent days without changing the ground conditions. Russian troops are advancing very slowly, especially in the Donbass, which is a regime priority. “They seem to be stagnating. They are progressing almost a meter from one village to another,” underscores Pierre Jolicœur, deputy rector for research at the Royal Military College Saint-Gene.

Many analysts have ruled that the geographical structure of the region will be conducive to the advance of Russian forces, but it is not counting that the increased military capabilities of the Ukrainian military, provided by many Western nations with increasingly sophisticated weapons. Joliegoire mentions. Countries.

Eugene Rumor, a Russian expert affiliated with the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace, believes that the Russian military is still struggling to implement a “consistent strategy” to ensure significant gains in the sector, even after suffering heavy losses in the Kiev region. The frustration felt by Moscow is manifested by the intensity of the bombings, the analyst underscores, provoking a “war of destruction” that will last several months.

Conflicting information regarding Mariupol

Contradictory reports were circulating on Thursday about the situation of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians staying in a large steel complex beyond Moscow’s control in Mariupol, in the south of the country.

According to Reuters, one of the Ukrainian commanders there released a video in which he said the “bloody” fighting had been going on for three days. The soldier accused the Russian “enemy” of not respecting the promise to allow the evacuation of civilians.

The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov assured that no attack had taken place on his side and that Russia was maintaining its intention to open a humanitarian corridor to allow other evictions. According to Pierre Jolicoeur, the complete capture of the city would be a “significant symbolic victory” that President Vladimir Putin may wish to seal on May 9, Victory Day, which commemorates the surrender of Nazi Germany.

A new UN mission to evict the last civilians rooted in the Azovstal steel complex. The convoy is expected this Friday, however a ceasefire in the fighting is not guaranteed. Despite this uncertainty, Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, announced on Thursday that the new convoy was heading to the city of martyrs.

Arms distribution

Russia has stepped up strikes on transport infrastructure in western Ukraine in hopes of preventing the influx of weapons from several Western countries, according to the War Research Institute.

The United States recently announced its intention to increase armed support for the rule of President Volodymyr Zhelensky. Washington says the current campaign is aimed at halting the Russian military, but weakens it to prevent a recurrence of military action launched in Ukraine.

The U.S. is also assisting in providing strategic intelligence on advances in Russian forces. The New York Times On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Defense denied that the information would help Ukrainian militants kill several high-ranking officials stationed on the ground. “It is true that the United States is sending intelligence to Kiev to help Ukrainians defend their country,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. But he added, “We did not provide information on the whereabouts of senior military commanders on the battlefield and did not participate in the target decisions of the Ukrainian military.”

According to the US channel NBC, information provided by the US helped Ukraine sink the Russian ship. Moscow, The first of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea on April 14. According to anonymous officials quoted by the chain, Ukrainian forces asked the Americans for information about a cruise in the Black Sea. The Americans would have identified the building Moscow And would have clarified its position.

The actions of Dmitry Peskov, the United States, the United Kingdom and other NATO countries prevented the Russian operation from ending ‘quickly’, but did not prevent Moscow from achieving its goals.

Security guarantee for Sweden

As the situation on the ground came to a standstill, war-related diplomatic maneuvers continued unabated. NATO said on Thursday that it was accelerating its presence near the borders of the Baltic Sea and Sweden.

Its general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, expressed hope that “solutions” would be found to prevent a Russian offensive during the transition period. Both Sweden and Finland need to decide soon whether to proceed with the process, while Moscow raises the possibility of retaliation.

Vladimir Putin has apologized to Israel for calming the diplomatic crisis caused by the recent departure of Israeli Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Volodymyr Zhelensky, a Jew, tried to justify Adolf Hitler’s claim to have “Jewish blood” on Italian television on Sunday by saying that Moscow wanted to “decimate” Ukraine. Diplomatic intervention provoked the anger of Israeli leaders, who, unlike most Western nations, were careful to impose sanctions on Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.

With Agencies France-Press and the Associated Press