WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Russia fights to encircle Ukraine's defenders in Bakhmut
Russian forces pressed their offensive in eastern Ukraine as they attempted to encircle the small mining city of Bakhmut, the scene of the toughest fighting in battlefields saturated by rain and an early spring thaw.
Russia is trying to cut the Ukrainian defenders' vulnerable supply lines into the city and force them to surrender or withdraw. That would give Moscow its first major prize in more than half a year, and open the way to the capture of the last remaining urban centres in Donetsk region.
"The enemy is constantly destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions for fortification and defence. Our soldiers defending the area around Bakhmut are true heroes," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.
Ukraine's general staff said Russia had strengthened its forces in the Bakhmut area and was shelling settlements around the city.
Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk region hunkered in muddy trenches after suddenly warmer weather softened the frozen ground.
"Both sides stay in their positions, because as you see, spring means mud. Thus, it is impossible to move forward," said Mykola, 59, commander of a Ukrainian frontline rocket launcher battery, watching a tablet screen for coordinates to fire.
The spring thaw, known as the rasputitsa, has a history of ruining plans by armies to attack across the soil of Ukraine and western Russia, turning roads into rivers and fields into impenetrable bogs.
Reuters saw several military vehicles stuck in mud. In a trench, cut deeply out of the ground in a zigzag pattern, Volodymyr, a 25-year-old platoon commander, said his men were prepared to operate in any weather.
"When we're given a target that means we have to destroy it."
Its forces replenished with hundreds of thousands of conscripts called up late last year, Russia has intensified its attacks along the front in the east.
Western countries say several of Russia's assaults on Bakhmut have failed at high cost.
"Vicious battles are going on there. The command is doing everything it can to stop the enemy from advancing through our territory," Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military command, told Ukrainian television.
For its part, Moscow claimed to have destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near Bakhmut and shot down U.S.-made rockets and Ukrainian drones.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Russian forces had driven a wedge between the villages of Yadhidne and Berkhivka, on the northern approaches to Bakhmut, as they tried to cut the road west to Chasiv Yar.
"The southern part of Bakhmut is the only area which can be described as under Ukrainian control. In all other districts, the situation is unpredictable," he said in a video commentary, adding: "It is impossible to say where the front line lies."
YELLEN IN KYIV
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen became the latest senior Western official to visit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, promising assistance and more measures to isolate Russia after meetings with Zelenskiy and other officials.
Her boss, President Joe Biden, went there a week ago to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"America will stand with Ukraine as long as it takes," Yellen, flanked by sandbags at the Cabinet ministers' office, told Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Monday.
Yellen announced the transfer of the first $1.25 billion from the latest, $9.9 billion tranche of economic and budget assistance from Washington, and visited a school where teacher salaries are reimbursed by U.S. budgetary support.
She also backed completion of a fully financed program for Ukraine with the International Monetary Fund by the end of March.
Ukraine's military forces have mostly focused on holding defensive positions in recent weeks, but are expected to attempt a counter-offensive later this year using new weapons pledged by the West.
Zelenskiy pushed again for F-16 fighter jets that his Western allies have been reluctant to provide.
"Our pilots and anti-aircraft units, and other experts of our air force are doing a great job," Zelenskiy said in his nightly radio address. "But we will be able to completely protect our skies when the aviation taboo is fully lifted in relations with our partners."
The Feb. 24 war anniversary saw both sides trying to demonstrate their resolve for a second year of fighting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a major speech in which he abandoned the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States but announced no major initiatives to change the war's course.
He was upstaged by Biden, who journeyed to Kyiv and gave a landmark speech of his own in Warsaw.
Ukraine's outnumbered troops repelled Russia's attack aimed at taking the capital early in the war and later recaptured substantial territory. Russia still occupies nearly a fifth of Ukraine which it claims to have annexed.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
China hits back at US over Russia
The US is sending weapons worth billions of dollars to Kiev while warning Beijing against assisting Moscow, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman has insisted, adding that Washington is in no position to dictate Chinese-Russian relations.
“The US has no right to dictate the China-Russia relations, and we will never accept coercion and pressure from the US,” Mao Ning told journalists during a daily briefing on Monday.
She was commenting on allegations by senior US officials that Beijing has likely authorized the delivery of non-lethal aid to Russia despite warnings from Washington, and is considering the supply of artillery shells in the future.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned on Sunday that providing military assistance to Moscow “will come at real costs to China.” The US has already imposed Ukraine-related sanctions on two Chinese satellite companies.
Mao said Washington was peddling “false information about weapons” and sanctioning Chinese firms “for no reason,” describing this as “hypocritical” and “a blatant act of bullying.”
The US has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Ukraine, while Beijing has maintained a balanced position, promoting peace talks and a political solution, the diplomat claimed. “It is clear at a glance who is adding fuel to the fire,” she said.
The spokesman added that the sale of US weapons to Taiwan, a self-administered Chinese island, was undermining the relationship between the two nations, just like arming Kiev had fanned the flames of the Ukraine crisis.
The US has pledged to support Kiev for “as long as it takes” to defeat Russia. Beijing criticized Russia for sending troops into Ukraine, but blamed the US and NATO’s expansion in Europe for triggering the crisis. It has blasted Washington’s use of unilateral sanctions as a foreign policy tool.
** Russian forces strike Ukrainian army’s electronic intelligence center in Kiev Region
Russian forces struck the Ukrainian army’s electronic intelligence center in the Kiev Region over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Monday.
"In the area of the settlement of Brovary in the Kiev Region, the Ukrainian army’s radio-electronic intelligence center was struck," the spokesman said.
Russian forces struck Ukrainian manpower and equipment in the Kupyansk area, eliminating roughly 70 enemy troops in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Kupyansk area, units of the western battlegroup inflicted damage on the enemy manpower and equipment in areas near the settlements of Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Dvurechnaya, Gryanikovka, Masyutovka, Olshana, Liman Perviy and Sinkovka in the Kharkov Region," the spokesman said.
Russian forces eliminated enemy personnel and equipment during the battles, the general said.
"As many as 70 Ukrainian troops, three armored combat vehicles and two motor vehicles were destroyed in that area in the past 24 hours," Konashenkov reported.
Russian forces struck Ukrainian army units in the Krasny Liman area, killing and wounding roughly 140 enemy troops over the past day, he said.
"Forces of the battlegroup Center supported by operational/tactical aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems inflicted damage on the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Yampolovka and Torskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Chervonopopovka and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic as a result of their active operations in the Krasny Liman direction," the spokesman said.
The enemy lost about 140 troops killed and wounded, three armored combat vehicles, three motor vehicles, a Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer and a D-20 howitzer in that area in the past 24 hours, the general specified.
Russian forces supported by combat aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower systems destroyed over 250 Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Donetsk area, over 250 Ukrainian troops, two tanks, four armored combat vehicles, five motor vehicles and a D-20 howitzer were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of the continued advance by units of the southern battlegroup supported by air strikes, artillery and heavy flamethrower fire," the spokesman said.
In the area of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Russian forces obliterated an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army’s 72nd mechanized brigade, the general added.
"Also, in the area of the settlement of Novomarkovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a US-made AN/TPQ-37 counter-battery radar was destroyed," Konashenkov reported.
Russian forces delivered massive strikes on Ukrainian troops in the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas over the past day, he said.
"In the southern Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas, units of the battlegroup East inflicted damage by combined firepower on the Ukrainian army units in areas near the settlements of Ugledar, Nikolskoye and Prechistovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Zelyony Gai in the Zaporozhye Region," the spokesman said.
The Ukrainian army’s losses in that area in the past 24 hours amounted to "95 Ukrainian personnel, one tank, three armored combat vehicles, a motor vehicle, three pickup trucks and a D-20 howitzer," the general specified.
In the area of the settlement of Chervonoye in the Zaporozhye Region, Russian forces obliterated a Ukrainian ammunition depot, he added.
Russian forces eliminated roughly 60 Ukrainian troops and two enemy howitzers in the Kherson area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Kherson area, as many as 60 Ukrainian troops, four motor vehicles and two D-30 howitzers were destroyed in the past 24 hours as a result of damage inflicted by firepower," the spokesman said.
In addition, Russian forces wiped out an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army’s 63rd mechanized brigade near the community of Snigiryovka in the Nikolayev Region, the general added.
Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile system and an air defense radar over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"A Ukrainian Buk-M1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile system was destroyed near the community of Andreyevka and a 36D6 low-altitude target detection radar was obliterated near the settlement of Dobropolye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Russian forces delivered a strike on the Ukrainian army’s special operations center in Khmelnitsky over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, operational/tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery of the Russian group of forces struck 98 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 173 areas. In the area of the city of Khmelnitsky, the special operations center West was struck," the spokesman said.
Russian air defense forces shot down four HIMARS rockets and destroyed five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities shot down four rockets of the HIMARS multiple launch rocket system. In addition, they destroyed five Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in areas near the settlements of Kremennaya and Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, Kremenets and Novoandreyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Krynki in the Kherson Region," the spokesman said.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 390 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 211 helicopters, 3,248 unmanned aerial vehicles, 406 surface-to-air missile systems, 8,058 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,045 multiple rocket launchers, 4,228 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,574 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
Reuters/RT/TASS
