WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

In Bakhmut's ruins, Ukraine says intensity of Wagner attacks growing

A Ukrainian brigade commander fighting in the ruins of Bakhmut said Russian mercenary forces have stepped up shelling and artillery attacks in recent days and were not facing a munitions shortage, despite its chief's claims to the contrary.

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has complained for weeks that Russia's army is depriving his Wagner troops of enough ammunition to capture the eastern Ukrainian city, where months of fierce fighting have been dubbed the "meat grinder".

Reuters has not been able to independently confirm the situation on the ground there.

Ukrainian Colonel Roman Hryshchenko, the commander of Ukraine's 127th Territorial Defence Brigade, rejected Prigozhin's claims in an interview by video link.

"They haven't had anything even close to a munitions deficit. In the last few days, the intensity of shelling and rocket artillery has increased," Hryshchenko said.

He said Russian forces were conducting constant assaults in the city - and that Ukrainian troops were beating them back.

"The situation is difficult. The enemy is throwing a great deal of its forces at us, constant waves of assaults," he told Reuters late on Wednesday.

He and the rest of his brigade have inhabited the ruins of Bakhmut for nearly two months, he said.

He messaged shortly after the interview to say the positions where he had spoken from had been set ablaze by a strike.

He said Russian forces were suffering casualties several times higher than his unit, but declined to give numbers.

"(Russia) is losing a great deal of its troops… Bakhmut has already fulfilled its main task, and continues to fulfil it. Here, we are butchering the enemy's manpower," he said.

The former military prosecutor said only 30% of his brigade, which was originally recruited as a local territorial unit in March 2022 when their home city of Kharkiv was attacked, had previous combat experience but they were now seasoned soldiers.

"They (Russian forces) don't just retreat by themselves. It's a big, arduous task, and we need to work very hard to drive them out," he said. "For every metre, ten metres, section of trench, for every building, we need to try very hard."

He suggested that news from Bakhmut, of an unspecified nature, would be coming "soon", smiling but declining to expand.

"I ask everyone to have a little bit of patience, and you will see," he said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian military clarifies frontline situation in Ukraine

Russian Defense Ministry has denied rumors of a large-scale Ukrainian counterattack, noting in a statement late on Thursday that the situation along most of the frontline appeared to be relatively calm, with the only heavy fighting in and near Artyomovsk, also known as Bakhmut.

“Reports by certain Telegram channels of ‘breaches of defenses’ in several places along the line of contact are not accurate,” the ministry said around 11 pm Moscow time. “The general situation in the area of the special military operation is under control.”

According to the Russian military, the last remaining part of Artyomovsk was being stormed with air force and artillery support, while there was an “ongoing battle” to repel the attack of Ukrainian units in the direction of Malo-Ilyinkovka, northwest of the city, with “heavy enemy casualties in lives and equipment.”

Eight Ukrainian attacks and three attempts at reconnaissance in force were repelled on the Donetsk front, the Russian military said. Russian forces continue efforts to take all of Marynka and blockade Avdeevka.

Ukrainian troops attempted two company-sized attacks towards Kremennaya but were repulsed. Three scouting parties were defeated further north, near Kupyansk. The ministry first said there had been no “active operations” on Kherson or Zaporozhye fronts in the south, but later published a list of Ukrainian losses on the Kherson front from Russian artillery, and reported shooting down 12 HIMARS rockets and a Su-25 ground attack jet.

Earlier in the day, multiple military correspondents had reported that the Ukrainian counter-offensive might have started, with a “breakthrough” near Artyomovsk and several attacks all along the frontline. One reporter cited military sources to claim the Ukrainians had used chemical weapons at a stretch of the Zaporozhye front as well.

Kiev has not commented on Thursday’s movements so far. Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed his military still needed more time to prepare before the long-awaited spring attack.

** US begins passing confiscated Russian money on to Ukraine

US Attorney General Merrick Garland has authorized the first-ever transfer to Ukraine’s state coffers of expropriated Russian funds.

In a statement on Wednesday, the official said the money seized from Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev will be sent for the reconstruction of Ukraine, in response to Moscow’s military operation in that country, which began in February 2022.

“While this represents the US’ first transfer of forfeited Russian funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine, it will not be the last,” the Attorney General stated.

Last year, the US Department of Justice charged Malofeyev with sanctions evasion. At the time, prosecutors claimed the businessman had provided financing for Russians promoting separatism in Crimea, the formerly Ukrainian territory that reunified with Russia in 2014.

At the time Garland announced “the seizure of millions of dollars from an account at a US financial institution traceable to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations.”

Washington and its allies have been debating the issue of expropriating Russian funds since last year, arguing over, among other aspects of the scheme, the legality of using such frozen assets to help Ukraine.

The US Department of Justice has launched a dedicated unit called KleptoCapture to help enforce sanctions on Russian government officials and business figures, targeting their yachts, jets, real estate, and other assets.

In December, the US Congress passed a law directing the State Department to award certain proceeds from confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine. The first such transfer was approved in February and involved $5.4 million seized from Malofeyev.

Moscow has called Western attempts to transfer the seized assets to Ukraine “barbarism,” saying that, if necessary, Russia will respond in kind. Moscow has also described the freezing of its assets as “theft,” warning that it violates international law.

Reuters/RT/Tass