WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Ukraine's Zelenskiy warns of 'difficult defence' in east as cold sets in
Ukrainian troops face "difficult" defensive operations on parts of the eastern front with bitter winter cold setting in, but forces in the south are still conducting offensive actions, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.
Russian troops launched offensives on different sections of the front line in Ukraine's east this autumn, trying to advance on the devastated town of Avdiivka and in the northeast between the towns of Lyman and Kupiansk.
"Difficult weather, difficult defence on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Donetsk and Avdiivka fronts. Offensive actions in the south," Zelenskiy said on Telegram messenger.
The Ukrainian general prosecutor's office said one man died when Russian forces shelled Avdiivka, another in an attack on Chasiv Yar to the north and a third in the southern city of Kherson. In the town of Sedylove in the east, a third body was pulled from rubble after a hospital was struck on Tuesday.
Operations could be complicated by cold weather, with daytime temperatures of minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) expected to dip as fighting moves to an attritional phase.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and now controls nearly a fifth of its territory. A Ukrainian counteroffensive, under way since June, has made no major breakthrough.
The front line has changed little in Avdiivka since fighting erupted in 2014 between Kyiv and Russian-backed militants, but the town has faced waves of attacks since mid-October, followed by temporary lulls, according to the Ukrainian military.
After one such lull the day before, the head of the "Tavria" military command said on Wednesday that Russian troops had "dramatically increased" the number of assaults and airstrikes.
"Our defenders are steadfastly holding the defence in the Avdiivka direction," Commander Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said on Telegram. Ukrainian forces continued the offensive on the southeastern Melitopol front, he added.
In its evening report, Ukraine's General Staff said 22 Russian attacks had been beaten back in and around Avdiivka.
Military analyst Oleksandr Musiyenko told NV Radio that Ukrainian forces had launched counterattacks near Avdiivka in the past week and "managed to push the enemy back from previous positions".
In an earlier battlefield report, the General Staff said troops were holding bridgeheads secured on the eastern side of the River Dnipro occupied by Russian forces in the early days of their invasion.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said the latest gathering of military officials from Western countries helping Ukraine had set up a "coalition to develop air defence" led by France and Germany. Kyiv sees improving air defences as critical to its drive to evict Russian troops.
In its account of the fighting, Russia's Defence Ministry said its troops had struck Ukrainian troops and equipment near Bakhmut, another devastated town north of Avdiivka.
Reuters could not independently verify frontline reports.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Ukraine feeling Western ‘conflict fatigue’ – FT
Kiev is “nervous” that Ukraine is losing Western support after the failure of this summer’s counteroffensive and urgently needs the US and the EU to double down on sending it money, weapons and supplies, editors of the Financial Times urged on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin “may feel for now that the odds have shifted in his favor in his gamble that he can outlast the West,” the editorial said.
“The counteroffensive that Ukraine had hoped would begin to drive out Russian troops — and convince its allies that they were backing a winner — has not produced the hoped-for breakthrough,” the editors acknowledge.
According to the FT, Ukraine faces a series of problems. The EU can’t seem to unblock its “peace facility” funding. In the US, the White House is having a hard time getting Congress to pass another aid bill. Meanwhile, the West’s attention – and resources – have been diverted by the Israel-Hamas war.
However, the outlet insisted that “support for Ukraine remains solid” in both the US and the EU, though it called the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House an “alarming” prospect for this policy.
Arguing that “in wartime, perception can be as important as reality,” FT editors proposed a series of measures the West could take “to convince Ukraine of their engagement for the long term,” from sending Kiev more money and weapons to a promise of EU membership.
The EU “must quickly find a way” to implement the €50 billion ‘Peace Facility’ funding, and “fast-track plans” to send Ukraine the profits from interest earned by frozen Russian assets, and invite Ukraine to start membership talks, according to the British outlet.
FT also demanded more and better sanctions against Russia and more military production in Europe, so as to meet General Valery Zaluzhny’s “useful shopping list of the high-tech tools” needed by the Ukrainian military.
“On the military front, allies need to speed up the supply of fighter jets, and training of Ukrainian pilots, to provide vital air cover to ground forces. They need a more systematic approach to the supply of arms — rather than simply donating stocks of surplus and outdated weapons,” FT editors declared.
Since the hostilities with Russia escalated in February 2022, Ukraine has burned through most of its original tanks and armored vehicles, relying on donations of mothballed Soviet hardware from NATO members – and eventually NATO equipment like Leopard tanks and Bradley IFVs – to replace them. The US and its allies have largely run out of stockpiled ammunition and are struggling to ramp up new production, falling short of the deliveries they promised.
Even if the West somehow managed to supply Kiev with all the weapons it wanted, Ukrainian officials told Time Magazine earlier this month, Ukraine would lack the manpower to operate them. According to Russian estimates, Kiev has lost more than 100,000 troops since its counteroffensive began in early June.
Reuters/RT
