WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine 'holding back' powerful Russian offensive, Kyiv top commander says

Ukrainian forces are restraining one of Russia's most powerful offensives since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion on its smaller neighbour, the top commander of Kyiv's forces said on Saturday.

Russian troops advanced in September at their fastest rate since March 2022, the month after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, according to open-source data. Ukraine in August took part of Russia's Kursk region.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine are holding back one of the most powerful Russian offensives from launching a full-scale invasion," General Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

After failing to capture the capital Kyiv early in the war and win a decisive victory, Putin scaled back his war ambitions to taking the Donbas industrial heartland in Ukraine's east, which covers the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Donbas has since become the war's main theatre, where some of biggest battles in Europe for generations have taken place and where thousands of troops on each side have died.

On Saturday, Moscow said it has taken two more settlements along the Donbas frontline. In the week of Oct. 20-27 alone, Russia captured nearly 200 square km (80 square miles) of Ukrainian territory, according to the Russian media group Agentstvo, which analysed Ukrainian open-source maps.

The war is entering what Russian analysts say is its most dangerous phase as Moscow's forces advance, North Korea sends troops to Russia and the West ponders how the conflict will end.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been travelling the world lobbying NATO countries to allow Kyiv the use of the long-range missiles they have provided to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Ukraine is bracing for what could be the toughest winter of the war after long-range Russian airstrikes destroyed what officials say is about half of its power generating capacity.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Zelensky ‘worn and stressed’ – NYT

The sense of pessimism is growing in Kiev as Ukrainians anxiously await the outcome of the nearing US presidential election and are dealing with low morale and weapons shortages, the New York Times reported on Friday. It said that US military and intelligence officials believe that the conflict is “no longer a stalemate,” given Russia’s streak of successes on the battlefield. 

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky “looked worn and stressed, anxious about his troops’ battlefield setbacks as well as the US elections,” when he met with American officials in Kiev last week, the Times said. Ukrainian troops are forced to deal with low morale, lack of reinforcements, and the inability to outgun the Russian forces.

The Times cited an unnamed Ukrainian major stationed at the border near Russia’s Kursk Region as saying that the Ukrainians are “constantly losing previously occupied positions,” while Moscow’s forces have an advantage in men and artillery. 

According to the Times, US officials believe, however, the Ukrainians would have a chance to exploit “Russia’s weaknesses” if the aid from Washington “remains strong until next summer.” 

The Russian troops have been steadily gaining ground in recent months, having captured the heavily fortified mining town of Ugledar in the Donbass early last month. Moscow has also launched an offensive aimed at pushing Ukrainian army units from the Kursk Region, which was invaded in August.

Zelensky has appeared increasingly worried over the course of the conflict, admitting earlier this year that Kiev effectively became “a hostage” of the highly unpredictable US election. He urged Kiev’s foreign backed in July to redouble their efforts and help to end the conflict “as soon as possible.” 

The BBC reported earlier this week that soldiers and ordinary Ukrainians were closely watching the presidential campaign in America, where Republican candidate Donald Trump, his running mate J.D. Vance and several prominent Republicans proposed conditioning aid to Ukraine or canceling it altogether. 

“We should never give money anymore without the hope of a payback, or without ‘strings’ attached. The United States of America should be ‘stupid’ no longer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in February. He repeatedly described Zelensky as “the greatest salesman on Earth”and claimed that, if reelected, he would quickly resolve the conflict between Moscow and Kiev through diplomacy. 

Reuters/RT