WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces launch big push on key eastern Ukraine city

Russian forces were pressing on with a major push on the key eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on Wednesday after many months of besieging it, Ukrainian military officials said.

The Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had redirected large numbers of troops and equipment to Avdiivka in their largest attack on the town since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Major assaults have been under way since Tuesday.

Russian accounts also indicated the fighting had intensified, saying Moscow's forces had "improved their position in the immediate outskirts around Avdiivka". "It is not quite as heated as yesterday, but the battles are continuing," Vitaliy Barabash, head of the town's administration, told national television, noting about two dozen hits in the town's old district and others in the city centre.

"This is the largest-scale offensive action in our sector since the full-fledged war began."

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed forces said 10 enemy attacks on the town had been repelled.

Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern group of forces, told the television that Russian forces were pressing their attacks "sometimes using infantry and in some areas deploying quite a lot of vehicles into battle".

Most attention in the Russian military's push through the eastern Donbas region has focused for many months on the city of Bakhmut, captured by Moscow troops in May.

But Avdiivka, home to a large coking plant to the southwest in Donetsk region, has been under attack for virtually the same length of time. Much of the town has been reduced to rubble.

Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in June focusing on two theatres. The aims include securing areas around Bakhmut in order to retake the town and recapturing villages in the south on a drive towards the Sea of Azov to sever a Russian land bridge between positions Moscow holds in the south and east.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials acknowledge that the advances, undertaken with the help of Western equipment, have been slower than hoped.

But they dismiss suggestions by Western critics that the counteroffensive is too sluggish and hampered by strategic errors.

** NATO assures Zelenskiy of support even as world's eyes turn to Mideast

NATO members assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday that they would sustain military aid to his country as it braces for another wartime winter, even as Western attention focuses on the fallout from Hamas' attack on Israel.

Defence chiefs issued the assurances as Zelenskiy visited NATO headquarters in Brussels for the first time since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

His visit came against the backdrop not only of violent turmoil in the Middle East but also political turbulence in the U.S. Congress, which has held up approval of aid for Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was confident that members of the military alliance would continue to support Ukraine as it was in their own security interests.

"We have the capability and the strength to address different challenges at the same time," he added. "We don't have the luxury of choosing only one threat and one challenge."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered a similar message.

“In terms of our ability to continue to support both the efforts in Ukraine and support the efforts in Israel as well, absolutely, we can do both and we will do both,” Austin told reporters.

After attending a meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group of some 50 nations that support Kyiv, Zelenskiy welcomed the assurances but acknowledged there was uncertainty.

"My question was ... will your support be less than now?" Zelenskiy told reporters. "The partners say 'no'. But who knows how it will be? I think nobody knows."

Zelenskiy stressed Ukraine's need for more air defence systems - as it braces for Russian attacks on its energy grid through the coldest months of the year - as well as artillery and ammunition to allow its forces to keep fighting in winter.

Ukraine started a counteroffensive over the summer to try to retake territory in the south and east but has so far failed to make major breakthroughs in Russia's network of fortifications and minefields.

"The winter air defence is a significant part of the answer to the question of when this war will end and whether it will end justly for Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.

FRESH PLEDGES

Stoltenberg pointed to a series of fresh pledges of military aid to show NATO members remained committed to Kyiv.

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Austin announced a new $200 million defence package for Ukraine on Wednesday, including air defence munitions and weapons to counter Russian drones.

Washington has provided $44 billion to supply Kyiv with dozens of tanks, thousands of rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition, but support is falling among Americans of both main political parties.

On the eve of the meeting, Germany announced a new "winter package"worth around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) that includes new air defence systems, while a UK-led group of countries announced help with mine-clearing.

Zelenskiy also secured promises of F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and Belgium, though the latter were slated for delivery in 2025.

He made explicit comparisons between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"Terrorists like Putin or like Hamas seek to hold free and democratic nations as hostages and they want power," he said.

Russia has denied targeting civilians and has blamed the West for the war in Ukraine, saying it had no choice but to launch what it calls a "special military operation" there. It describes as baseless suggestions from Ukraine that Moscow is seeking to inflame the situation in the Middle East.

Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, says its attack was justified by the plight of Gaza under a 16-year-old blockade and the deadliest Israeli crackdown for years in the occupied West Bank.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Support not ‘indefinite’, White House tells Ukraine

The US is running out of money for Ukraine unless Congress approves additional funding, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

“In the near term, we’ve got appropriations and authorities for both Ukraine and for Israel,” Kirby said during the daily press briefing. “But you don’t want to be trying to bake in long-term support when you’re at the end of the rope.”

“And in Ukraine, on the Ukraine funding, we’re coming near to the end of the rope,” he added. “Today we announced $200 million, and we’ll keep that aid going as long as we can, but it’s not going to be indefinite.”

Asked to define “near term,” Kirby said he could not point to a specific date, because that depended on how quickly Ukraine and Israel expended their equipment and ammunition “or what the need is and what our ability to do it is.”

On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson assured reporters that the US had the ability to “continue our support both to Ukraine, Israel, and maintain our own global readiness.”

Kirby, however, admitted that the money previously appropriated for Ukraine by Congress is “not going to last forever” and that the lawmakers needed to approve more and soon.

“The sooner there’s a speaker of the House, obviously, the more comfortable we’ll all be in terms of being able to support Israel and Ukraine,” he said.

House of Representatives has not had a speaker since last Tuesday, when Kevin McCarthy  became the first-ever speaker to be ousted in a House vote, over an alleged secret deal with the White House to approve more Ukraine funding. Several Republicans led the charge against their California colleague, backed by all of the minority Democrats. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican nominee to succeed McCarthy, has been supportive of funding Ukraine in the past.

Since February 2022, when the conflict with Russia escalated, the US has channeled almost $44 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine, as well as billions more in cash, humanitarian and economic assistance.

** Zelensky ‘starting to annoy’ everyone in US, Europe, says Kremlin spokesman

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has found himself in a rather challenging situation, as he is getting on the nerves of everyone in the United States and Europe, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Moscow. The Kremlin. Putin TV program, an excerpt of which was posted on anchor Pavel Zarubin’s Telegram channel.

"Zelensky is in a rather tricky position. First of all, he is starting to touch a nerve. He is starting to annoy everyone both in America and Europe," Peskov said.

"People are starting to wonder: What is this man spending our money on if Ukraine is a country most famous for, you know, being such an oasis of corruption on Earth?" the Kremlin spokesman said.

"Certainly, nobody likes it, and this dissatisfaction with Zelensky will grow," Peskov concluded, pointing out that the Ukrainian president feels this and "is beginning to crack."

Moreover, the Kremlin spokesman continued, "he [Zelensky] still has that professional greed: How could the weapons promised to me be given to Israel?"

"That is why things are not so easy for him. Things are not so easy. Traditionally, they are already spoiled and are used to this sort of mentorship. We will wait and see how [the situation] unfolds from here," the Russian presidential spokesman added.

Reuters/RT/Tass