Russia’s offensive in the Donbass, which is progressing “slowly and unevenly” due to resistance by the Ukrainian army, has been caught on schedule, a senior Pentagon official said on Friday. Despite this slowdown, the rivalry continues to cause severe losses on both sides.
We think they fell short of what they hoped to achieve in the Donbasstold the press its senior official requested anonymity.
They were caught for at least a few dayshe pointed out. They are far from having a connection troops entering the Kharkiv region, north of Donbass, and those coming from the south of the country, one of the goals of the Russian army was to seize in a pincer movement the Ukrainian forces deployed on the front line around the separatists Donetsk and Luhansk areas.
” They don’t move very fast. A few kilometers a day is the maximum they can do because they are pushed back. “
Even though the fight has already begun, we believe they continue to create conditions for a longer, larger and longer offensiveadded senior U.S. Department of Defense officials.
He explained that the Russian forces don't want to make the same mistakes as in kyivwhere rows of tanks were jammed by Ukrainian forces armed with shoulder missile launchers.
The artillery fire and airstrike they launched on the Ukrainian forces had no desired effect, as the Ukrainians continued to resisthe says. That is why we believe their progress has been slow and uneven over the past 24 hours.
After the failure of its initial offensive in the direction of kyiv, Russia focused its efforts on occupying all the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk administrative regions, which have been partially controlled since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists.
Strong defeat on both sides
Russia’s offensive in the Donbass was launched last week. Since then, Ukraine has admitted to losing several small towns near the front lines.
The adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, Oleksi Arestovych, assured us, however, that the slow progress of the Russian forces was at the cost of losses greater than those they had experienced in a month of fighting in the north of kyiv. .
" We are suffering severe losses, but the Russians are even higher. They are huge. "
Meanwhile, Russia continues to hammer the entire front line in the Donetsk region using rockets, artillery, shells and aircraft.
The Battle of Donbass remains Russia’s priorityunderlined the British Ministry of Defense, noting particularly intense fighting around the cities of Lyssytchansk and Severodonetsk.
In part, the Ukrainian army claims to have taken the small town of Rouska Lozova, an area of strategic importance because it is located on the highway that connects Kharkiv to the city of Belgorod, Russia.
It was from the village that the enemy carried out targeted fire on civilian infrastructure and accommodation of Kharkivexplained the command of the ground forces of Ukraine.
Fight while waiting for reinforcements
For the kyiv authorities, the challenge is to fight as much as possible to allow the arrival in front of the heavy weapons promised in recent days by the West, in particular the United States.
President Joe Biden on Thursday asked Congress to release an unprecedented $ 33 billion. Of this amount, 20 billion should be used to provide military assistance.
Faced with the acceleration of Western aid to Ukraine, Moscow has in recent days increased the threats of World Wareven a possible nuclear strike, while increasing pressure on European countries by cutting gas in Poland and Bulgaria.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Russia does not consider itself at war withNATO present.
Source: Radio-Canada
