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| Photo: Manu Brabo for The Wall Street Journal |
Kyiv must reclaim territory in Crimea and the east effectively seized by Russia in 2014, Maj. Gen. Budanov says
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said the country would keep fighting until it evicts Russian forces from all of its territory—including Crimea and other areas effectively seized by Moscow in 2014—and called for deliveries of longer-range heavy weapons and warplanes from the West to help.
“I don’t know any borders except the borders of 1991,” Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said, referring to the year of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union. “Who can force Ukraine to freeze the conflict? This is a war of all Ukrainians, and if someone in the world thinks that they can dictate to Ukraine the conditions under which it can or cannot defend itself, then they are seriously mistaken.”
In an interview in his Kyiv office, Gen. Budanov, one of the architects of the country’s war effort, said that to speed its counteroffensive Ukraine urgently needs medium- and long-range missile systems, large-caliber artillery and strike aircraft to offset Russian advantages in manpower and equipment.
“We have already begun an offensive in certain points, but a large-scale offensive without these weapons will be very difficult,” the general said.
With peace negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv stalled, Ukrainian forces have been pushing Russian forces back in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, reclaiming a string of villages in recent days. In the coming months, Gen. Budanov said, the military would shift its focus to driving Russia from areas it has occupied in the country’s south as well as the eastern Donbas region.
The U.S. Congress approved on Thursday an additional $6 billion in direct military aid to Ukraine and $8.8 billion in economic assistance to the Ukrainian government. Washington in recent weeks has delivered about 90 M777 howitzers, the first major shipment of North Atlantic Treaty Organization-standard heavy weapons. Another 18 are on the way. --->READ MORE HERE
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| REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo |
In a sign of Russia's urgent need to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, parliament said on Friday it would consider a bill to allow Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to sign up for the military.
The website of the State Duma, parliament's lower house, said the move would enable the military to utilise the skills of older professionals.
"For the use of high-precision weapons, the operation of weapons and military equipment, highly professional specialists are needed. Experience shows that they become such by the age of 40–45," it said.
Currently, only Russians aged 18-40 and foreigners aged 18-30 can enter into a first contract with the military.
Russia has suffered huge setbacks and heavy losses of men and equipment in the 86-day-old war, in which Ukraine has mobilised practically its entire adult male population. Despite taking full control of the ruins of Mariupol, Moscow remains far from its objective of seizing all of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. read more
"Clearly, the Russians are in trouble. This is the latest attempt to address manpower shortages without alarming their own population. But it is growing increasingly difficult for the Kremlin to disguise their failures in Ukraine," said retired U.S. General Ben Hodges, a former commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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