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| Sofiia Gatilova/REUTERS |
Ukrainian president says Kyiv is waiting for more weapons deliveries to maximize gains
Ukraine made further gains against Russian forces in the eastern city of Bakhmut on Thursday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky said the military needs more time before it can launch a much-anticipated major counteroffensive to recapture territory it has lost.
Russian state TV journalists and Ukrainian troops said Ukraine had seized back more ground in Bakhmut, which has been contested by both sides for months, as part of an offensive to push back Russian forces holding all but the westernmost districts of the city.
“Right now Ukrainian forces are actively advancing in the Bakhmut direction,” Major Maksym Zhorin, a soldier on the Bakhmut front, said in a post on Telegram. “The enemy has largely switched to defense.”
Yevgeny Poddubny, a front-line journalist for Russian state TV, confirmed Ukraine had launched an offensive in Bakhmut to surround Russian forces, which have been weakened by months of attritional warfare that has inflicted tens of thousands of casualties predominantly to the Wagner paramilitary group spearheading Russia’s offensive there.
Reports of Ukrainian gains in Bakhmut come on the back of other successful assaults this week that have allowed it to claw back ground in the city and deal a blow to Russian forces seeking to dislodge the last Ukrainian units holding several blocks.
On Thursday, Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine needs more time before it can launch a counteroffensive against Russia, because its military hasn’t received equipment pledged by Western allies and the cost in lives could be too great if it were to proceed now.
“With what we have we can go forward,” Mr. Zelensky said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., referring to arms supplied by Ukraine’s partners, “and I think we can be successful. But we will lose a great many people. I think that’s impossible. So we need to wait. We need some more time.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its 15th month, has been accompanied by an information war as both sides press their narrative. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Mr. Zelensky’s statement was a bluff aimed at deceiving Russian forces preparing for a Ukrainian attack that Kyiv has been telegraphing for weeks. --->READ MORE HERE
The Ukrainian army on Wednesday said that Russian forces have begun to retreat in the key city of Bakhmut — just as President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that more time is needed to prepare for a counterstrike.
The hotly contested eastern Ukrainian city that has been the backdrop for many of the war’s fiercest battles has seemingly been abandoned by some Russian troops, according to Ukraine’s ground forces commander.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian troops in parts of Bakhmut have retreated following triumphant counterattacks left Wagner troops fatigued.
The units that fled have moved about 1.2 miles back, he said.
“In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to 2 kilometers,” or about 1.2 miles, Syrskyi wrote in a Telegram post.
The Ukrainian offensive left Wagner forces depleted, prompting the Russian command to fill some flanks with less professional units.
“Despite the significant concentration of troops and the loud statements of Russian war criminals about their intention to take Bakhmut by May 9, the enemy was still unable to capture the Ukrainian city,” he said --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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