Ukrainian forces clinging to the eastern city of Bakhmut dug new trenches in an attempt to hold back Russian attackers, as the United States said new military aid for Ukraine would be discussed at a meeting with Germany’s leader on Friday.
Russian forces have been attacking Bakhmut in Donetsk province for months, sometimes in waves and the site has become one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
Fighting is going on in Bakhmut round the clock…The situation is critical,” Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine, told Ukrainian NV Radio.
In the past 24 hours Ukrainian forces have repelled more than 170 attacks in the five principal sectors of the front line, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said on YouTube on Thursday night.
Zhdanov described Russians trying to encircle Bakhmut from the north, east and south and he said that on western approaches to the city his is probably the only part of the Bakhmut sector where our forces, rather than the Russians, have the initiative.
Russia, which gained more territory in the second half of 2022, says taking Bakhmut would be a step towards seizing the rest of the surrounding industrial region known as the Donbass.
Ukraine says the city has limited strategic value but wants to exhaust Russian forces.
Russian shelling hit military positions in Bakhmut and several nearby towns – including Chasiv Yar, the biggest town to the west – and two towns south of Bakhmut.
In nearby towns and villages, new trenches had been dug on the roadside 20-40 metres (65-130 feet) apart, a sign that Ukrainian forces need strengthening defensive positions.
There are many more Russians here than Ukraine has ammunition to destroy them, Nazarenko said. The number of enemy soldiers is not what matters. What matters is technology.
Washington will announce a new $400 million military weapon aid package for the Kyiv government, and is expected to be a major topic between U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when they meet at the White House, officials said.
The United States has provided nearly $32 billion in weaponry to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, which invaded its pro-Western neighbor on February 24, 2022 last year.
The Biden administration is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia, U.S. officials and other sources said.
China has denied considering such assistance, and U.S. officials have not publicly provided evidence for their assertion.
Just before Russia’s invasion, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met to seal a no limits partnership between their countries that has caused anxiety in the West.
Russia accused the West of blackmail and threats and said it had China’s support for its position as the meeting ended without a joint statement.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she raised Russia’s intervention of Ukraine with China’s foreign minister Qin Gang on the sidelines the meeting in New Delhi and told reporters afterward that all countries want to see China do the right thing and not supply weapons to Russia.
Reuters / ABC Flash Point WW III Blog News 2023.
If this Ukraine proxy NATO war is lost, it means the end of the US dollar! That is why the western outlets say, they must win this war against Russia?