A few days before the two-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, troops have been “urgently redeployed” to reinforce the Ukrainian Army near the Donbass, currently the epicenter of the fighting and shelling that has turned the eastern city of Avdiivka into a veritable “hell”.
(RFI) In Russia, a bomb attack attributed to Kiev on a Belgorod shopping center left at least six dead and 20 wounded, an apparent response to new Russian missile attacks fired at Ukraine during the night.
After the failure of the 2023 counter-offensive, Ukraine is now facing multiple challenges: Russian forces are on the offensive, American military aid is uncertain and the Ukrainian army lacks men, weapons and ammunition.
“At the moment, we are losing battles. The attacks are increasing, but everyone is resisting. Those who have been fighting for two years are already mentally exhausted,” a Ukrainian soldier from the Azov battalion told AFP.
The situation is particularly deteriorating in Avdiïvka, a Donbass town devastated by the fighting, where the Ukrainians’ position is increasingly precarious in the face of Russian forces who launched an offensive in October to surround the town.
“The third brigade confirms that it has been urgently redeployed” as reinforcements in this area, the unit said on Telegram on Thursday (15), in a message entitled “Avdiïvka hell”. “We are forced to fight in 360 degrees against new brigades,” said the unit’s commander, Andrii Biletsky.
According to the Telegram channel DeepState, which is close to the Ukrainian army and is followed by more than 600,000 people, the Russian forces advanced on Wednesday (14), with the situation “continuing to deteriorate due to incessant shooting”.
Other fronts
Russia also carried out a new attack during the night with 26 missiles, 13 of which were shot down, and which left at least one dead and nine wounded – three in Lviv, in the west, and six in Zaporijia, in the south of the country – according to the authorities.
In Kherson (south), a 67-year-old woman was killed this afternoon by a Russian attack, according to local authorities.
On the Russian side, a deadly attack attributed to Ukrainian forces targeted Belgorod, the capital of the region of the same name that borders Ukraine. Six people died, including a child, and 20 were injured, including four children, the Russian Health Ministry said on Telegram. Houses and a small shopping center were damaged in this city, which had already been hit at the end of December by the deadliest Ukrainian attack on Russian soil, with 25 dead and more than 100 injured.
Aid for reconstruction
After two years of war, the economic cost of the conflict is only increasing. Ukraine estimates that it will need 486 billion dollars to recover and rebuild the country, according to a new joint estimate by the Ukrainian government and the World Bank, released on Thursday.
To obtain more aid, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will travel to Germany and France on Friday (16) to meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron respectively.
In Paris, Zelensky will sign a security agreement between France and Ukraine. He will then return to Germany to give a speech at the Munich Security Conference and meet with US Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the United States, the main donor to Ukraine, the Republicans led by Donald Trump, former president and pre-candidate in the next elections, are interfering in Parliament against sending more aid to Kiev.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed on Thursday the “impact” this blockade has had on the battlefield.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***