NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels that he believed a new large-scale Russian offensive in Ukraine had already begun.
“We don’t see any signs that President Putin is preparing for peace,” Stoltenberg said ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers scheduled for Tuesday. “We see that President Putin and Russia still want to control Ukraine. We see how they are sending (over there) more and more troops, more weapons, more power.
At a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, defense ministers from several of Kiev’s NATO allies are due to discuss possible additional military assistance to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said the main items on the talks’ agenda would be air defence, the formation of a “tank coalition”, troop training and logistical support.
Ukraine stresses that it needs fighter jets and long-range missiles to counter the offensive and retake territories captured by Russia.
Stoltenberg also said the meeting could discuss the issue of aircraft deliveries, but those deliveries will take time, as Ukraine now needs urgent battlefield support.
On Monday, Bakhmut came under heavy artillery fire from Russia. The Ukrainian army, which had already held out there for several months, was ready for further ground attacks, signaling that the positions at Bakhmut had been fortified.
The Ukrainian army said that over the past day it repelled several attacks in the Bakhmut region, as well as attacks in the Kharkiv, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
In recent days, the frontline village of Chasov Yar has come under intense shelling.
Russian troops attempt to cut off Ukrainian forces from the path to Bakhmut.
Luhansk region governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Monday Russian forces attacked Belogorovka from different directions.
“But our forces fought there,” he told Ukrainian television. – The same situation was in the direction of Kremennaya – there were a lot of them (Russian troops). But they withdrew after fighting with our troops.”
