Russian troops continue to advance in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian army announced on Tuesday. According to them, this indicates that the offensive is not weakening, despite the fact that Moscow has failed to achieve a single major victory this winter.
For more than four months, the front lines barely moved, despite heavy casualties on both sides.
In an evening video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said “Ukraine’s future is being decided” in fighting in the east of the country, including in Bakhmut, where Ukrainian military officials say enough Russian soldiers are dying to justify fighting for a devastated and almost surrounded city.
“It’s very hard in the east – very painful,” Zelenskyyy said. “We must destroy the military might of the enemy. And we will destroy it.”
Ukrainian officials say they are preparing a counteroffensive later this year when hundreds of Western tanks and armored vehicles arrive.
The British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that Moscow was experiencing an ammunition shortage “to such an extent that in many areas of the front there is an extremely rigid ammunition saving system”.
“This has almost certainly been one of the main reasons why no Russian unit has recently been able to take any operationally significant offensive action,” the UK intelligence daily update said.
Ukraine also faces an ammunition shortage and ultimately less manpower to engage in a battle of attrition on equal terms with Russia.
“We can lose everything here that we wanted to use for the counteroffensive,” Ukrainian military analyst Oleg Zhdanov said of the Bakhmut battle.
Both sides report new civilian casualties near the front.
Zelenskyy said that in central Kramatorsk, Russian rockets hit six high-rise buildings, killing at least one person and injuring three others.
