Global Courant 2023-05-12 07:49:24
Russia has denied that Ukrainian forces have made a breakthrough in the bloody battle for the city of Bakhmut, while the United Kingdom has become the first country to supply Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles.
Ukraine has been requesting long-range missiles from its Western allies for months, but has only been given shorter-range weapons, as supporters fear more advanced weapons would be used to hit targets on Russian territory and further escalate the conflict.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday that Storm Shadow cruise missiles — which have a range of more than 250 km (150 mi) compared to the US-supplied HIMARS range of about 80 km (50 mi) — will be sent to Ukraine. are sent.
“We just won’t stand by while Russia kills civilians,” Wallace told MPs when announcing that Storm Shadow missiles will be delivered to Kiev.
Wallace said the cruise missiles are being shipped for use on Ukrainian territory, implying he had received assurances from Kiev that they will not be used to hit targets in Russia.
The Kremlin previously said the UK’s delivery of such missiles would require “an adequate response from our military”.
Russia’s defense ministry was forced to deny reports on Thursday that Ukrainian troops had made progress in the months-long battle for Bakhmut.
“The individual statements on Telegram about a ‘breakthrough’ at several points on the front line do not correspond to reality,” the ministry said in a statement.
Pro-Moscow military bloggers have suggested that Ukraine’s long-awaited counter-offensive has begun quietly, while the head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said this week that Russian troops had withdrawn from some parts of Bakhmut and that Ukrainian troops north and south south of Bakhmut were raised. into the city which he also said was the beginning of the offensive.
In a video released on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday, Prigozhin said Russian troops were fleeing positions in Bakhmut because of the “stupidity” of their commanders.
“Today everything is being done to crumble the front line,” he said
Russia’s defense ministry said in the statement that Moscow’s forces repelled several Ukrainian attacks during the day, adding that the ongoing battle took place near Malynivka in the eastern Donetsk region and involved both air and artillery. Russian troops “continued to liberate the western parts” of the city of Bakhmut, it added.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Prigozhin and the Russian Defense Ministry’s reactions to Ukraine’s moves in Bakhmut “reflect increased panic in the Russian information space” about the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive .
NEW: Ukrainian forces probably broke through some Russian lines in local counter-attacks nearby #Bakhmutwith responses from #Wagner Group financier Yevgeny #Prigozhin and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD).
Last on #Ukraine of @criticalthreats: pic.twitter.com/FUpQG0CsvO
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) May 12, 2023
“The deployment of low-quality Russian troops on the flanks around Bakhmut suggests that the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has largely abandoned its goal of encircling a significant number of Ukrainian troops there,” the think tank said.
“Mentally we are ready” – Zelenskyy
Amid speculation that Ukraine’s counter-offensive may have already begun, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed more time before the operation against Russia began.
“Mentally we are ready…” Zelenskyy told the BBC. “In terms of equipment, not everything has arrived yet,” he said.
“With (what we have) we can move forward and be successful. But we would lose a lot of people. I find that unacceptable. So we have to wait. We need a little more time,” he said on Thursday.
Patrick Bury, senior lecturer in security at the University of Bath in the UK, said he was not surprised by Zelenskyy’s comments.
“When you’re Zelenskyy, you do everything you can to make sure you get everything you need,” he said before launching the offensive.
“On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if it started in the next few weeks, depending on the mud. … As of last week it was still one of the wettest springs they’ve had there in years … It’s just not favorable,” Bury said.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Musiyenko said Kiev’s allies should understand that a counter-offensive “should not lead to the complete expulsion of Russian troops and the final defeat of Russia in all occupied territories”.
“We have to be ready for the war to continue next year – otherwise it could end this year,” Musiyenko told Ukraine’s NV Radio.
“It all depends on how the fights develop. We cannot guarantee how the counter-offensive will develop.”
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