According to White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, Russia has some offensive capabilities and “can make tactical advances in the coming months,” but this would involve huge losses.
ADVERTISING
The Russian army suffers heavy casualties, “thousands of dead,” in its attempt to carry out an offensive near the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
According to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, Russia retains some offensive capabilities and “may make tactical advances in the coming months,” but this would involve huge losses caused by the lack of appropriate equipment and coordinated management. Kirby said Russia was using the “human waves” tactic, sending poorly trained and poorly equipped soldiers into battle even though they knew they would be killed.
Offensive on Avdiivka
Avdiivka, located on the border with the breakaway territories, became one of the first targets of Russian offensives when the full-scale invasion began. Nevertheless, despite their best efforts, Ukrainian forces managed to maintain control of the city throughout the war. Currently, Avdiivka is an enclave in Russian-controlled territory and is semi-encircled, but remains connected to the rest of Ukraine. Of the over 31,000 residents before the war, around 1,600 civilians still live in the city.
War budget
The Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) approved the draft budget for 2024 on Thursday. While Russian media labels it a “social budget,” Western observers point out that for the first time in modern history, Russia’s military and security spending is above budget social spending. This gap becomes even clearer when one considers that many “social” proposals would also be used for war, such as greater support for the military recruiting commission, increased spending on “patriotic education,” etc. .
In this context, Volodymir Zelenskyy demanded in his speech at the EU summit that the 12th sanctions package currently being discussed was “more important than the previous ones”. The Ukrainian leader particularly emphasized the problem of Russia’s evasion of sanctions and the fact that the oil price cap “does not work as it was originally intended.”