Ukrainian soldiers board an armored car on the way to the eastern town of Bachmout on July 1, 2023 (Genya SAVILOV)
Ukraine admitted on Sunday that Russian forces were advancing in four areas of the Eastern Front where “hard fighting” was taking place, but reassured its troops were advancing in the south about a month after the start of their counteroffensive.
“The enemy is advancing in Avdiivka, Mariinka and Lyman Oblasts,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar wrote on Telegram. “It’s also making progress in the Swatowo sector.”
“The situation is quite difficult,” she continued. “Everywhere there is fierce fighting.”
Sixteen months into the Russian invasion, Ukraine says it is continuing a counter-offensive launched about a month ago that has so far failed to spark any decisive progress, and is urging its Western allies to speed up promised military aid ahead of a NATO summit in Vilnius.
Asked about the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations also said he saw “no reason” to extend the deal, which allows Ukrainian grain exports despite the conflict and is due to expire in July.
For Gennady Gatilov, the agreement reached in July 2022 has turned away from its humanitarian goals and has become a “commercial project” that mainly supplies “high-income countries,” he said in an interview with Russian media outlet Izvestia published on Monday.
And the corridors used “are regularly used by Ukrainians to launch military drones,” the diplomat added.
“What we see today gives us no reason to accept the continuation of the status quo.”
On June 21, Kyiv said it was not “very optimistic” about a possible extension of the deal after Moscow again threatened to withdraw because certain clauses had not been honored.
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– “As quickly as possible” –
On Sunday, Ukrainian officials announced that they had fallen victim to a fresh night-time drone strike on Kiev for the first time in 12 days.
“All enemy targets in the airspace around Kiev were detected and destroyed,” said Serhii Popko, head of the capital’s military administration.
The Ukrainian Air Force said in a separate statement that it shot down eight Iranian-made Sahed drones and three cruise missiles.
The deputy defense minister added on Sunday that Ukrainian troops advanced with “partial success” on the southern flank of the eastern city of Bakhmout, as well as near Berdyansk and Melitopol in the area south of the front lines.
To the south, Ukrainian forces encountered “strong enemy resistance” and minefields and advanced only “gradually,” she said.
Ukrainian troops “are continuously and tirelessly working to create the conditions for the fastest possible advance,” she wrote.
– lack of armament –
In an interview published by the Washington Post on Friday, Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Valery Zalouzhny estimated that Kiev’s armed forces were being held back by a lack of armament. In particular, he had called for the delivery of American F-16 fighter jets.
“They are necessary, there is no other solution,” he told the American daily.
He also bemoaned the lack of artillery in the face of the barrage of Russian fire.
Around 60 people, including writer Victoria Amelina, were seriously injured in a Russian attack on a restaurant in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. The Ukrainian author died on Saturday, the NGO PEN Ukraine said, bringing the death toll from the bombing to 13.
“When the decisions are made, it is obvious that many people are dying every day, and in large numbers,” stressed Mr Zaloujny.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who received Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Saturday, had criticized Kiev’s western partners for the speed with which the training of Ukrainian airmen, accustomed to Soviet MiGs and Sukhoi, to fly F-16s was implemented becomes.
“There is no schedule for training missions. I think some partners are reluctant. Why do they do that? I don’t know,” he said.
US Chief of Staff Mark Milley from Washington replied that the United States and its allies are doing their best to send Ukraine what it needs.
The delivery of F-16 tactical missiles or ATACMS missiles to them is “on the table, but no decision has been made yet,” he said.
The counter-offensive “is progressing more slowly than we predicted,” he also said, but “war is like that.”
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