In the Ukraine war, the Kiev government currently sees its troops in a “very difficult time at the front”. The bitter fighting was taking place in the country’s eastern Donbass in particular, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “The battle for Donbass is very similar to the fight in World War II.”
“Some towns and cities just don’t exist anymore,” Kuleba told reporters in Switzerland. “They were reduced to rubble by Russian artillery fire and Russian rocket launch systems.”
Russian troops in Donbass are currently mainly focusing on the strategically important industrial city of Severodonetsk. The situation is “very difficult” and “there is already fighting in the suburbs”, Governor Serhiy Gajdaj reported on online networks on Wednesday. “Russian troops are already close enough to fire mortars.” According to the governor, “next week could be decisive”.
Pro-Russian fighters supporting Moscow’s soldiers said late on Wednesday that Severodonetsk was “surrounded” on three sides. The only bridge leaving the city is now under Russian control, according to Russian news agency Interfax. This information could not be verified initially.
According to Kuleba, Ukraine “urgently” needs rocket launch systems to be able to resist Russian attackers. Kuleba explained in Davos that Russia is superior to Ukraine when it comes to heavy weapons. However, Kiev troops would have the biggest disadvantage with multiple rocket launch systems.