The Ukrainian Armed Forces assured this May 17 that they had made new advances against Russian troops in the disputed city of Bakhmut, in the east of the invaded country. Meanwhile, kyiv and Moscow are at odds over one of the biggest attacks on the Ukrainian capital that occurred a day earlier. The local Army rejects the Russian version that claims to have destroyed a US-made Patriot air defense system with a hypersonic missile.
After months of intense fighting, Ukraine assured in the last hours that it had made new progress in its mission to push back Russian troops from the besieged Bakhmut, in the east of the invaded country.
“We are successfully conducting a defensive operation, counterattacking and during this day our units have penetrated up to 500 meters in some parts of the Bakhmut front,” Ukrainian military spokesman Serhiy Cherevatyi said.
These would be new results in kyiv’s counteroffensive in that part of the country to recover their territories from the invaders. A day earlier, Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Ukrainian forces recaptured some 20 square kilometers of territory around Bakhmut during various operations in recent days.
For his part, Cherevatyi added that his army did not see any sign that the Kremlin military, backed by the Wagner mercenary group, is experiencing a lack of shells.
A statement that contradicts the statements of the head of the Russian private paramilitary force, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who on May 5 – and in a particular rebuke against the Russian Defense Ministry and Moscow’s military high command – pointed out a shortage of ammunition, to which he attributed great loss of life among his ranks and threatened to leave that town if his men did not receive more military equipment from the Kremlin soon.
“The enemy is trying to seize the city at will, attacking with all systems and calibers. There can be no talk of any kind of shell hunger (…) They are moving new units there (to Bakhmut), mainly paratroopers, in an attempt to achieve some kind of intermediate success,” Cherevatyi said on Wednesday.
Moscow has not commented on the advances declared by the Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut. The Russian Defense Ministry limited itself to noting that its soldiers were continuing to fight to capture western parts of the city and for the moment the information has not been independently verified, due to difficulties in accessing the terrain.
Earlier, Wagner indicated that he controlled 80% of that town, which Moscow sees as an important stepping stone towards capturing the rest of the greater Donbass region. But Ukraine is not willing to give up on the recovery of the entire city, as it prepares for an announced major counteroffensive, with which it aims to recover territories seized by Moscow both in the east and in the rest of the country.
Crossing of versions between Ukraine and Russia on the barrage of attacks against kyiv
A day after one of the biggest attacks on the Ukrainian capital since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered war 15 months ago, both sides of the conflict have released new information about the attacks.
Although kyiv’s air defenses repelled most of the missiles and drones launched by Moscow, in some details about what happened the statements of the two parties are opposite.
kyiv rejects the Russian version that it claims to have destroyed an American-made Patriot air defense system with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile, the most powerful long-range weapon in the arsenal of the Kremlin.
“Destroying the system with some kind of Kinzhal is impossible. Anything they say there may be in their propaganda file,” Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said.
In addition, two US officials indicated that a Patriot system had likely been damaged, but did not appear to have been destroyed, as the Kremlin insists.
It is a series of sophisticated air defense units supplied by the West to the invaded country and is considered one of the most advanced equipment in the US, including against assaults from aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. It usually includes launchers along with radar and other support vehicles.
On Tuesday, May 16, the equipment delivered by the West to kyiv showed its high effectiveness in intercepting and shooting down missiles as the invaders fired on the city from the sea, air and land.
Also, the Ukrainian forces maintain that during the attack they shot down six Kinzhal missiles, but Russia denied this. If confirmed, it was the first time Ukraine had fired a full blast from the weapon the Kremlin touts as the world’s most powerful, which would provide it with a competitive and strategic advantage in the war.
After the “exceptional” Russian attack due to its intensity, Kiev would be demonstrating the great utility of Western teams to measure itself against the most powerful Army in the world, just at a time when the stakes against its allies are increasing to receive more military aid.
Volodimir Zelenski especially advocates to strengthen its air defenses, the weakest point of the invaded country before the powerful Russian Army, mainly in battles in the regions.
F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the biggest disagreement between the Western allies
Despite the aid the invaded nation receives from NATO members and other allies, the supply of fighter jets remains a red line that the West for now avoids crossing. Europe and the United States have indicated that they would incur the risk of providing equipment that hits Russian territory, which could trigger a larger conflict.
This Wednesday and after the recent tour of Ukrainian President Volodímir Zelenski who met with the leaders of Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, whom he urged for these aircraft, the British Government tries to pass the ball to the United States.
Together with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Zelensky said they discussed the possibility of creating a “coalition” of F-16 aircraft, made in the United States and flown by several NATO nations.
But in the last hours, andhe UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace asserted that any decision to send fighter jets F-16 to the Ukrainian Army “will depend on the White House”.
His words came after a meeting with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, in Berlin, in which both They ruled out delivering such aircraft to the nation attacked by Russia, due to a lack of availability of suitable aircraft.
Wallace indicated that from his government they could support with training. “Obviously, we can contribute training and support, again, within limits, because we don’t have F16 pilots (…) We can do, what we have done throughout this, enable other people who want it,” he said.
For his part, the German defense minister maintained that his country does not have the capacity to provide training or military equipment around the supply of combat aircraft.
“We cannot play an active role in such an alliance, in such a coalition, because we don’t have the training capabilities, the competencies or the aircraft,” Pistorius said.
Ukraine stresses that it requires F-16 examples, indicating that they are “four or five times” more effective than the Soviet-era aircraft it currently has.
Any coalition of such aircraft donors would likely depend on backing from the United States, the largest operator of such planes, but so far Washington has also been reluctant.
C.on Reuters, AP and local media
