Zelensky visits Ukrainian troops in Kherson and calls for more military aid from Europe

First modification: 03/23/2023 – 19:54

The Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, visited the city of Kherson for the second time, a town that was retaken by Ukraine in November 2022 and that was the only regional capital that came under Russian power.

From there, the president supervised the military work and promised to rebuild all the buildings destroyed during the fighting against the Russians in recent months.

Zelensky has launched a campaign of visits to the front a few days after the Russian head of state, Vladimir Putin, did something similar in the Crimean peninsula and in the Ukrainian city, taken by Russian forces, of Mariupol. The Ukrainian president traveled to Bakhmut on Wednesday, March 22, and to Kharkiv, where he made promises of military advances.

Ukraine seems to be at a key moment in the war, having withstood the harshest winter months and not having given up the city of Bakhmut, in the greater Donbass region, in the east of the country, after weeks of Russian siege.

The intensity of the Kremlin’s attacks seems to have decreased on that part of the front and some voices indicate that the time could be near to launch a counterattack similar to the one experienced last year between late summer and autumn. A movement for which more weapons would be necessary.

A stagnant front in recent months that could change

The war has been going on since the beginning of winter with practically no territorial changes. The Ukrainian Army has withstood what was feared to be a negative phase for its interests in the conflict and has had virtually no losses on the ground.

What has happened is that in the massive combats in towns like Bakhmut, both sides have suffered huge casualties of personnel and an exorbitant expense of weapons and ammunition, in what is already considered the biggest battle in Europe since World War II. .

The situation seems to be changing. In recent days, the intensity of the Russian attacks on the town has decreased significantly and the Ukrainian forces are considering the possibility of retaking the town completely and launching a counter-attack from there. This was promised by Zelensky on Wednesday during his visit to the front and this is also being warned by Yevgueni Prigozhin, the head of the Russian Wagner paramilitary group.

Prigozhin stated a few weeks ago that Bakhmut was about to fall and warned his Ukrainian rivals that it was best to retire. Many analysts agreed that kyiv should perhaps consider doing so. However, he redoubled his efforts to maintain this city, of limited strategic value but high propaganda symbolism.

Now the situation seems to have changed and, according to Prigozhin himself, Ukraine could have up to 80,000 soldiers deployed in the area. A number that represents a danger to Wagner’s fighters.

This decrease in the intensity of the fighting in Bakhmut could also be due to the fact that Moscow has given up the town for lost and has begun to move to other points on the front.

For example, British military intelligence said Thursday that Russia had partially regained control over access to the eastern Ukrainian city of Kreminna after its troops were expelled from the region earlier this year.

“In some places, Russia has made gains of up to several kilometres,” British military intelligence said in an update, adding that Russian commanders are likely trying to expand a security zone and are also trying to recapture the Kupiansk logistics center in the Kharkiv region.

On the southern front, Zelensky was supervising the work of the artillery in Kherson, where for months they have been trying to bombard the other bank of the Dnieper River, where Russian troops are based. This city was retaken in the last great Ukrainian advance on the front, but continues to suffer daily bombardments and systematic power cuts.

The Slovak planes arrive, but Zelenski asks Europe for more material

The first four Slovak MiG-29 fighters have been delivered to Ukraine, a spokeswoman for the Slovak Ministry of Defense confirmed on March 23.

“The first four MiG-29 fighter jets have been delivered to the Ukrainian armed forces,” Martina Kakascikova said in a statement, ensuring that the other nine promised aircraft will be transferred “in the coming weeks.”

The Government of Bratislava, along with the Polish, had been one of the few in the European Union that had committed to sending combat fighters.

Most of the nations of the Old Continent have been in charge of preparing and sending tanks and weapons or training the Ukrainian military, something that is falling short for Kiev given the demands of the confrontations and that is putting European military supplies on the ropes.

Despite this, Zelensky urged his European partners to send modern aircraft and long-range missiles to kyiv to defend against Russian air attacks.

During his speech, the president thanked the agreement reached this week by the European Union to speed up the shipment of one million shells to his country in the next twelve months, but at the same time he demanded that the delivery of the Leopard tanks be speeded up.

The Ukrainian head of state also called for the EU to extend its sanctions on Russia with a new package and to speed up his nation’s accession process to the European Union.

With Reuters and EFE