The top commander of Ukraine’s armed forces has admitted that the situation along the Eastern Front with Russia has “significantly deteriorated” amid renewed pressure from the Russian military.
Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Shirushkyi, assumed the top post in February following the ouster of Valery Zarzhiny, who called the war a “stalemate.” I have written He said on Saturday’s Telegram that Russia’s military is struggling to cope with escalating attacks by Russia, with recent improvements in weather conditions and Russia cementing President Vladimir Putin’s hold on power for at least another six years. He claimed that the attacks were intensifying due to the “election.”
“The situation on the Eastern Front has significantly deteriorated in recent days. This is mainly due to the significant intensification of the enemy’s offensive actions after the presidential election of the Russian Federation,” Shirschiky wrote during a visit to the Donetsk region.
The commander said Russian forces were actively trying to “break through” Ukraine’s defenses in Bakhmut, Lyman-Lion and Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region using “dozens of tanks” and other armored military vehicles. He said that In response to the invasion of Ukraine, they announced annexation in 2022, but they still do not have complete control over it.
Col. Oleksandr Shirushkyi, the supreme commander of the armed forces responsible for defending the Ukrainian capital, walks through a trench north of the Ukrainian capital Kiev, Tuesday, March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Gilda)
Shirschiky said the Russian attack was “facilitated by warm and dry weather, which made most of the open terrain accessible to tanks.”
Following the huge success of last year’s highly publicized attempt to fend off Ukraine’s “counterattack,” Kiev and Washington say Russia is planning a major offensive this year to fully occupy the entire disputed Donetsk region. There are growing concerns that this is a historical and strategic possibility. Important Kharkiv is Ukraine’s second largest city and former capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In preparation for a difficult battle with a better-armed and larger Russian army, Kiev has approved a controversial expansion of conscription to strengthen its military in the coming months.
But Ukraine continues to beg for more arms and funding from the West, especially the United States, with House Republicans skeptical of plowing more U.S. taxpayer dollars into the conflict, asking for an additional $64 billion. is blocking Democratic President Joe Biden’s request for more aid. That’s on top of the $113 billion already spent on the war effort.
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General Shirschiy said that “high-tech weapons” supplied by Western countries were the “only” way for Ukraine to “defeat the larger enemy and create conditions for blocking strategic initiatives.”
But even if Ukraine receives more weapons from Western countries, the country’s top commander acknowledged that it still faces significant problems, especially around training new recruits.
“The second serious problem is to improve the quality of training of military personnel, mainly infantry units, so that they can take full advantage of all the capabilities of military equipment and Western weapons,” Shirschiky said. .
Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy insisted the government had plans for further counterattacks, but said they would depend on weapons supplied by the United States and European allies.
It is unclear whether Mr. Zelenskiy has already shared his plans with Washington. In February, Ukrainian leaders said last year’s counterattack failed in part because the strategy was leaked to the Kremlin before the attack. Therefore, President Zelenskiy said that he would make some decoy plans to hide the tactics of the next attack from Moscow.
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— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) April 6, 2024
