Bakhmut besieged by Russia
According to The Guardian, the leader of the Russian paramilitary group, Wagner, announced that his forces have besieged the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which the Kremlin has been trying to occupy for months. In a video circulating on social media, Yevgeny Peregudin, the head of the group, asks Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to abandon the city. He states in the video that Ukraine only has control over one road.
The situation in the city of Bakhmut appears to be very unstable, and evidence suggests that Ukraine is preparing defensive positions around the city of Kramatorsk. A video circulating on social media shows the explosion of a railway bridge over the Bakhmutka River in the east of the city.
Ukraine has issued an evacuation order for families and residents of the city of Kupiansk and the northeastern areas, as there is concern that Russian forces may retake the frontline eastern city and the central railway line.
According to this organization, the evacuation order was issued due to the unstable security situation caused by continuous Russian shelling. However, Russian forces have retreated from key cities in the northeastern region, including Kupiansk, and Ukraine regained control in September of last year.
Alexei Reznikov, the Defense Minister of Ukraine, has stated that he is confident that Western countries will provide fighter jets and he is optimistic that the war will end this year.
Reznikov, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild, said that Ukraine expects to receive two or three different fighter jets from Europe. He believes that this can be done through the coalition of Western countries, just like Ukraine received Leopard 2 tanks from one of these coalitions.
According to statements released after the Saturday meeting, foreign ministers of the group known as the Quad condemned Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
The ministers also stated that they are opposed to any unilateral actions to increase tensions in the South China Sea and expressed their concerns about the militarization of disputed areas. The Quad group includes India, Australia, Japan, and the United States.
Josep Borrell, the senior diplomat of the European Union, said after the meeting of foreign ministers of the G20 major industrialized countries in New Delhi that there has been little progress in diplomacy with Russia.
The European Union’s foreign policy official said that Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, stayed in the room and did not leave when Western countries criticized Russia, unlike in the past.
Mikhailo Podoliak, an advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian President, denied any attack on Russian soil. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia had been attacked by terrorists in Bryansk and promised to suppress the Ukrainian saboteurs who, according to him, had fired at civilians.
Ukraine also falsely accused Russia. The Kremlin announced on Saturday that it would take actions to prevent a repetition of what it described as a border invasion.
The Swiss Defense Ministry has said that it has received a request from its German counterparts to allow Rheinmetall to purchase some Swiss Leopard 2 tanks. A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry said that if approved, the Leopard 2 tanks would be sent to Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will have confidential discussions with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday about the war in Ukraine. There is growing concern that China may provide weapons to Russia.
An American senior official said that Biden and Schulz will meet in the White House for an hour and discuss their recent meetings with Ukraine. Two military officials told Reuters that the United States will send a new military aid package worth approximately $400 million to Ukraine on Friday.
