Bakhmut under Russian siege
Bakhmut under Russian siege: According to the Guardian, the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner announced that his forces have surrounded the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which the Kremlin has been trying to capture for months. Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a video released on social media, urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to abandon the city. He stated in the video that only one road remains under Ukrainian control.
The situation in Bakhmut appears to be very unstable, and evidence suggests that Ukraine is preparing defensive positions around the city of Kramatorsk. A video shared on social media shows the explosion of a railway bridge over the Bakhmutka River in the east of the city.
Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of families and residents from the city of Kupiansk and northeastern areas due to concerns that Russian forces might reclaim the eastern frontline city and the railway hub.
According to the organization, the evacuation order was issued due to the unstable security situation caused by the continuous shelling from Russia. However, Russian forces have retreated from key cities in the northeastern Kharkiv region, including Kupiansk, which Ukraine recaptured last September.
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Defense Minister, has expressed confidence that Western countries will deliver fighter jets to Kyiv, and he is optimistic that the war will end this year.
In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, Reznikov said that Ukraine expects to receive two to three different fighter jets from Europe. He believes this can be achieved through a coalition of Western countries, similar to how Ukraine received Leopard 2 tanks from one such coalition.
According to a statement released after Friday’s meeting, the foreign ministers of the group known as the Quad condemned Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war.
The ministers also stated their opposition to any unilateral actions to increase tensions in the South China Sea and expressed their concerns over the militarization of disputed areas. The Quad group includes India, Australia, Japan, and the United States.
Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, said after the meeting of the foreign ministers of the major industrialized countries in the G20 in New Delhi that little progress has been made in diplomacy with Russia.
The EU’s foreign policy chief said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov remained in the room and did not leave when Western countries criticized Russia, unlike in the past.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, denied any attack on Russian soil. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had been attacked by terrorists in Bryansk and vowed to suppress the Ukrainian saboteurs who he claimed had fired at civilians.
Ukraine also accused Russia of lying. The Kremlin announced on Friday that it would take measures to prevent a recurrence of what it described as a border incursion.
The Swiss Ministry of Defense stated that it received a request from its German counterparts to allow Rheinmetall to purchase some Swiss Leopard 2 tanks. A German Defense Ministry spokesperson said that if Bern agrees, the Swiss Leopard 2 tanks would be sent to Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will have confidential talks with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday about the Ukraine war. There is growing concern that China might provide weapons to Russia.
A senior U.S. official said that Biden and Scholz will meet for an hour at the White House and will exchange views on their recent meetings with Ukraine. Two military officials told Reuters that the United States will send a new military aid package to Ukraine worth nearly $400 million on Friday.