Russian forces stepped up shelling and attacks in eastern Ukraine Wednesday before an anticipated new offensive, but Ukrainian officials said Kyiv’s troops were still holding firm.
Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said enemy soldiers were trying to capture the city of Kreminna and the nearby village of Bilohorivka.
“We are repulsing all their attempts to break through,” Haidai said in televised remarks. “The enemy is having no success.”
The Russian-installed leader of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, described the situation around Kreminna as “very difficult” because Ukraine was bringing in more troops in preparation for a counterattack, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat called for more missiles to help push back the Russian forces.
“The enemy is advancing in the east, in some places having success, and accumulating forces,” Ihnat warned. “We need to get ready.”
Fighting also continued raging in the key city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, which Moscow’s forces and mercenaries from the Wagner Group have been trying to take for months.
The Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti reported, citing local military commanders, that Russian troops had seized control of several streets within Bakhmut.
During a press conference Tuesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu touted the military’s purported advances near Bakhmut and Vuhledar.
Russia is said to be beefing up its forces ahead of what could be a large-scale offensive involving up to 500,000 conscripts.
The Kremlin is expected to make its move in the coming weeks to coincide with the first anniversary of the invasion on Feb. 24.
Moscow is in a race against time to seize battlefield momentum before Ukraine begins receiving shipments of sophisticated weapons from the US and its other Western allies, including battle tanks, which could happen in the next two months.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Wednesday the first battalion of Leopard 2 battle tanks could be delivered to Ukraine as early as March or April.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based think tank, wrote in a recent update that Russian military command may be rushing to launch a large-scale offensive to conquer Donetsk “in an unrealistic timeframe and likely without sufficient combat power.”
ISW analysts quoted the latest assessment by the UK Ministry of Defense, which stated that Russian forces have likely been trying to launch a decisive assault since January but “had only been able to gain several hundred meters per week” in part due to munition shortages.
The Ministry concluded that “Russia is unlikely to build up the combat power necessary to substantially affect the outcome of the war while Russian military command continues to demand for unrealistic and sweeping advances.”
The intense shelling in Luhansk Wednesday came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to London — only his second foreign trip since the start of the war — and addressed members of Parliament to thank them for their support and ask for fighter jets.
Zelensky hammered home his plea for combat aircraft, which he referred to as “wings for freedom.” Western countries have so far been reluctant to provide planes or weapons that can strike deep inside Russia.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to accelerate the supply of military equipment, including longer-range capabilities, and expand its Ukrainian military training to include pilots who will be taught to fly advanced NATO jets.
Russia’s embassy to Britain warned London against sending fighter jets to Ukraine, saying such a move would have ramifications for the entire world, TASS news agency reported.
Zelensky was scheduled to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Paris later Wednesday, before traveling to Brussels to attend a European Union summit Thursday.
With Post wires
