Ukraine-Russia Update: No peace in sight as frontlines remain under pressure

by mcardinal

Lauren Moye, FISM News

 

Ukrainian citizens in villages near the southern frontline have been asked to evacuate before they become more fatalities in a brutal battle for control of the city. Meanwhile, the war remains a touchy topic among world leaders at the G20 conference as Putin pushes back against Western sanctions and rhetoric.

“Please leave – our army will begin retaking these areas. Our determination is rock solid,” Iryna Vereshchuk, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine, warned civilians in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions according to Ukrainian media.

The southern territory is only one frontline.

“We are going to liberate all of the Donbas,” Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin told Reuters, referring to the eastern frontline where Russian forces are slowly pushing Ukrainian troops out of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

About the southern frontline the ambassador said, “Of course, it is difficult to predict the withdrawal of our forces from the southern part of Ukraine because we have already experienced that after withdrawal, provocations start and all the people are being shot and all that.”

Russia has previously blamed Ukraine for killing civilians in attempts to retake territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists or Russian troops. So far, the invasion has devastated several cities as Russia uses a strategy to heavily shell potentially fortified buildings before advancing troops. This strategy was most notably used against Lyschysank and reduced the city to indefensible rubble.

Kelin warned Reuters reporters that Ukraine would have to take a peace deal with Russia or “continue slipping down this hill” to ruin.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN, “Ukrainians are not ready to give away their land, to accept that these territories belong to Russia. This is our land.”

Kyiv’s forces have dug into a new frontline in the Donbas region after pulling out of Lysychansk. A U.S.-supplied M77 Howitzer was heard firing from this line by a Reuters reporter, who also noted that Russian troops have recently “paused” in their advance and have failed to make progress in the past few days. Both sides continue firing artillery.

“Russia is likely concentrating equipment on the front line in the direction of Siversk,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Friday. “Its forces are likely pausing to replenish before undertaking new offensive operations” which could focus on Siversk, the ministry said.

Top Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak found the pause to be a “turning point” in the war despite stalled peace negotiations.

He told Ukrainian media, “It is clear that they have to redeploy things, bring forward new troops and weaponry, and this is very good. A certain turning point is beginning to take shape because we are proving we are going to attack storage facilities and command centers.”

Now nearly to the 5-month mark since his troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said it hadn’t “even really started anything yet” during remarks aired by state-controlled media RIA Novosti on Thursday.

About Western nations and especially the U.S., he said, “We hear today that they want us to be defeated on the battlefield,” Putin said, according to state media outlet RIA Novosti. “Well, what can I say? Let them try.”

He added: “We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading toward this.”

Russia continues to take global condemnation from Western nations. At yesterday’s G20 summit, global leaders expressed a need to end the war and to end the blockade preventing Ukrainian grain from leaving ports. Eventually, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov walked out of the room.

He denied Russia prevented Ukrainian grain exports to reporters outside, instead saying, “Ukraine should end the blockade of its ports, demine them or ensure passage through the minefields.”

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden signed a new weapons package on Friday including four additional high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) and ammunition. The package totals $400 million.

The HIMARS previously sent to Ukraine’s aid are in operation according to an anonymous U.S. official who spoke to Reuters. The official said, “Ukraine has now been successfully striking Russian locations in Ukraine, deeper behind the front lines and disrupting Russia’s ability to conduct that artillery operation.”

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