BATTLEFIELDS
Ukraine’s smaller armed forces have scored several battlefield victories against the invading Russian troops but for months Zelenskyy has asked Western countries for additional help with air defence. To that end, the United States last week announced nearly US$2 billion in more military aid, including the Patriot Air Defense System, which offers protection against aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles.
Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says its daily bombardment is destroying cities, towns, and the country’s power, medical and other infrastructure.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24 in what President Vladimir Putin calls a “special military operation” against what it perceives as threats to its security. Ukraine and its Western allies have denounced Russia’s actions as an imperialist-style land grab and imposed sanctions to try to disrupt the campaign.
The most intense fighting is still in the eastern frontline towns of Bakhmut and Soledar in Donetsk province, one of four regions Russia claimed to have annexed in September. The others are Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.
Russian forces do not fully control any of the four regions, although the Kremlin has said they are making progress in one of the main stated goals of “demilitarising” Ukraine.
Russia is looking for a battlefield victory in eastern Ukraine and has been trying to capture Bakhmut for months.
Russia “has not abandoned the insane idea of capturing the Donetsk region,” Zelenskyy said on Thursday night.
Ukraine’s troops have held on in Donetsk, which together with Luhansk makes up Russian-speaking Donbas, an industrial heartland and part of which was seized by Russia-backed separatists in 2014.
The same year, Russia also annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
For all the latest world News Click Here
