The east of Ukraine, which has seen some of the war’s heaviest combat, has been the scene of an anticipated new Russian onslaught.
Several European Union leaders told Zelenskiy at a summit on Thursday that they were prepared to provide Ukraine with aircraft, including fighter jets, Zelenskiy, who was scheduled to return to Kyiv on Friday, said in Brussels. This would be one of the largest swings in Western support to date if confirmed.
As the anniversary of Russia’s invasion draws near on February 24, Kyiv has warned that Moscow will launch an aggressive offensive to obtain successes it can celebrate at the one-year mark, following months of little progress.
On Thursday, Pavlo Krylenko, the governor of the eastern Donetsk area, responded in the affirmative when asked on Ukrainian television if he agreed that the Russian onslaught had already started.
In the vicinity of eastern cities that have seen some of the fiercest engagements of the war, such as Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and Vuhledar, “There, the enemy’s strength and means are intensifying every day. To achieve new victories, they are attempting to “seize these areas and significant cities,” “said he.
One of Russia’s main goals has been the wider Donbas region in the east, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk. The Kremlin declared them to be among four territories that were annexed in the fall following referendums that the West denounced as fraudulent.
“The shelling has become more frequent during the last week to ten days. The frequency of attacks has increased daily, “Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk, according to Ukrainian Radio NV on Thursday. “In actuality, this is a component of the Russian onslaught.”
Along the northern portion of the eastern front, he claimed, there was a big new Russian onslaught around Kreminna, but Moscow’s forces “had no real success.”
The combat accounts could not be independently verified by Reuters.
KYIV ANTICIPATES WEAPONS, AIRCRAFT
Zelenskiy provided no additional information regarding the commitments made by European leaders during the summit in Brussels, and no European nation immediately provided a confirmation.
However, his comments came as there were indications that nations were getting closer to breaking one of the major taboos about military assistance to Kyiv following Russia’s invasion last year.
Until now, the Western nations who have given Ukraine armaments have declined to deploy fighter jets or long-range missiles that can strike deep within Russia.
“Europe will support us all the way to triumph. Several European leaders have told me they are ready to provide us with the required equipment and support, including planes “Zelenskiy stated during a press briefing.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential advisor for Ukraine, said to Ukrainian TV: “We’re having frank conversations right now. The logistics of when, where, and how we may get the tools (aircraft and long-range weapons) in addition to the armored equipment will be clear to us very soon.”
On Wednesday, Zelenskiy began a trip to Europe with meetings in London with Rishi Sunak of Great Britain and dinners in Paris with Emmanuel Macron of France and Olaf Scholz of Germany.
Sunak pledged to provide sophisticated NATO fighter aircraft pilot training for Ukrainian pilots. While he refrained from agreeing to provide the planes, he did say that nothing was off the table.
Zelenskiy claimed that some of the things Macron and Scholz had promised him in Paris remained under wraps.
“There are some positive agreements that are not made public. The Russian Federation, which continuously threatens us with new aggressions, is not someone I want to become ready “said he.
WEST WARNED AGAINST ESCALATION BY MOSCOW
The boundary between indirect and direct Western engagement in the conflict is blurring, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who also said that if Britain or other Western nations provided fighter jets to Kyiv, it would be the Ukrainian people who suffered.
According to Peskov, these acts “contribute to an escalation of tension, prolong the conflict, and make the conflict more and more unpleasant for Ukraine.”
Tens of thousands of newly mobilized troops have helped Russian onslaught forces advance recently for the first time in half a year, in what both sides agree has been some of the bloodiest fights of the war.
On Thursday, Russia declared that four Ukrainian artillery depots had been damaged in the Donetsk region. In a strike on an airfield close to the southern port of Berdyansk, which pro-Moscow forces had earlier in the conflict taken control of, Ukrainian officials claimed more than 100 Russians had been killed on Wednesday.
A radar station and ammunition storage were also destroyed, the Berdyansk military administration reported on Telegram. There were no more specifics provided, so Reuters was unable to quickly confirm the report.
Russia started the “special military operation” it refers to as a war to counter what it sees as a security threat posed by Ukraine’s ties to the West. Russia’s invasion, according to Ukraine and the West, is an unwarranted territory grab.
