(Updated with statements from Austin, report to Marinka, details)
by Pavel Polityuk and Yiming Woo
KYIV, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Russian forces on Tuesday pounded Ukrainian positions in the eastern Donetsk region, which could prelude a new major offensive, as NATO met in Brussels to explore ways to help Ukraine resist.
The city of Bakhmout, a major target of Vladimir Putin’s troops, is in a precarious situation, Donetsk region governor Pavlo Kirilenko told Ukrainian television.
“There is not a single square meter in Bakhmout that is safe or out of range of enemy fire or drones,” he said. Russian artillery, Pavlo Kirilenko added, is shelling targets along the entire front line in the region.
As the first anniversary of Russia’s outbreak of war approaches on February 24, 2022, Moscow is stepping up operations in southern and eastern Ukraine and Kyiv expects a full-scale assault.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that the offensive had already begun, given the number of bombings and ground attacks recorded in recent days.
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday it had repelled assaults on six positions in Donetsk Oblast and five in Luhansk Oblast, which make up the Donbass industrial region, in the past 24 hours.
Ukrainian forces also repelled an attack on a town in the more northern Kharkiv region, recaptured by Kyiv last September.
“The situation is generally difficult, but controlled,” said Pavlo Kirilenko. “The enemy was unable to achieve tactical or strategic success.”
The offensive against Bakhmout is led by mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner. According to British intelligence, the latter have made some progress in the past three days on the northern outskirts of the city, while their advance to the south seems more difficult.
TEN ATTACKS A DAY
Bakhmout, the scene of a fierce battle for months, is largely destroyed and practically emptied of some 70,000 inhabitants that it had before the war. According to Pavlo Kirilenko, there would remain around 5,000 civilians on the spot, where the army has established fortified positions in anticipation of street battles.
The authorities still hope to reduce the number of civilians on the spot and try to evacuate the wounded.
“Thank you to each of our soldiers who prevent the occupiers from surrounding Bakhmout (…) and who hold key positions on the front,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said in his daily video address Monday evening.
According to Ukrainian officials, the Russians suffered heavy losses in men and equipment – tanks and armored vehicles in particular – around Vouhledar, a town located about 150 km south-west of Bakhmout.
Reuters is unable to independently verify reports of the fighting.
On the snowy front line between Vouhledar and Marinka, about thirty kilometers to the northeast, and 400 meters from Russian positions, two Ukrainian officers assured Tuesday that their forces were holding up against the redoubled assaults of Russian troops.
“Before, there were two or three artillery and mortar attacks a day, today there are more than ten,” one of the officers, nicknamed “the deputy”, told a team from Reuters. “The artillery works harder than the enemy infantry.”
SPRING COUNTER-OFFENSIVE?
In Brussels, defense ministers from NATO and other allies of Ukraine meet again to discuss increased military aid to Kyiv, which is calling for fighter jets and missiles Long range.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he expects a Ukrainian counter-offensive to begin in the spring. He added that the Russians are sending new recruits to the battlefield, saying they are poorly equipped and poorly trained.
Lloyd Austin promised that Kyiv’s allies would provide him with additional munitions as quickly as possible and would remain united in their support for Ukraine for as long as necessary.
The question of ammunition is crucial, while Western production capacities are struggling to keep up with Ukraine’s needs.
“It has become an exhausting war of attrition, and therefore also a logistical battle,” Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday ahead of the meeting.
“Regarding artillery, we need ammunition, spare parts, maintenance, all the logistics guaranteeing the use of weapon systems.” (Reporting Max Hunder, Olena Harmash, Tim Heritage, Pavel Polityuk, Bart H. Meijer, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Ron Popeski and Elaine Monaghan; writing by Angus MacSwan; French version Jean-Stéphane Brosse, editing by Blandine Hénault)
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