Russian dynamism is fading
Selenskyj tells of hope in Bakhmut
03/22/2023, 10:11 p.m
The Ukrainian President dares to go to the section of the front where the fiercest fighting has been raging for months. After his return from Bakhmut, Selenskyj reports on the hope that can be felt there. The British secret service also reports that the Russian momentum is waning.
After a visit to the frontline areas in the east of the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of great suffering, but also of hope. “It’s painful to see the cities in Donbass that Russia has brought terrible suffering and ruins to,” he said in his evening video address. There are “hourly air raid sirens, a constant threat of shelling, a constant threat to life.” But despite the severe destruction and suffering, there is hope in these areas. “You can feel them,” said Zelenskyj.
“We will do everything so that the blue and yellow colors can continue their liberation movement and normal life can return to our whole country, from Donetsk to the border,” he said, alluding to the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Selenskyj had visited the heavily contested Bakhmut and the city of Kharkiv. At the same time, Zelenskyi announced a response from Kiev to the recent Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities with combat drones. “We will definitely respond to any attack by the occupying forces on our cities,” said Zelenskyy. “We will react militarily, politically and legally to all Russian attacks.” According to information from Kiev, at least 14 people were killed in Russian attacks in various parts of Ukraine on Wednesday.
London: Ukrainian advances at Bakhmut
According to their own account, the defenders in Bakhmut fended off new attacks by Russian troops. As the general staff in Kiev said in the evening, Russian units had tried to close the pincers around the city from the north and south. “The enemy continued his efforts to capture the city, with significant losses of troops and weapons,” wrote the general staff in Kiev on Facebook in its daily situation report. In the meantime, a “decrease in attack momentum” by the Russian forces had become apparent.
The British secret service had previously made a similar statement: Ukrainian troops had provided relief with their own advances. The counter-offensive west of the city will probably relieve the pressure from the Russian attackers on the H-32 road – an important Ukrainian supply route – the British Ministry of Defense wrote in the morning, citing intelligence services.
“Fighting continues around the city center and Ukraine’s defenses remain vulnerable to an encirclement from the north and south,” the report said. However, there is a realistic possibility that the Russian attack on the virtually destroyed city of once more than 70,000 people will lose momentum. This is also due to the fact that some Russian units have been transferred to other front sections.