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Ukraine seeks more Western weapons as fighting rages in the east

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Ukrainian officials said on Friday that Russia has stepped up its attempts to breach Ukrainian defenses with heavy fighting in the north and east of the country, underlining Kyiv’s need for more Western weapons.

The Ukrainian army said fierce battles were underway a day after at least 11 people were killed by Russian missiles and drones, in what appeared to be a response to Western countries’ promises to supply tanks to Ukraine.

After weeks of wrangling, Germany and the United States promised Ukraine dozens of modern tanks to help fend off Russian forces, opening the way for Canada, Poland, Finland, Norway and others to follow suit.

Russia has accused the United States of “pumping weapons into Ukraine” and berated President Joe Biden, saying he holds the key to ending the conflict in Ukraine – which Moscow says does what Washington offers – but has not used it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked allies for their support but renewed calls for tougher sanctions on Moscow and more weapons to repel the invaders in the war’s 12th month.

“This evil, this Russian aggression can and should be stopped only with sufficient weapons. The terrorist state will not understand anything else,” Zelensky said in his Thursday night televised address.

Local officials on Friday reported heavy shelling in northern, northeastern and eastern Ukraine, which has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting since Russia’s invasion on February 24 last year.

“Fierce fighting continues along the fronts. Our defenders are firmly holding their positions and inflicting losses on the enemy,” said Olli Sinhopov, governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.

Attack investigation

The front lines have been largely frozen over the past two months, as Russia tries to gain ground in the east after occupying swathes of territory there and protecting a corridor of territory it seized in southern Ukraine.

Both sides are widely expected to launch an offensive in the spring although the US has publicly advised Ukraine not to do so until state-of-the-art weapons and training have been made available – a process expected to take several months.

Oleksandr Musiyenko, head of Ukraine’s Center for Military and Strategic Research, said Russia was sending more reinforcements, mostly conscripts, to block the Ukrainian advance.

“But they do not have the level of artillery and tanks that they had on February 24,” Musienko told Ukrainian television.

Britain said in an intelligence update that Russian forces may have carried out probing attacks near Orekiv in southeastern Ukraine and at Vohlidar in the east, but it was unlikely they had made “significant progress”.

Russian forces are intensifying fighting along the eastern front line, using their recent capture of the town of Solidar to increase pressure on the nearby besieged city of Bakhmut where the Ukrainians have held off their offensive for months.

“Where will the main (Russian) strike take place? Right now, we have no idea,” said Mykola Sonhorovsky, director of military programs at the Ukrainian Razumkov Center think tank, warning of possible “diversionary strikes” to disorient the Ukrainian military.

deportation of children

The Russian invasion has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble.

Thursday’s missile and drone strikes were the latest in a series of Russian attacks on energy facilities that have deprived millions of people of heat, light and water.

Ukraine also accuses Moscow of deporting children and adults from the occupied regions and giving them Russian passports, actions that have been condemned by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

“Giving them (Russian) citizenship or adopting them goes against the basic principles of protecting children in war situations,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told Reuters after a tour of Ukraine. This is something that is happening in Russia and should not happen.

Kyiv’s allies have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, hoping to impede its ability to wage war.

Japan tightened sanctions against Russia on Friday, expanding a list of export bans, and freezing the assets of Russian officials and entities.

But Ukraine’s hopes that the European Union will impose sanctions on nuclear energy have been dealt a blow by Hungary, which has said it will veto such moves. Hungary has a Russian-built nuclear plant and plans to expand it.

The United States increased pressure on Russia on Thursday by designating the Wagner Group, a private Russian mercenary company, as a transnational criminal organization, and freezing its American assets to assist the Russian military.

The Kremlin ignored the decision, saying Washington had “demonized” the group for years without foundation.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was visiting Africa to drum up support for Moscow. His last stop on a tour that began in South Africa was in Eritrea.

Russia has shifted the focus of its rhetoric from “disarming” and “demilitarizing” Ukraine to confronting what it says is an aggressive and expansionist US-led alliance in NATO. Ukraine and the West say the invasion on February 24, 2022 was an unprovoked act of aggression.

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