Ukraine: “We will continue to defend Bachmut”
10:21 am | Ukraine has no intention of abandoning Bachmut. This was stated today by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuliba. “If we retreated, what would happen? Russia would take Bachmut and then continue the offensive against Chasiv Yar, so that every village behind Bachmut would meet the same fate.’
Koeleba did not comment on how long Ukrainian troops can hold out in Bachmut, but he did draw comparisons to people who have had to defend their homes against thieves, who are after everything the owners own.
Some military experts question the value of continuing to defend Bachmut, but Ukrainian army commander Oleksandr Syrsky has argued that defending Bachmut will buy time to mount a counter-offensive.
“The real heroes are Bachmut’s defenders who carry the Eastern Front on their shoulders and suffer the heavy losses,” Syrsky said. They spare neither themselves nor the enemy. We need to buy time and launch an offensive, we are very close.’
Hundreds of dead on both sides in Bachmoet in the last 24 hours
09:56 | Both the Russian and Ukrainian armies have suffered heavy losses in the vicinity of Bachmut in the past 24 hours. Both sides claim that the opponent has lost hundreds of men in battle.
According to Kyiv, the Russians lost 221 soldiers at Bachmut and another 300 were wounded. Russia reports that 210 Ukrainians have died in the Donetsk region. Moscow did not specify where in Donetsk, but the fiercest fighting has been taking place in Bachmut for months.
That city, largely surrounded by the Russians, is currently divided into two parts, with the Bachmutka River as its front line. The western part is still in Ukrainian hands, but the eastern part has been captured by the Russian army.
Ukrainian minister: Germany needlessly delays arms deliveries
02:24 | Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accuses Germany of unnecessarily delaying the delivery of ammunition to his country. In an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Koeleba says German arms makers assured him as early as February that they would be ready to deliver, but that the government is not signing their contracts.
“So the problem lies with the government,” emphasizes Koeleba, who says the shortage of ammunition is the biggest problem in the fight against Russia. According to him, the Ukrainian army needs mainly artillery shells. “I think Germany can really help more when it comes to munitions,” the minister said.
Koeleba is also calling on Germany to train Ukrainian pilots to fly modern Western fighters. Ukraine has long been asking its allies for such combat aircraft. The Ukrainian Air Force now has only older Russian fighter planes. The minister says he doesn’t expect his country to get modern planes anytime soon, but he wants Ukrainian pilots to be ready if that happens. If Germany takes the lead in training, it would be “a clear message of political commitment,” says Koeleba.