Kyiv Reports Russia Stepping Up Hostilities to Deplete Ukraine’s Forces

Pavel Polityuk

KYIV (Reuters – Russia intensifies hostilities in Ukraine a decade after its invasion, in a deliberate effort to deplete Ukrainian forces. This was revealed by the Ukrainian military on Thursday.

According to Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov, Russia has set the goal of capturing all territory in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that it doesn’t control by the summer.

Bakhmut was the area where the most fighting continued, according to a briefing given by the military on Friday, the anniversary of the invasion. This was on February 24, last year.

“The enemy, having an advantage in the resource of human mobilisation, is deliberately intensifying hostilities in an effort to deplete the units of the armed forces of Ukraine,” Gromov spoke.

“In the short term, it is important for the Kremlin to capture the key settlements in the Donetsk region, and in the future to capture (all of) the Donetsk and Luhansk regions before the summer.”

Russia is being blamed for heavy losses as it sends its recently mobilised troops into combat, but Gromov stated that Moscow was using more prepared soldiers from regular units during the months-long battle to capture Bakhmut.

The fighting for Bakhmut, north from Donetsk has been so intense, that both sides have used the term “the” to describe it. “meat grinder”.

“The most difficult situation remains in the direction of Bakhmut where the enemy, despite significant losses, does not abandon attempts to surround Bakhmut,” He stated.

“To try to capture Bakhmut, the occupiers have used the most prepared units of the regular forces.”

‘STEPPING STONE’

Donetsk (and Luhansk) are two of the four Russian regions Russia has claimed to be part of, although Russia doesn’t fully control either.

Russia would have Bakhmut as a springboard to two larger cities in the Donetsk area that it long desired: Kramatorsk or Sloviansk.

Russia holds a majority of Ukraine, but it has been suffering setbacks as Ukrainian forces have counter-attacked with weapons from Western allies.

Moscow reported that it has made incremental gains over the past weeks after those setbacks. Gromov did not provide any further details about the current battlefield situation but stated that Ukrainian forces would continue fighting until Russian troops are moved back across the border.

Gromov stated that Russia had troops stationed in the Bryansk and Kursk border regions to hold down Ukrainian troops and prevent them from being sent elsewhere.

(Editing done by Timothy Heritage