Russia-Ukraine war: fighting reaches “maximum intensity” in Donbas

The fighting in the east of Ukraine They reached their “maximum intensity” this Thursday, said local authorities, who continue to demand more weapons from Western countries to counter Russia’s military power, which, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, will not win this war.

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin must not win his war. And I am convinced: he will not win it ”said the head of the German government, in a speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos, in Switzerland.

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Hours earlier, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyand his Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, described the superiority of the Russian forces in Donbas, in the east of the country, where the Russian offensive is now concentrated, and called for more military support from Western countries.

“The enemy is clearly superior in terms of equipment and number of soldiers” in Donbas, he said. Zelensky. “We need help from our partners and especially weapons,” he added.

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Germany is one of the countries most noted for its caution when delivering heavy weapons to kyiv, such as tanks. “We appreciate all the efforts of the German government to find heavy weaponry” to allow Ukraine to defend itself, “but I don’t understand why it’s so complicated,” Kuleba said.

In his speech, Scholz made no direct reference to these criticisms.

According to Foreign Minister Putin, who launched his invasion of Ukraine three months ago, “it has no longer achieved its strategic objectives” and “an invasion of all of Ukraine” seems “further away today than at the start of the offensive.”

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This is explained by the “impressive” resistance of the Ukrainian forces and by the reaction of the Western allies, ranging from sanctions against Moscow to military support for kyiv.

But “we don’t do anything that can make the NATO go to war. This would mean a direct confrontation between nuclear powers,” Scholz said.

“It is about making Putin understand that he will not be able to dictate peace. Ukraine will not accept it and neither will we.” settled.

“Maximum intensity” in combat

The fighting is currently concentrated in the east of the country, where it has reached its “maximum intensity”, according to the Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister, Ganna Malyar, who warned that we are entering an “extremely difficult” and “long” stage of the confrontation.

Specifically, the Russian army tries to gain control of the city of Severodonetsk, which had about 100,000 inhabitants before the war.

Location is key Russia fully control the donbasa mining basin partially occupied since 2014 by pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow.

According to Kuleba, “some cities and towns no longer exist” in the Donbas region, which has been under heavy bombardment for days.

“They have been reduced to ruins by Russian artillery, by Russian multiple launch rocket systems,” the minister said, adding that these are precisely the kind of weapons his country needs now.

According to Sergei Gaidai, governor of the region, “the situation in the city is very difficult” and “next week will be decisive”.

The governor said that some 15,000 people remain in Severodonetsk and neighboring towns, and most do not want to leave despite the incessant shelling, he said.

In this region, the cities on the front line have been left without inhabitants and those who remain, often elderly, spend most of their time hiding in cellars.

As in the city of Soledar, a few tens of kilometers from Severodonetskwhere Natalia, 47, went out into the street “just to see people.”

“We need to know that we are not alone and that there is still life around here,” he said.

In the neighboring city of Lysychansk, police took control of funeral services to bury the dead, Gaidai said. At least 150 people had to be buried in a mass grave, he added.

According to the Ukrainian presidency, in the last 24 hours, at least three people died in this town in the Lugansk region and another four civilians in Donetsk.

In Kharkov, in the northeast, two people were killed in a shelling, and in the south, near Mikolaiv, two more civilians were killed in the fighting.

“The countries that delay the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine must understand that every day they spend deciding, weighing different arguments, people are dying,” Kuleba insisted in Davos.

Russia accuses the West

Concerned about Ukraine’s current inability to export grains due to the Russian blockade of its ports, the Ukrainian minister reported talks between kyiv and the UN on the possibility of safe passage from the port of Odessa.

This Thursday, the Russian authorities denied that they are blocking the ports for the export of grain and accused Western countries of “having taken a series of illegal measures” that caused this situation.

Western countries “must annul these illegal decisions that hamper ship chartering and grain exports,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, referring to the sanctions against Moscow.

Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat and corn, but their production and sales have been blocked since the beginning of the offensive.

This Thursday, the Central Bank of Russia lowered its main interest rate from 14 to 11% to counteract the strengthening of the ruble. The financial authorities congratulated themselves because “stability has been maintained and a spiral of inflation has been avoided” despite international sanctions.

Source: Elcomercio

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