Russia is likely to lose a third of the ground combat forces it focused on fighting in February, and continues to suffer “consistently high attrition” without any significant territorial gains in recent months, noted in its daily intelligence gathering. . Ministry of Defense. Market.
“Russia’s offensive in Donbass has lost momentum and is behind schedule,” the ministry said on Twitter, adding that the forces were suffering from “ongoing low morale and declining combat capability”.
“Under the current conditions, it seems unlikely that Russia will increase the pace of development in the next 30 days,” the ministry said.
Lviv regional governor Maxim Kozitsky told the Telegram messaging app that a Russian missile hit “military infrastructure facilities” in the western city of Lvov on Sunday morning, but no operational casualties or damage were reported.
Russia is targeting railway facilities and other critical infrastructure in and around Lvov, close to the Polish border and a key entry point for NATO-supplied weapons.
Western officials said that despite the attacks, there was no visible impact on Ukraine’s ability to resupply its forces.
The European Union is considering the issue of Ukraine’s membership, issuing an opinion in June https://t.co/9BeCYkIFtD
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 9, 2022
With Russian troops withdrawing from Kharkov in the northeast, the Ukrainian military said Moscow is now focused on securing supply routes as it launches mortars, artillery and air strikes in the east.
Russian forces control a horse-shaped territory in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions that form the Donbass, a border region where Ukraine has fought Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.
In the south of Donbass, the Sea of Azov port of Mariupol is largely under Russian control, with the exception of a few hundred military personnel remaining at the steelworks.
A convoy of 500 to 1,000 vehicles carrying civilians evacuated from the city reportedly arrived in the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye on Saturday, and Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said authorities were in talks to evacuate 60 seriously injured military personnel to an anchor. foundry.factory. .
Having failed to capture Kiev after the February 24 invasion, Russian President Vladimir Putin turned his attention east to Donbass, seeking to encircle the most experienced and equipped Ukrainian forces and seize territory still under Ukrainian control.
Airstrikes and bombardments make it extremely dangerous for journalists to go east, preventing them from seeing the full picture of the war. But it seemed like a tedious back and forth business that didn’t have great success on either side.
Russia captured some villages and towns of Donbass, including Rubizhne, which had a population of about 55,000 before the war.
Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were also making advances in the east and recaptured six towns or villages in the past day. Speaking on Saturday night, he said “the situation in the Donbas is very difficult” and that Russian troops are “still trying to get out with at least some success”.
“Step by step we are forcing the invaders to leave the territory of Ukraine,” said Zelensky.
PHOTO: Russian troops withdraw from Kharkov, press attack on Donbass https://t.co/P7fOBwOm7n
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 14 May 2022
Close to the Russian border and just 80 kilometers southwest of the Russian city of Belgorod, Kharkiv has been under heavy artillery fire for weeks. This largely Russian-speaking city with a pre-war population of 1.4 million was a major military target early in the war, when Moscow hoped to capture and hold the major cities.
The regional governor, Oleg Sinegubov, told the Telegram messenger that there had been no shelling in Kharkiv in the past 24 hours.
He added that Ukraine has launched a counterattack in the Izaum region, a city 125 kilometers south of Kharkov, which Russia has held since the beginning of April.
Putin justifies the war in Ukraine by claiming it is a response to NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe.
But the invasion worried other countries that they might be next to Russia, and last week the Finnish president and prime minister said they were in favor of joining NATO. Swedish officials are expected to announce on Sunday whether they will apply to join a military alliance with the West.
In a phone call on Saturday, Putin told Finnish President Sauli Niinistö that there was no threat to Finland’s security and that joining NATO was a “mistake” and would “negatively affect Russia-Finland relations”.
Potential Scandinavian bids were questioned when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country “doesn’t have a positive view”.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will meet with his NATO counterparts, including the Turkish foreign minister, in Germany this weekend.
“Guesthouse for terrorist organizations” – Turkey opposes Sweden and Finland joining NATO https://t.co/MZ9Ryuj85Q
– Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 15, 2022
Esika Fish in Bakhmut, Yuriy Karmanov in Lvov, Mstislav Chernov in Kharkiv, Elena Bekatoros in Odessa, Jill Lawless in London and other AP staff from around the world contributed to this report.
Source: Breitbart
