Kyiv: President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged that conditions in Russian-held areas of Ukraine were “extremely difficult” and Ukraine’s leader showed up Russia’s faltering war by visiting a shattered frontline town that has long eluded capture by Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he made the surprise trip to rally Kyiv’s “superhuman” troops in Bakhmut, so blasted by continuous Russian shelling and brutal fighting nearby it has been nicknamed “the meat grinder”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to soldiers at the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian invaders, in Bakhmut, Ukraine.Credit:Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP
Zelensky arrived in the eastern town after Putin told Russia’s security services they needed to significantly improve their work, one of his clearest public admissions yet that the invasion he launched almost 10 months ago is not going to plan.
Putin’s address followed a visit to close ally Belarus that stoked fears, dismissed by the Kremlin, that Russia’s fellow former Soviet republic could help it open a new invasion front against Ukraine, where fighting has been concentrated hundreds of kilometres away in the east and south of the country.
The most destructive fighting in recent weeks has taken place around Bakhmut, where Zelensky, dressed in combat khaki, handed out medals to soldiers in a tumbledown industrial complex to loud applause, a video released by his office showed.
Zelensky described Bakhmut as “the hottest spot on the entire frontline” his office said in his unannounced trip that appeared designed to show Moscow’s failure to capture the city and dishearten the Russians trying to surround it.
“Bakhmut Fortress. Our people. Unconquered by the enemy. Who with their bravery prove that we will endure and will not give up what’s ours,” he wrote on his Telegram channel, thanking the troops for “the courage, resilience and strength shown in repelling the enemy attacks.
“Since May, the occupiers have been trying to break our Bakhmut, but time goes by and Bakhmut is already breaking not only the Russian army, but also the Russian mercenaries who came to replace the wasted army of the occupiers,” he said.
With the boom of artillery audible in the distance, he urged them to keep up their spirits as the battle for Bakhmut, one that has come to symbolise the grinding brutality of the war, enters its fifth month.
“The East is holding out because Bakhmut is fighting. In fierce battles and at the cost of many lives, freedom is being defended here for all of us,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut.Credit:AP
“That’s why I am with them today. They are superhumans. They are our strength and our heroes.”
Earlier, he repeated calls to the West for more weaponry including air defence systems after Russian drones hit energy targets in a third air strike on power facilities in six days.
Putin acknowledges difficult situation
In a break with the official line that the invasion is going smoothly, Putin conceded serious problems in regions of Ukraine that Moscow unilaterally claimed to annex in September, and he ordered the Federal Security Services (FSB) to ensure the “safety” of residents there.
A member of the Ukrainian military drives an infantry fighting vehicle down a residential street in Bakhmut. Credit:Getty
“The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is extremely difficult,” he said in a video address to security workers translated by Reuters.
He was later shown awarding medals to the Russian-appointed leaders of the four regions in a televised Kremlin ceremony.
In another move on the 300th day of his invasion, Putin ordered the FSB to step up surveillance of Russian society and borders to combat the “emergence of new threats” from abroad and traitors at home.
Western countries have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia and the rouble slumped to a more than seven-month low against the dollar on Tuesday after the European Union agreed to cap prices of natural gas, a major Russian export.
Zelensky has praised the “superhuman” troops in Bakhmut. Credit:AP
In Washington, a senior US State Department official told reporters there were conflicting views in Russia on what the next steps in Ukraine should be, with some seeking new offensives and others doubting Russia’s capacity to wage them.
Putin’s proclaimed annexations, condemned as illegal by Ukraine and its Western allies, were an attempt to turn the tide after a series of battlefield losses to a Ukrainian counter-offensive since the summer.
But Russian forces later drew back in one of the newly claimed regions – Kherson – and have gained no ground elsewhere, while targeting the energy grid in aerial strikes across Ukraine in what Moscow says is a bid to degrade the military.
The air attacks, which Kyiv says are clearly aimed at civilians to break their will to resist, have repeatedly cut power and water supplies amid subzero winter cold.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukrainians should prepare for new Russian attacks on energy infrastructure because Moscow wanted them to spend Christmas and New Year in darkness.
Belarus activity
On Monday, Putin visited Belarus for the first time since 2019 and he and his counterpart extolled ever-closer ties while barely mentioning the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian troops used Belarus as a springboard for their abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv to the south in February and there has been Russian and Belarusian military activity in Belarus for months.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrive for their talks in Minsk.Credit:AP
Kyiv says Russian forces have continued using airfields in Belarus for strikes on Ukraine since the February 24 invasion.
But Lukashenko insists he has no intention of sending Belarusian troops into Ukraine. The Kremlin dismissed the idea of a more active Belarusian role as “groundless” and “stupid”.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Russia could prepare a force in Belarus to start a new offensive on Ukraine but he hoped Minsk’s troops would not take part as it was not in its interest to “waste its military potential”.
More casualties
The conflict in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and reduced cities to ruins, with no end in sight.
Russian forces continued training tank and artillery fire on Ukrainian positions in 24 settlements in the vicinity of Bakhmut and nearby Avdiivka in the east on Tuesday, and again shelled northeastern and southern areas recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces, Kyiv’s army General Staff said in its evening update.
Ukrainian aircraft carried out 10 strikes on concentrations of Russian ground forces and equipment and further strikes on anti-aircraft emplacements, an ammunition depot and three command posts, it said, without providing locations.
Russia says it is waging a “special military operation” in Ukraine to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities. Kyiv and the West say this is nonsense, calling Russia’s actions an imperial-style land grab.
Reuters, AP
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