Russian troops continue to advance through the ruins of Maryinka, Donetsk region, and try to close a ring around the town of Avdiyivka to expand the territory they control in eastern Ukraine, where the Ukrainian army is preparing for a prolonged standoff after a counteroffensive. failed. , while Kyiv is no longer confident in continuing military and financial aid to the West at the level it has been offering since the beginning of the Russian invasion, AFP and EFE reported on Wednesday.

According to British military intelligence, the town of Marinka is largely under the control of Russian forces, but completely destroyed by the fighting in this settlement, which had about 10,000 inhabitants before the war and which has been on the front line since then. 2014, when the first armed conflict with pro-Russian separatists took place in western Ukraine, cit. Agerpres.

In its report on the development of the front, the Ukrainian General Staff on Wednesday indicated that Avdiyivka, a city that Russian troops have been trying to encircle since October, remains the hottest. Even the Ukrainian rear did not escape the attacks of the Russian army, which launched dozens of drones last night, hitting targets in the central-western region of Khmelnytskyi.

“There are not enough soldiers in Ukraine, and there are no problems in Russia”

But overall, the front is standing still, without any short-term tactical solution by which the Ukrainian army can break through Russian lines after a counteroffensive in which it liberated only a few villages but lost many troops. and equipment, which is now raising doubts among some Western politicians about the usefulness of continuing Western aid. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who said on Wednesday that Ukraine has no alternative to winning this war, says it can win it if it continues to receive the necessary financial and military support from the West.

However, “even under the continuous infusion of the West, Ukraine is short of soldiers, while here in Russia there is no problem,” a high-ranking European NATO military official told France Presse. He also notes that “from now on, older people are present in the training cycles (which NATO offers to Ukrainian soldiers).”

“Now we have to agree with Zelensky so that he abandons his position, rather he is inclined to go to the end. Officially, no one is saying this, but I think that this is to some extent what is being prepared,” the same NATO official comments.

Blocking at the front, blocking in the provision of military aid, criticized Zelensky

The impasse on the front, which was recognized by the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, General Valery Zaluzhnyi, and the uncertainty about the continuation of military and financial support from the US and the EU began to bring Zelensky criticism at home as Nu. Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, his long-time political opponent, accused him of selling an excessively “euphoric” narrative about the development of the war, in contrast to the realism of Zaluzhnyi, whose conclusions about the transition of the conflict to a “positional” stage. were not accepted by the head of Kyiv.

The latter canceled without explanation on Tuesday a speech he had planned to deliver via video conference to the US Congress to try to secure $61.4 billion in financial aid requested by Democratic President Joe Biden for Ukraine, aid that has been blocked by Republicans as Democrats refuse to strengthen policies against illegal immigration, but there are some Republican congressmen who still oppose the continuation of this aid.

At a European summit next week, the EU is expected to decide on new financial aid to Ukraine worth 50 billion euros over the next four years, but so far the necessary unanimity has not been reached due to Hungary’s refusal.

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