OUR Russia directs heavy equipment and transports troops to its Lugansk region Eastern Ukraine But Ukrainian forces continue to defend the area, the region’s governor, Sergi Heidai, said today.

Earlier today, Russia said its forces had managed to break through two reinforced Ukrainian defense lines on the eastern front. The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces retreated in the face of Russian strikes in Luhansk, but did not specify in which part of the region.

“There is a lot of shelling (…) Attacks come in waves from different directions,” Haidai said. “We see that soldiers are being taken (to the front), we also see that there is additional (heavy) equipment.”

But he added: “Those who disseminate information that allegedly our defense forces have retreated beyond the administrative border (Luhansk) – this is not true.”

Danger signal from NATO

As the Russian army’s offensive in eastern Ukraine intensifies to occupy the entire industrial area of ​​Donetsk, defense ministers from NATO and Ukraine’s other allies met in Brussels yesterday to decide on the next steps for military reinforcement of the Donetsk region. Ukrainians.

Answering a question about the priorities in the list of Kyiv’s demands for the supply of weapons shortly before the start of the summit in Brussels, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov limited himself to showing reporters a photograph of a fighter jet. However, the US has ruled out such a possibility for now, and other Alliance countries such as the UK and the Netherlands say they are thinking about it. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that this issue could be discussed at yesterday’s consultations and at today’s meeting of the Alliance’s defense ministers, but stressed that in any case, at the moment, Ukraine has other, more pressing needs and, above all, its effective supply of ammunition. .

According to Jens Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian military fires between 6,000 and 7,000 artillery shells every day, more than they receive from the West. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius agreed that “the search for ammunition and air defense systems is at the moment a much more important issue than the discussion of fighters”, and announced that his ministry has signed a contract with the Rheinmetall industry to resume production of ammunition. what Ukraine needs. For his part, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin assured that “the joint commitment of all of us will keep Ukrainians momentum going in the coming weeks,” adding that “the Kremlin is still betting that we will leave at some point.”

^{According to Reuters, AP, TASS, APE – MEB}