Senior political and military leaders from around the world are meeting today, Friday, in Germany, and Ukrainian officials are expected to speak at a security conference as they try to fend off Russian missile attacks on cities and massive attacks on the front lines.

By bringing in tens of thousands of reservists, Russia has stepped up ground offensives in southern and eastern Ukraine, and as the first anniversary of the invasion approaches February 24, a major new Russian offensive appears to be taking shape.

On Thursday, Russia fired rockets into Ukraine and hit the country’s largest oil refinery. Of at least 36 missiles fired by Russia, 16 were shot down, according to the Air Force, lower than usual.

Ukraine has said the shelling included missiles that its air defenses cannot shoot down, furthering its calls for more military support from the West.

Munich Conference

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and US Vice President Kamala Harris are among several senior officials attending the Munich Security Conference.

Last year’s rally took place just a few days before the start of the war. As Russian troops massed on the border with Ukraine, Western leaders in Munich urged President Vladimir Putin not to invade and warned of dire consequences if he did.

This year, leaders will face the consequences of Putin’s decision to ignore their pleas and unleash the most devastating war in Europe since World War II, which has killed countless thousands and forced millions from their homes.

In Munich, the war will revive long-standing debates over whether Europe should develop its own military capabilities and whether it should rely on the United States for its security amid fears that the Ukraine crisis could widen.

Russian leaders will be conspicuous by their absence from the conference, which will last until Sunday, but senior Ukrainian officials are expected to speak.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a late-night speech that his priority was to contain Russian attacks and prepare for a possible Ukrainian counterattack.

“Maintaining the situation at the front and preparing for any hostile escalation steps is a priority for the near future,” he said.

NATO officials this week discussed the need for more military hardware for Kyiv, and the UK and Poland, after their leaders met on Thursday, agreed that support should be stepped up.

U.S. officials have advised Ukraine to refrain from any counterattack until the last stockpile of U.S. weapons has been obtained and preparations have been made.

The general staff of the Ukrainian army, in a report Thursday afternoon, noted that Russia had also shelled more than a dozen settlements in the south and east of the country.

There were no reports of attacks or missile strikes from Russia, and Reuters could not independently confirm reports from the battlefield.

Russia threatens retaliation

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Thursday that Moscow would retaliate if the European Union decides to seize the assets of individuals and entities it has frozen, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Grushko insisted that Moscow intends to take “all necessary measures to protect its legitimate interests” if the EU takes action. solve something like this.

He called the potential confiscations “absolutely illegal” and added that some countries questioned whether and to what extent the move would be compatible with international rules.

In Brussels the day before, a decision was made to “create an ad hoc working group to use ‘frozen’ and inactive Russian resources in order to support the reconstruction of Ukraine,” the Swedish Presidency of the European Council announced via Twitter.

However, on the same day, the Swiss Federal Council announced that a “working group” led by the Ministry of Justice had “concluded that the seizure of the assets of Russian citizens would be contrary to the federal constitution and the rule of law.”

Moldova, Belarus and Israel

Meanwhile, police in Moldova, where parliament approved a new pro-Western government on Thursday, said they had again found rocket wreckage near the border with Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Belarus, which allowed Russia to use its territory to send troops to Ukraine at the start of the war, said it would only fight for its ally if attacked.

Germany, on the other hand, has said that 1.1 million people will arrive from Ukraine in 2022, exceeding the influx of migrants in 2015-2016.

In addition, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visited Ukraine, the first such visit by an Israeli official during the war. Israel is coordinating strikes with Russia against suspected Iranian targets in Syria and has not promised weapons to Kyiv.

On Twitter, Cohen said that Israel will increase aid to Ukraine and support its recovery.

“Stacked Bodies”

Russia’s focus is on the small eastern town of Bakhmut in Donetsk, one of two regions that make up the Donbass, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, which is now partly controlled by Russia.

In the fighting, led by a group of Wagner mercenaries, replenished with recruits-jailers, Russia shelled and surrounded Bahamut for months. Most of its pre-war population of about 70,000 civilians evacuated the area, leaving behind stubborn Ukrainian soldiers.

“They are sending a lot of troops. I don’t think it’s sustainable for them,” Taras Dzyoba, press attache of the Ukrainian 80th Airborne Assault Brigade, said about the Russians.

“There are places where their bodies are stacked. There is a trench from which neither the wounded nor the dead are simply evacuated.”

Jioba spoke to Reuters while standing near a howitzer mount near a defensive bunker near the front line in Bakhmud.

Capturing it would give Russia a springboard to advance on the two major cities of Donetsk further west, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. But Ukraine and its allies say capturing Bakhmut would be a landslide victory given the months and losses Russia has suffered.

In an interview with a pro-war military blogger, team leader Wagner predicted that it would take Russian forces weeks, if not months, to take Bakhmut, depending on how many men Ukraine throws into the fight and how well his men are provided. .

Source: Reuters, Xinhua, APE-MPE.