Escalating tensions between USA And RussiaUS Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland stated that Russian military bases on the Crimean peninsula is a legitimate target of the Ukrainian armed forces and that their bombing is sanctioned by Washington. Crimea, which belonged to Ukraine until 2014, was annexed in 2014 by the Russian Federation and hosts, among other things, the naval base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. “Whatever the Ukrainians decide about Crimea — where they decide to fight, etc. — Ukraine will not be safe if Crimea is not at least, I repeat at least, demilitarized,” Nunald said at a Carnegie Institution event in Washington. . Going further, he was quick to add that Russian military installations on the peninsula “are legitimate targets, Ukraine is attacking them, and we support this.”

Her placement provoked a strong reaction from her side. Moscow. “The American warmongers went even further, encouraging Kyiv to further escalate the war,” said a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. Maria Zakharova. Some US officials have “crazy dreams” of her country’s military defeat, a Russian official said, prompting the US to get more and more directly involved in the conflict. Yesterday the Russian army launched new waves of strikes on the southern and mainly on the eastern fronts. “Today is a difficult day, as the number of attacks in all directions has increased significantly with the active participation of artillery, as well as aircraft,” said the Ukrainian governor of the Eastern Luhansk region, which is almost completely controlled by the Russians. , Sergi Haidal. He calculated that the general offensive of the Russian army, expected in the spring, had really begun and was getting worse every day.

In his last video message to compatriots, the President of the country Vladimir Zelensky He stressed that the main priority of the Armed Forces of Ukraine “for the near future” is to repel enemy attacks and prepare for his counterattack, which will follow later. U.S. officials have advised Ukrainians not to launch a large-scale counterattack until new, more powerful weapon systems provided by the U.S. and its allies arrive and training for Ukrainian soldiers is complete.

Fighting around the town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, which is a direct target of the Russian attack, is particularly intense, but also costly for the soldiers. Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk called on the remaining 6,000 civilians in the city to immediately leave the city.

Russian agents.

The geographic coordinates of the HIMARS missile systems that Ukraine purchased from the United States, as well as air defense systems, were handed over to the Russians by an agent of the German secret service BND, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel. The agent in question, named Carsten L., was arrested in December by the German police thanks to information obtained by the German authorities from the secret services of a friendly country. In the UK, a court has sentenced 58-year-old David Smith, a former security guard at the British embassy in Berlin, to 13 years and two months in prison for passing confidential material, including secret communications with then Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Her Russian military attaché in Berlin, Lieutenant General Sergei Shukhrov.