Stormy attacks, growing, despite the heavy losses of soldiers’ lives, Russian army seeks within the next day territorial acquisitions on two fronts, in the eastern and northeastern parts Ukrainian.

Russian soldiers and mercenaries from PMC Wagner laid siege to Bakhmut in the east of the Donetsk region yesterday, shelling the last supply lines for Ukrainian troops on the western outskirts of the city. In a video posted online, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, dressed in military uniform, said that Bakhmut was “almost surrounded” and that his defenders had only one escape route left, and called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to recall them so as not to sacrifice themselves in vain .

Reuters, which has war correspondents in the region, said Ukrainian soldiers were frantically repairing bombed-out roads and bridges, apparently indicating they have no plans to retreat from the city anytime soon. However, Robert Brovdie, commander of the drone unit operating in Bahamut, said in a video posted on social media that he was ordered by his superiors to retreat as soon as possible.

Meeting of the National Security Council under Putin the day after the “sabotage” attack in the border region of Russia.

At the same time, authorities in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine have ordered families with children and people with disabilities to leave Kupyansk as the Russian army approaches and intensifies its shelling of the city. The Russians occupied Kupyansk in the first weeks of the war, but were forced to leave last September when the Ukrainian army launched a lightning-fast counteroffensive and regained lost territories in the region. But over the past three months, the Russians have regained the lead on that front as well, according to the Washington-based Institute of War Research. However, soon after the end of the year of the war, the Russian side also faces growing difficulties. After a series of spectacular attacks by Ukrainian drones deep into Russian territory, Russia faced the first bloody cross-border attack by a sabotage and reconnaissance detachment in the border Bryansk region. Vladimir Putin yesterday convened the National Security Council to discuss this alarming development and called for strengthening “anti-terrorist measures.” The Ukrainians continue to deny any involvement in the attack and speculate that they were Russian rebels opposed to Putin and the war.

Questions about Serbia

Russian media reports that Serbia, a country with traditionally friendly relations with Russia, had sent thousands of missiles to Ukraine were also frightening for Moscow. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asked Belgrade to clarify the situation, stressing that it was a “serious issue.” For his part, Serbian Foreign Minister Milos Vucevic denied that his country supplied weapons to Kiev, but did not rule out the possibility that they were delivered there by private companies from third countries that bought them.

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