As Russia continues to carry out massive bombings across the country, the situation on the Eastern Front looks increasingly complicated in recent days for Ukrainian forces.
kyiv announced this Thursday that it had sent reinforcements to “the hell of Avdiivka” in the face of a “critical” situation.
“The third assault brigade confirms having been urgently redeployed to reinforce Ukrainian troops in the Avdiivka sector,” this unit, which has been facing very intense Russian attacks since the fall, indicated on Telegram.
Ukrainian forces claim to be carrying out counterattacks on neighborhoods conquered by the Russians.
“Enemy forces in our area number around seven brigades” and reinforcements continue to arrive, the unit noted.
“We are forced to fight 360 degrees against new brigades that the enemy continues to send,” said unit commander Andrii Biletsky.
“34 enemy attacks” repelled in the Avdiivka sector
The Ukrainian Army General Staff said the Russians were continuing their attempts to “encircle Avdiivka.”
“Our soldiers firmly held the defense, inflicting significant losses on the invaders” and “repelled 34 enemy attacks in the Avdiivka sector,” assured the General Staff in its morning report.
For Ukrainian general Oleksandr Syrsky, it is a “new stage of the war”.
“We have moved from offensive actions to defensive operations,” he said in an interview with German channel ZDF.
In addition to what amounts to trench warfare in this region, Russia launched a new missile attack during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Ukrainian authorities announced.
Air alerts sounded across Ukraine overnight.
In Dnipro, a series of loud explosions were heard shortly after 6 a.m. in the center of the city.
Explosions were also reported in Zaporizhia, the capital kyiv and Lviv in the west of the country.
Andriy Sadoviy, the mayor of Lviv, said that ten Russian missiles had been aimed at the Lviv region.
In Zaporizhia near the front line with Russian forces, an apartment building was reportedly damaged.
No information was immediately available regarding the victims, except for the death of a 66-year-old woman, killed in Chugouïv, in the Kharkiv region (North-East).
“Russia seeks to persuade us that its victory is inevitable”
For Stéphane Séjourné, the head of French diplomacy, it is however “false” to say that Russia has gained the upper hand over Ukraine and should not be misled.
“Russia is trying to persuade us that its victory is inevitable.
In particular, she seeks to persuade us that Ukraine has already lost.
This is false for several reasons,” declared Stéphane Séjourné, during a hearing at the National Assembly this Thursday.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs recalled that the Ukrainian army “has already managed to retake almost half of the Ukrainian territory conquered by Russia”.
“Contrary to popular belief, Ukraine has achieved a number of notable successes, notably in Crimea and the Black Sea, by securing a maritime corridor which is crucial for exports and the world's food balance,” he said. -he also underlined.
He finally estimated that since the start of winter, it is “the Russian army which is exhausting itself in costly offensives, in men and equipment, for very limited gains”.
New aid for Ukraine
Stéphane Séjourné finally insisted on the fact that France was prepared to support Ukraine “in the long term” at a time when Defense Ministers are meeting in Brussels to provide their support to Ukraine.
Before the start of this meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared that “supporting Ukraine is not charity” and that helping kyiv “is an investment in our own security”.
The latter said the ministers would discuss their support for Ukraine and strengthening the alliance's deterrence and defense.
Adding: “And to achieve these two goals, we need to invest more, and we are on the right track.
Because we now have historic figures for defense investment.
»
Last year saw, according to him, a real increase of 11% in defense spending in Europe and Canada.
“This year, we hope that 18 Allies will meet the goal of spending 2% of their GDP on defense.
» A figure which was confirmed by France.
From Brussels where he is participating in the meeting of #NATO defense ministers, @SebLecornu announced this morning that France's defense budget will reach 2% of GDP in 2024.
➡️France is thus fulfilling a commitment made by all Member States at the… pic.twitter.com/keIXinmVXu
— Ministry of the Armed Forces 🇫🇷 (@Armees_Gouv) February 15, 2024
“We will see how to maintain our support for Ukraine.
We see that our support makes a difference on the battlefield every day.
Just yesterday, the Ukrainians managed to hit a Russian warship, which demonstrates the skill and competence of the Ukrainian armed forces, including in conducting deep strikes behind Russian lines,” the Secretary General of NATO.
London has already announced that it wants to lead a coalition of countries to provide drones to Ukraine.
A bilateral security agreement between France and Ukraine
In the meantime, Emmanuel Macron and President Zelensky will sign a bilateral security agreement on Friday in Paris.
“This agreement follows the commitments that were made in G7 format on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius in July 2023,” recalled the Élysée.
The G7 countries had committed to providing Ukraine with “long-term” military support in order to help it combat the current Russian offensive but also to deter Moscow from any future attacks against its neighbor.
The UK was the first to reach such a deal during a visit by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to kyiv on January 12.
Until now, the countries of the European Union had not taken the plunge.
These security commitments may relate to the provision of modern military equipment, interoperable with that of NATO, the training of Ukrainian soldiers or the strengthening of the Ukrainian defense industry.