(Dan Tri) – Ukraine is facing continuous attacks by Russian forces from the east with bloody costs for both sides, even as the areas of control on the map remain largely unchanged.
Ukrainian soldiers with the 22nd Mechanized Brigade at an artillery position outside Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region (Photo: NYT).
The pain rose before causing the injured Ukrainian soldier lying in the back of the ambulance to fall unconscious.
`They (Russian forces) are leveling everything,` said driver Seagull.
Russian forces have been carrying out fierce attacks around Avdiivka for more than a month and recently launched simultaneous attacks across eastern Ukraine in what military analysts say is an attempt to
Ukrainian forces are resisting fiercely, at the same time exploring loopholes in the counterattack in the south and conducting river crossings near the port city of Kherson.
Ukraine’s top military commander, General Valery Zaluzhny, recently said that the war has been at a stalemate with tense and grueling battles but no progress.
For Ukrainian forces on the front lines, the battle to regain key positions has brought nothing but calm.
`Of course, things are getting more difficult,` said Mr. Oleksandr, 52, a doctor at a medical base a few kilometers from the front. `We understand that the war will be longer, more difficult and will
Reality shows that the fighting between Russia and Ukraine continues to be fierce, but neither side has made much progress while the number of casualties is increasing.
But Russian attacks are still increasing and Ukrainian soldiers are also suffering terrible injuries.
As Seagull drove the ambulance to the medical station, a medical team waited by canvas stretchers stained red from other previously injured people.
`His lower limb bones were shattered by a mine. The whole team raced to bandage the young soldier and do what they could to ease his pain,` said Dr. Oleksandr.
Another injured soldier was quickly brought in.
New front in the war
The current intensity of Russia’s offensive across eastern Ukraine, as well as Kiev’s efforts to gain control of the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in the south, could open a new front in the war, suggesting the situation in
`The war in Ukraine is not a stable stalemate,` Frederick W. Kagan, director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote last week.
In an interview, he said the balance on the battlefield today could easily be tilted in either direction by a number of factors: the strategic choices of Ukraine and Russia, the level of support from
`On the one hand, the arsenal the West possesses is needed to address nearly all the challenges facing the forces in Ukraine. On the other hand, Russia’s mobilization of the entire economy and society` has
Ukrainian soldiers participating in the war are acutely aware of how dependent they still are on Western support.
`We need to have an advantage in everything to achieve a breakthrough. We don’t have this advantage. They have more aircraft, radio reconnaissance, electronic warfare and larger forces.`
But even in such conditions Ukraine still conducts offensive operations in certain areas.
`It’s a development of war,` said Mr. Carbonara, another soldier of the 110th division.
More than a month after Russia began its offensive to surround and take control of Avdiivka, the country is closing in on the vast industrial plant on the outskirts of the city.
Two camouflaged soldiers, one carrying artillery shells, outside the underground bunker entrance (Photo: NYT).
In a statement last week, General Zaluzhny said Russia had lost more than 100 tanks, 250 other armored vehicles, about 50 artillery systems and 7 Su-25 aircraft since October 10.
Meanwhile, the US government says more than 90% of the military budget approved for Ukraine has been spent, and delays in approving support for Ukraine have begun to be felt on the battlefield.
`This war will end the way Western policymakers want it to end,` said Philip M. Breedlove, a retired US Air Force general and former NATO commander.
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