Ukraine Pushes Back Russian Forces Despite Repeated Attempts To Advance

Despite its 300,000 new troops, Russia has been pushed back repeatedly by Ukrainian forces in Donbas fighting, thwarting its attempts to gain any significant advantage. 

The looming question is when Ukraine will be strong enough to begin its own offensives. JL  

Jared Malsin reports in the Wall Street Journal:

Ukraine’s military drove back Russian attempts to advance in eight different locations along the front lines in the country’s east (as) Ukraine acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that its forces had left Soledar, a salt-mining town that had been a key front in the effort to defend Bakhmut. Forces had withdrawn from the town to save soldiers’ lives and strengthen defenses on the outskirts of the town. Ukraine’s forces have held out for months against overwhelming Russian firepower in Bakhmut.

Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attempts to advance in the country’s east, the country’s military said, while air-raid sirens across the country raised fears of possible Russian missile attacks.

Sirens wailed across Ukraine just after 9 a.m. Wednesday, including in the capital, Kyiv. In some regions, officials issued air raid alerts again in the afternoon. The Ukrainian military warned of a “high threat” of Russian air and missile attacks.

“Go to the shelters closest to you and stay there!” said Anatoly Kurtev, the secretary of the city council of Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine, on his official Telegram channel.

Russian media said the alerts were likely related to a military air exercise taking place in neighboring Belarus involving Russian and Belarusian pilots.

 

Russia has launched wave upon wave of missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, knocking out power and heating during the winter months in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to psychologically wear down the civilian population during the war.

The alerts came as the country welcomed a decision by Germany to provide main battle tanks to support Kyiv’s fight against Russian troops. The German government said it would send 14 of its modern Leopard main battle tanks, as a part of what is expected to be a coordinated effort with the U.S. to bolster Ukraine’s forces ahead of a possible new Russian offensive in the coming months.

Ukraine’s military drove back Russian attempts to advance in eight different locations along the front lines in the country’s east, the Ukrainian general staff said Wednesday morning. Those included a renewed Russian push on the small city of Bakhmut, a central battlefield of the war in the east, the military said. Ukrainian air defenses also shot down a Sukhoi Su-25 jet fighter and a drone over eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said.

Ukraine’s forces have held out for months against overwhelming Russian firepower in Bakhmut. The city has become a central battlefield in the war since Ukraine reclaimed areas of the country’s northeast and the strategic regional capital of Kherson, on the Black Sea, last year.

After months of fighting in and around Bakhmut, Russian forces broke through Ukrainian lines in the nearby town of Soledar earlier in January, in a possible sign that Russia’s mobilization of 300,000 reservists could be helping it reclaim momentum in the war.

Ukraine acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that its forces had left Soledar, a salt-mining town that had been a key front in the effort to defend Bakhmut. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Eastern Military Command, said in televised comments that forces had withdrawn from the town to save soldiers’ lives and strengthen defenses on the outskirts of the town. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed control over Soledar on Jan. 13.

In his nightly address late Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prodded Western leaders to supply tanks in greater numbers.

“It is not about five, or 10, or 15 tanks. The need is greater,” he said. “Discussions need to end with decisions. Decisions to really strengthen our defense against terrorists. Our allies have the necessary number of tanks.”

In addition to the 14 tanks announced by Germany, the U.S. is expected to send about 30 Abrams M1 tanks, The Wall Street Journal reported. In addition, Berlin is expected to approve the delivery of more of the German-made tanks by Poland and others.

Military analysts have said Ukraine needs more and better armor to fight back against Russia in Bakhmut, which has become an important symbolic prize in the war. Russian forces, led by the Wagner Group paramilitary force, focused their firepower on the city after the Kremlin’s troops withdrew from other areas.

“The West has contributed to Ukraine’s inability to take advantage of having pinned Russian forces in Bakhmut by slow-rolling or withholding weapons systems and supplies essential for large-scale counteroffensive operations,” said the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank that closely tracks the fighting in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s top military commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, said in December that Ukraine needed 300 main battle tanks and other weapons to enable the country to go on the offensive against invading Russian forces.

Earlier this week, Russian-backed officials said they had launched attacks in southeastern Ukraine, intensifying fighting in another strategically important region. Ukraine’s general staff said Wednesday morning that Russian forces remained on the defensive in the area.