Ukrainian servicemen of the 93rd brigade wait for orders to fire the French 120mm towed mortar position (designated MO-120-RT-61), in Bakhmut on February 15, 2023. Getty Images
Kiev said Russia fired missiles into Ukraine on Thursday (February 16) and hit the country’s largest oil refinery, while the head of the mercenary group Wagner predicted the city of Bakhmut would be besieged since will fall within a few months.
The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched 36 missiles in the early hours of the morning.
The missiles triggered air raid sirens and landed across Ukraine, including at the Kremenchuk refinery, where the extent of the damage was unclear.
About 16 planes were shot down, the Air Force added.
“Another large-scale missile attack by the terrorist state once morest civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” the Defense Ministry wrote on Twitter. Ukraine said the attack included three KH-31 missiles and one Oniks anti-ship cruise missile, which its air defenses failed to shoot down.
Meanwhile, Belarus, which allowed Russia to use its territory to send troops into Ukraine at the start of the war, said it would only fight alongside its allies if attacked.
Backed by tens of thousands of reservists, Russia has ramped up ground attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine and a major new offensive appears to be brewing as the one-year anniversary of the Ukraine war is underway. come close.
Focus on Bakhmut
Russia’s current focus is on the small city of Bakhmut in Donetsk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbass, the industrial center of Ukraine now partially occupied by Russia.
In the battles led by the group Wagner has been pounding and trying to besiege Bakhmut for many months. Most of the pre-war population of regarding 70,000 left, leaving Ukrainian soldiers trapped in the city.
The capture of Bakhmut would give Russia a springboard to advance to the two larger cities of Donetsk further to the west, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. However, Ukraine and its allies say the capture of Bakhmut will be a crushing victory given the many months that have taken place and the huge losses they say Russia has suffered.
In an interview with a pro-war military blogger, mercenary group boss Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin forecast Bakhmut would fall in April, depending on the number of Ukrainian troops thrown into the war and the number of troops. how well his offer is.
“To capture Bakhmut you have to cut off all supply lines. It’s an important task. Progress is not going as fast as we would like,” he said.
He added: “Bakhmut might have been taken before the Lunar New Year, if it weren’t for our terrible military bureaucracy.”
Prigozhin has previously accused the Russian military of trying to “steal” victories from Wagner, a sign of his growing influence and the potential for dangerous rifts in Moscow.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Samuel Ramani, a collaborator at the Royal United Services Institute, said it was not the first time Prigozhin criticized the Russian leadership.
“I don’t think it’s very surprising that Prigozhin lashed out at the Russian leadership in this way. Russia wanted to win and Yevgeny Prigozhin didn’t,” Ramani said.
As Ukraine burns through weapons rapidly and demands more firepower, including tanks and fighter jets, NATO members are ramping up production and promising more at meetings in Brussels this week.
The army of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky received a large amount of aid. The US alone has pledged $27.4 billion since the war began last February.
Russia calls the war in Ukraine a “special military operation” once morest security threats and has transferred heavy weapons to Ukraine as proof that the West is escalating the war. Ukraine and its allies call Russia’s actions “war of aggression”.
In Brussels, diplomats said European Union countries were “on track” to impose a 10th package of economic sanctions on Moscow in time for the one-year anniversary of the war, Archyde.com news agency reported. .