2023-06-19 12:11:26
Russia: Clashes rage in Ukraine and the African peace mission leaves empty-handed
Russia said that fierce battles broke out today (Sunday) across three sectors of the confrontation in Ukraine, the day following it hosted an African peace mission that did not succeed in its mission, whether in Moscow or Kiev. A Russian-appointed official said Ukraine had recaptured the village of Pyatikhatki in the Zaporizhia region in the south of the country, and that its forces were holed up there while coming under Russian artillery fire.
“The enemy’s wave-like attacks yielded results despite heavy losses,” added the official, Vladimir Rogov, via the Telegram app.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not mention the village of Pyatikhatki in its daily briefing, in which it said its forces had repulsed Ukrainian attacks in three sectors of the 1,000-kilometre front line. A separate statement from Russia’s Vostok group of forces said Ukraine had not succeeded in capturing the village. Archyde.com might not independently verify the reports from the battlefield.
There was no comment from Ukraine, which last week said it had recaptured another nearby village, Lubkov, and a string of villages to its east in the Donetsk region as it launched its long-awaited counter-offensive. Ukrainian officials enforce a media blackout to bolster operational security, but say Russia suffered far greater losses than Ukrainian forces in its latest offensive.
An official in the region said Ukrainian forces had destroyed a large depot of Russian ammunition in the occupied Kherson region as part of Kiev’s weeks-long effort to wreak havoc on Russian supply lines. British military intelligence said that the fierce fighting in the past days focused on Zaporizhia, western Donetsk and the vicinity of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian mercenaries last month following a battle that was the longest during this war. “Ukraine continues offensive operations in all of these areas, and has made little progress,” she added on Twitter.
According to the assessment of British military intelligence, Russian defensive operations were “relatively effective in the south”; Where both sides suffered heavy losses. A few days ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rarely comments on the course of the war, made two unusually detailed comments in which he mocked the Ukrainian offensive and said Kiev’s forces had “no chance” despite being newly equipped with Western tanks.
His comments appear aimed at reassuring the Russians at a crucial juncture nearly 16 months into the conflict, as Ukraine seeks to end a months-long stalemate and reclaim the 18 percent of its territory that remains under Russian control.
Peace mission
Petersburg yesterday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa presented Putin with a 10-point peace initiative from seven African countries, telling him it was time for Russia and Ukraine to start negotiations to end the war.
Putin responded with a series of familiar accusations denied by Ukraine and the West, and said it was Kiev, not Moscow, that refused to hold the talks. He thanked the Russian President Ramaphosa for his “noble mission”.
Russian news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying that Putin had shown interest in the plan, but it was “difficult to implement”.
A day earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the African delegation, which visited Kiev for the first time since the war began for separate, direct talks on the peace initiative, that allowing negotiations now would only lead to “freezing the war” and continuing the suffering of the Ukrainian people.
The vast gulf between the two sides was further underlined when Putin used a leading economic forum on Friday to personally insult Zelensky, and to reaffirm Ukraine’s “demilitarization” goals he declared on the first day of the war. Kiev and the West reject those goals, describing them as a false pretext for the invasion.
Nevertheless, Ramaphosa sought to project a positive image of the Ukraine-Russia visit, writing on Twitter today that “the African Peace Initiative has had an impact, and its ultimate success will be measured by its objective, which is to stop the war.”
He added that African leaders will continue to talk to both Putin and Zelensky, and will brief UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on their efforts so far.
destruction for months
The war destroyed Ukrainian villages and cities, forced millions to leave their homes, inflicted heavy human losses among Russian and Ukrainian forces that were not disclosed, in addition to killing thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
The two sides accused each other of blowing up a huge dam in Ukraine on the sixth of June, and flooding large areas of the war zone.
In the Russian-controlled town of Hola Bristan, Archyde.com filmed volunteers discharging water following homes were flooded yesterday, and they were also distributing bread and drinking water.
“No one in the world will be punished for the torture we are going through, for this terrible disaster,” said Tamara, 78, a retired nurse.
She added, “This is what frustrates me. No one will be punished for that. I would like at least one person to be brought (to trial) and punished for everything. So the whole world can see it.”
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