2023-12-23 11:21:40
According to the General Staff in Kiev, the Ukrainian armed forces repelled new attacks by Russian troops near the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region and on the left bank of the Dnipro. Russia is continuing to try to encircle Avdiivka with its troops, the headquarters in Kiev said on Saturday. “Our fighters are holding steadfast defense and inflicting significant losses on the occupiers,” the statement continued.
There has been fighting over the city for months. According to the General Staff, the Russian army is also unable to drive out the Ukrainian troops that have established themselves on the southern (left) bank of the Dnipro.
The Ukrainian air defense also reported that numerous Russian drone attacks had once more been repelled. Once once more the Odessa area on the Black Sea was affected by attacks.
The Western experts at the US Institute for War Studies (ISW) in Washington assume that Russia is sticking to its maximum goals in the war, wants to occupy more areas and is not defeated. They were also reacting to statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who had previously spoken of Moscow’s “strategic defeat” in an interview with the dpa news agency. Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin might no longer achieve his war goals, Stoltenberg said.
The analysts, on the other hand, pointed out that Putin was simply postponing the goals he had not achieved this year. The Russian failures in Ukraine are not a permanent situation. According to ISW, Western assessments that Russia is not succeeding should not lead to a reduction or cessation of foreign support for Ukraine. Russia is betting that the West will decrease its aid to Ukraine, it was said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock defended the West’s support for Ukraine. “The fact that Putin’s original plan to take Kiev and murder, expel or subjugate over 40 million people did not work is due to the incredible courage of Ukrainians to defend their country,” the Green politician told the “Potsdamer Latest News” (Saturday). “And also the support of us and so many other countries that do what is humane: helping the victim and not the aggressor by turning a blind eye.”
This winter, in the areas occupied by Russia and unprotected places, you can see what would have threatened Ukraine and neighboring countries like Moldova if the EU and the majority of the world had not stood unitedly on Ukraine’s side, said Baerbock. “Putin is specifically attacking power plants, electricity distribution centers and pipelines so that at minus ten degrees the water supply freezes and people die of thirst and freeze to death,” she warned. “He wants to destroy Ukraine, and that’s why we will support her as long as she needs us.”
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