The unilateral pause announced the day before by the Kremlin – and which Kiev promptly rejected – to celebrate Orthodox Christmas was disrespected by the Russians themselves. While Ukrainian and Western politicians again questioned the seriousness of the gesture, the mercenaries of the Wagner group will take consolidated positions around Bakhmut, especially in Soledar. In the north, the Belarusian leader visited troops from Moscow, which continue to receive combat vehicles, fueling speculation about a second invasion attempt.
“There are already many good statements from the Russians, but they never kept their promises,” Tetyana Scherbak, a 51-year-old volunteer, told AFP in the Bakhmut relief center, the city targeted by Russian raids. for months. “Let them leave us forever, not just for 36 hours,” he said of Russian soldiers and the truce Vladimir Putin ordered after Patriarch Cyril’s appeal.
During the nine years of conflict with the pro-Russian forces, they have broken the ceasefire 11 times, according to the Ukrainian defense ministry. And on Friday the same thing happened again. To the south, a residential area and fire station in the city of Kherson were hit by Russian bombing, killing one firefighter and injuring four others. In the east, in addition to Bakhmut and the Russian invasion of Soledar, attacks were recorded in the city of Kurakhove and Kramatorsk.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, pro-Russian forces have broken the ceasefire 11 times during nine years of conflict.
The chorus of condemnation of the Russian initiative arose after reactions from Kiev, Washington and Berlin. If the Ukrainians pointed out the “hypocrisy” of Vladimir Putin’s regime, and predicted that the occupation forces would try to regroup and reinforce during the break (somewhat in the image of US President Joe Biden’s comment, which saw Putin “in search of oxygen”), German minister Annalena Baerbock said that if Russia wants peace, it must withdraw its troops.
For the French counterpart, Catherine Colonna, the Kremlin’s move is “further evidence of Russian cynicism” and “a gross attempt by Russia to hide its responsibility as it continues to intensify its abuses and relentlessly bomb all of Ukraine”. and civilian installations in the middle of winter,” said the spokeswoman, Anne-Claire Legendre. To which the head of EU diplomacy reminded that “the Kremlin is not credible”, just as the unilateral statement is missing, with Josep Borrell also saying that the proposal was intended to “buy time”.
On the same day that the Russian presidency ordered the troops to silence their weapons, the Russian leader, speaking to Turkey’s Recep Erdogan, reiterated his intention that all talks on the end of the conflict will have to take into account “the new reality”. territorial rights”, i.e. the attempted annexation of four Ukrainian regions, something Kiev repeatedly rejects.
The Ukrainian army guarantees that it has already taken measures to ensure that a land invasion such as the one that took place at the beginning of the “special military operation” coming from Belarus will not be repeated, but on the other hand they have warned that this is Moscow’s plan. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko visited a group of Russian soldiers taking part in maneuvers after stressing the importance of “protecting the common homeland”.
The day before, the Belarusian Ministry of Defense released images of a convoy loaded with armored vehicles from Russia and assured that “personnel, weapons, military and special equipment” will continue to arrive for the joint training of the Belarusian and Russian components , a task Minsk says is “complex in nature”. In addition, it announced “combat coordination activities” and air force exercises.
More than 3.5 billion
A day after the United States and Germany announced they would send combat vehicles to Ukraine – a taboo broken, according to comments from Ukraine’s foreign minister, after France led the way when it announced it would send an undetermined number of AMX-10 RC Fighting Vehicles – , the White House said the shipment of the 50 Bradley vehicles was part of a $3.5 billion military aid package.
This additional aid includes howitzers, armored personnel carriers, surface-to-air missiles and munitions in what will be the bulk of military aid. For the first time, Kiev will receive Sea Sparrow radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles, which can be launched from sea or land to intercept aircraft or cruise missiles, according to Politico.
The North American Bradleys will be joined by 40 German Marder combat vehicles, which the Olaf Scholz government says should be shipped by April.
Source: DN
