The Ukrainian president has demanded that the US and its allies speed up arms deliveries as Ukrainian forces are under ‘increasing pressure’ in Bakhmut and Vuhledar. In actual fact as each day passes Ukrainian forces on several fronts are being steadily pushed back and suffering very heavy losses.
In Bakhmut Ukrainian forces edge closer to operational encirclement which would leave thousands of its soldiers cut off from supplies and reinforcements. It is reported that only one road now serves to supply Ukrainian troops which is under fire control of Russian artillery.
In Bakhmut itself Wagner forces have advanced further into the centre taking control of the area around the champagne factory, the meat processing factory and advanced to Pervaya Alabastrova Street. To the south of Bakmut Ukrainian forces have been driven from the forest area in the north-west of the recently captured Kleshcheevka. Besides this, Russian forces have advanced towards Ivanovskoye and the Bakhmut-Konstantinovka highway to cut off this major supply route for Ukrainian troops in Bakhmut.
Meanwhile, in the Soledar sector Russian forces have taken the village of Sacco and Vanzetti while they are advancing on Nikolaevka, Razdolovka, Paraskovievka and Krasnaya Gora. In the Svatavo direction Russian units have established physical control over the southern approaches to Novoselovsky and advanced 3.5 km in recent days.
In light of the deteriorating military situation Zelensky has steeped up his shrill demands for greater Western military aid. These demands have reached new proportions with his new call for F-16 warplanes to which Biden has said no for now. Then again, last year the West said that they would not give Ukraine main battle tanks and that red line has now been crossed.
Besides, F-16 warplanes Zelensky is calling for the US to supply the long range missile system ATACMS with which to hit deep into Russia. On top of this senior figures in the Kiev government are demanding that Germany supply Ukraine with a nuclear submarine to help it retake control of the Black Sea. More worrying are those voices in the West calling for Ukraine to be given nuclear weapons. A US think tank the American Enterprise Institute recently made that call. It would appear there is no end to the escalation of Western weaponry to Ukraine despite the many grave dangers inherent in this.
Most politicians in the West claim that they are not seeking conflict with Russia, merely that they are giving Kiev the means to defeat Russia and win back the Crimea and all territory annexed by Moscow. This is despite the German Foreign Minister stating that the ‘West was at war with Russia’. More importantly, in some ways is how Russia perceives the steady escalation in Western supplied heavy weaponry to Ukraine. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov has recently warned that the United Sates risks a "direct confrontation" with Moscow over Ukraine.
This week President Biden is expected to announce anew $2billion military aid to Ukraine. The most talked about aspect of this new weapons package is the inclusion of the Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), that could strike 100 miles into Russian-controlled territory.
Despite the hype surrounding this missile system Russia has a 3 tier air defence system in Ukraine, comprising S-200, S-300, Pantsyr-1 and 9k37 Buk systems. These are designed to create anti-access area denial zones up to 800 km in diameter with sufficient firepower to easily shoot down these small missiles.
Despite the steady increase in Western weaponry being despatched to Ukraine there are a growing number of countries which refuse to send ammunition and weapons to Ukraine. Instead, many of these countries are calling for immediate diplomatic talks a step towards a negotiated settlement to the nearly year long conflict. The German Chancellor on his recent tour of South America was told in no uncertain terms that not one nation was prepared to send weapons to Ukraine. Even in NATO there are three countries Hungary, Croatia and Turkey which refuse to supply weapons to Kiev.
Of course, you could say that such voices are of no consequence as the main player in all of this is the United States. For now at least Washington is intent on maintaining its support for Ukraine while the country suffers ever deeper destruction of its infrastructure and further collapse of its ruined economy.