It is rumored that an elite brigade of the Russian army has been exhausted. Well-known Russian military bloggers believe that this failure symbolizes the end of the Russian army’s offensive on the Donetsk front. The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, is gradually overshadowing the regular army. It is rumored that Russian President Vladimir Putin is worried about a coup by the mercenary leader and plans to withdraw Wagner from the Ukrainian battlefield. The former high-ranking official who was responsible for arresting opponents for Putin committed suicide after being dismissed by Putin recently. Norway assesses that Russia will be “more authoritarian and militarized” in the coming years. The European Union says it will use frozen Russian funds to rebuild Ukraine.
Bakhmut was heavily shelled, NATO confirmed that the Russian army launched a new wave of major offensive
The Russia-Ukraine war will be over for one year on the 24th of this month. The Russian army launched a new offensive on the anniversary of the war as expected. NATO confirmed that Russia has launched a new major offensive, targeting Bakhmut (Bakhmut). The Ukrainian military said, Ready to fight.
Bakhmut, the “fortress” city of Donetsk, which Ukraine has defended for several months, was heavily shelled. The Ukrainian military said that Russian troops shelled the entire front line, and 16 settlements around Bakhmut were shelled. The Russian army used “Wagner Group” (Wagner Group) mercenaries as the offensive arrows. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that it had advanced several kilometers to the front line, but did not specify the specific location.
Bakhmut is the primary target of Russian President Vladimir Putin. If it can be captured, it will not only give Russia a new foothold in the Donetsk region, but also a rare event after months of repeated defeats by the Russian military. good news.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels on February 13: “…the fact is that we have seen (the new Russian offensive) begin, because we see that what Russia is doing now , what Putin is doing now is sending thousands of extra troops and accepting a very high casualty rate.”
Ukrainian military officials stated that Ukrainian defenders who have stood firm for several months are ready for a new ground attack; a deputy battalion commander said on the 13th that Bakhmut’s position has been fortified and only military personnel are allowed to enter, and anyone who still wants to Civilians who leave the city must risk artillery fire.
At a critical moment, Ukraine needs more weapons to resist Russia. NATO refers to the Russian-Ukrainian war as a difficult war of attrition and logistical warfare.
Reuters reported on the 14th that the defense ministers of Western countries are meeting in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss the provision of new weapons to Ukraine, which seeks greater firepower, and to maintain the existing supply of military supplies such as artillery shells. At present, the production of artillery shells by Western aid countries can hardly keep up with the speed of war consumption.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “It is clear that we are in a logistical race. Critical supplies such as ammunition, fuel and parts must reach Ukraine to prevent Russia from taking the initiative on the battlefield. Speed is what saves lives. “
“Ukraine urgently requests assistance in addressing this critical moment in the entire war,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a meeting of the Ukrainian Allied Group.
“The Kremlin is still expecting us to withdraw from the war, but we have been united as usual for a year, and this shared resolve will help maintain Ukraine’s momentum in the critical weeks ahead,” he said.
Stoltenberg sent the same message about Putin’s aggression, telling reporters: “We don’t see any sign that Putin is ready for peace, only the opposite, that he is ready to continue fighting, to launch new offensives and new attacks .”
“It has become a difficult battle of attrition and thus a logistical battle … when it comes to artillery, we need ammunition, parts and repairs, we need all the logistics to make sure we can sustain these weapons systems,” Stoltenberg said.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called on EU countries to purchase weapons for Ukraine together, similar to the EU’s joint procurement of COVID-19 (2019 Chinese Communist virus disease) vaccines.
Produce ammunition and send self-propelled guns to train and drive chariots. The West is in full swing to support Ukraine
The West is in full swing to provide military assistance to Ukraine in response to Russia’s new major offensive. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on the 14th that Germany has signed a contract with Rheinmetall and will restart production and delivery to Ukraine Ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft gun. Germany has been working for the past few months to find new ammunition for the Leopard anti-aircraft artillery vehicles that were decommissioned from the German Army in 2010.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released a video on Twitter on the 13th and announced that Denmark will transfer all of its French-made CAESAR self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine. The first batch is already on its way to Ukraine. Thanks to Denmark for its great efforts help.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense did not specify the specific number, but according to Agence France-Presse’s previous report, the Danish Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen (Jakob Ellemann-Jensen) announced in a statement on January 19 that he had decided to send Denmark All 19 Caesar self-propelled guns purchased from France were sent to Ukraine.
According to the report, Denmark ordered 15 Kaiser self-propelled guns from the French Nexter Group in 2017 and ordered 4 more in 2019. But deliveries have been delayed and only a few have been delivered. The Caesar gun model purchased by Denmark was different from the French army, having eight wheels instead of six, a carrying capacity of 36 shells instead of 18, and an armored pod.
In addition, Agence France-Presse reported that Poland helped train Ukrainian soldiers to drive the “Leopard 2” chariot on the 13th. 105 Ukrainian soldiers learned from Polish, Canadian and Norwegian instructors at a military base in southwestern Poland.
Polish President Andrzej Duda (Andrzej Duda) attended the opening ceremony and welcomed the Ukrainian soldiers. Duda emphasized: “These people are very experienced tank drivers. They came here directly from the front line in Ukraine. Just by looking at their faces, you can see that these soldiers have been through some terrible things, but they are absolutely determined to defend their homeland.”
The report pointed out that the combat vehicle driving training usually lasts for two months, but the training intensity received by Ukrainian soldiers is higher, with the same content and hours, but the entire training period is only one month.
The critical moment of the war is coming, and the US embassy in Russia asks citizens to leave Russia “immediately”
As the first anniversary of the Russo-Ukrainian war is about to expire, the Washington Post quoted sources as saying on the 13th that the administration of US President Biden reminded the Ukrainian authorities that the decisive moment to change the trajectory of the war has arrived. The U.S. statement added to pressure on Kiev to make significant gains on the battlefield amid a surge in arms and aid from the U.S. and its allies, the report said.
In recent months, the war in Udon has turned into a slow one, with neither side gaining the upper hand, the report said. U.S. officials who visited Kiev in January told Ukrainian authorities that a critical moment would come this spring, when Russia would launch an offensive and Ukraine would launch a counteroffensive to regain lost ground.
The U.S. has reportedly stepped up pressure on Kiev as some Republicans advocate cutting back support, as the White House is expected to make it harder to get Congress to send the same amount of aid to Ukraine as before. The Biden administration is currently working with Congress and is expected to announce $10 billion in new aid to Ukraine along with new sanctions on Russia on the anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Over the past few months, Ukraine has spent a lot of resources and military power to defend Bakhmut, an important town in Udonetsk, but U.S. military analysts and planners believe that it will be difficult for the Ukrainian army to defend Bakhmut at the same time and Launch a spring counteroffensive to retake what the United States deems more important territory.
The report mentioned that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the important symbolic significance of sticking to Bakhmut, and believed that losing the city would deal a blow to Ukrainian morale. U.S. officials said they respected Zelenskiy’s desire to unite the country, but they feared it would work in Moscow’s favor if Ukraine continued to fight anywhere Russia sent troops.
Instead, U.S. officials have urged Ukraine to prioritize the timing and execution of the spring counteroffensive, especially as the U.S. and Europe train Ukrainian fighters to enter the field using some of the more sophisticated weapons.
U.S. authorities have said they are prepared to support Ukraine for as long as possible, while reminding Ukraine that by this summer Kiev will exhaust current U.S. aid packages, after which it will be difficult to resolve the conflict through political means, the report said.
In addition, Reuters reported that the U.S. embassy in Moscow issued a circular asking American citizens to leave Russia “immediately” because Russia will take unfair judicial treatment against Americans.
The U.S. embassy said, “Russia’s national security agencies have issued false accusations against U.S. citizens, imprisoned and harassed U.S. citizens in Russia, refused to give them fair and transparent treatment, and sentenced them in secret trials without reliable evidence. crime.” The US embassy also mentioned that Russian law enforcement agencies also target religious workers or participants in religious activities in the US.
But the Kremlin dismissed the embassy’s announcement, saying it was not the first time U.S. officials have asked citizens to leave Russia.
It is rumored that an elite brigade of the Russian army was exhausted
As Russia launched a new major offensive, it was reported that an elite Russian army was almost completely exhausted in the battle against Vuhledar.
Ukrainian defense force spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskyi pointed out that a large number of Russian troops are fighting in the Bugledar and Marinka areas of the Donetsk region, according to the U.S. political news website Politico. Dead, the 155th Independent Guards Marine Brigade in Bugledar has 150 to 300 marines killed every day, the brigade has about 5,000 soldiers, most of them were killed, wounded or captured by the Ukrainian army .
Dimitryshevsky said that the 155th Independent Guards Marine Brigade, as an elite unit of the Russian army, has participated in many wars since the invasion of Ukraine, but the brigade has been reorganized several times. Irpin and Bucha, and once after the defeat of Donetsk, “almost the entire brigade is now destroyed at Bugradar”.
Igor Girkin, a former pro-Russian military officer in Udon and a well-known Russian military blogger, criticized Russian commanders on the social media Telegram as “completely idiots” and would not learn from failures. Had to advance in a column on the narrow road, coupled with the concentration of troops, the Ukrainian artillery fired accurately, the Russian army lost more than 30 armored vehicles, and a large number of marines, special forces and soldiers died.
Gilkin said frankly that the losses of the Russian army in Bugledar were all “unilaterally killed”, and the Ukrainians shot and killed the Russian army as if they were shooting at a shooting range. According to Gilki, the defeat near Bugledar symbolized the end of the Russian offensive on the Donetsk front.
The war broke out for nearly a year, and the regular Russian army suffered repeated setbacks. On the other hand, the Russian mercenary organization “Wagner Group” recently used the “cannon fodder tactics” of prison prisoners in Udong to achieve some results, hindering the counterattack of the Ukrainian army and overshadowing the regular army , winning the support of more and more pro-Russian forces.
Recently, there have been reports from the West that, seeing that the Wagner Group has overshadowed the regular army, Putin has begun to worry that Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin will take advantage of this to stage a coup and decide to reduce the scope of Wagner’s operations, which has aroused heated discussions outside.
According to comprehensive foreign media reports, Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s royal chef”, founded the Wagner mercenary organization that went to war in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Although private military groups are illegal in Russia, they It is in the Kremlin’s “national interest” to help the Russian aggression, so Prigozin is allowed to operate his mercenary organization in a gray area.
Many people believe that Wagner’s irregular army provides Russia with an opportunity to shirk responsibility when facing charges of war crimes, which means making Wagner a scapegoat; The state is willing to tolerate such extreme and irresponsible violent organizations or behaviors, and the existence itself may eventually pose a threat to the regime.
And Prigozin has also recently shown that he is unwilling to play the role of a scapegoat. When Wagner blocked the Ukrainian army’s counterattack in Udon, Prigozin publicly criticized Russian senior officials and generals several times. disagreement.
Recently, it has been reported that Putin is quite dissatisfied with this. At the same time, he is worried that Prigezin’s growing power may take the opportunity to overthrow him. He regards him as a potential political enemy and decided to withdraw Wagner’s personnel from the front line one after another to reduce Wagner’s combat power. . On the 9th of this month, Wagner suddenly announced that he had stopped recruiting prisoners from prisons all over Russia to fight in Ukraine.
Ex-senior senior Russian official committed suicide after being fired for arresting opponents of Putin
After Russia sent troops to invade Ukraine, news of some high-ranking figures in Russia died in succession. Foreign media reported that Major General Vladimir Makarov, the former deputy director of the Anti-Extremism Directorate of the Russian Ministry of the Interior, committed suicide for unknown reasons.
The 72-year-old Makarov was in charge of “combating extremism” during his lifetime. He mainly captured and eliminated Putin’s competitors and opponents, and monitored Russian social media posts and information. However, Makarov was recently arrested. Putin fired.
Some Russian media claimed that Makarov’s relatives said that he had fallen into “severe depression” since he was fired, and often said that he didn’t know what to do after retirement. On the morning of the 1st, Makarov was found to have committed suicide in a country house, and guns were found at the scene.
Norway assesses Russia will be “more authoritarian and militarized” in coming years
Agence France-Presse reported that Lars Nordrum, deputy commander of the Norwegian Intelligence Service (Norwegian Intelligence Service), said in his annual assessment report for Norway on the 13th that “Russian interests are not compatible with Western interests.” He said, Russia is expected to become “more authoritarian and militarized” in the next few years, “There is no turning back in this matter.”. He was referring to how Russia uses propaganda to manipulate public opinion and Moscow’s close ties to other authoritarian regimes.
Norway is a member of NATO and shares a border with Russia. The annual risk assessment, the first since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, also reached the same conclusion as in the past, pointing to Russia and China as the main threats to Norway’s security and interests.
Citing the impact of Western trade sanctions, Moscow’s international isolation and “more than 100,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded in Ukraine”, Nordrum said the Russo-Ukrainian war “was a catastrophe for Russia” “.
He said the conflict had increased Norway’s geopolitical importance, especially since the war had made Norway a major supplier of gas to the continent. “European countries will depend on Norway for energy supplies for many years.”
Norway’s Police Security Service (PST) also said in its annual threat assessment report on the 13th that Russia will seek to gather more intelligence on Norway’s oil and gas infrastructure as part of a campaign to pressure European energy suppliers, Reuters reported. .
Norway’s police security service pointed out that although Russia’s actions to destroy Norwegian territory in 2023 are “unlikely”, the situation may change if Moscow’s willingness to escalate the conflict with NATO and Western countries increases. “Norway’s role as Europe’s energy supplier takes on greater importance in security policy.”
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was strongly condemned and sanctioned by the West, and a large number of overseas assets were frozen. According to Reuters, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson revealed on the 14th that the EU will set up a special task force on the 15th, led by Anders Ahnlid, head of the Swedish National Board of Trade, to study How billions of dollars of frozen funds, including Russia’s central bank’s foreign exchange reserves, were used to rebuild Ukraine. “The task of the group is to identify which funds are frozen in the EU and to find ways to obtain them legally.”
Sweden holds the rotating presidency of the EU this year. Christesson said that the EU has never used frozen funds to rebuild a war-torn country in the past.
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