Photo: Agence France-Presse A Russian flag flies over Mariupol, a Ukrainian city conquered by Moscow in the first months of the war.
France Media Agency in Moscow
Published yesterday at 11:02 a.m.
- Europe
The Kremlin assured Thursday that United States aid to Ukraine, blocked in Congress for several months and on which American elected officials must vote on Saturday, will change “nothing” in the situation on the front, where the Russian army is on the offensive.
Ukraine tirelessly asks its Western allies for more munitions and anti-aircraft defense systems, with Russian forces still shelling its cities and energy infrastructure on a daily basis.
However, the American House of Representatives must vote on Saturday on a text providing nearly $61 billion in military and economic aid to Ukraine, which could allow its soldiers to catch their breath.
“This cannot in any way influence the development of the situation on the fronts,” commented the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitry Peskov.
“This cannot change anything,” he insisted to the press, affirming that “all the experts now say that the situation on the front is unfavorable for the Ukrainian side.”< /p>
“As quickly as possible”
It is a time for optimism in Moscow, several months after the failure of kyiv's counter-offensive in the summer of 2023 and at a time when Russian troops are gradually gaining ground, notably in Donbass, the Kremlin's priority target.
For its part, exhausted by two years of fighting, Ukraine is struggling against a Russian army superior in number of soldiers, weapons and ammunition.
Ukrainian forces notably lack air defense systems to counter Russian attacks with explosive drones and missiles, like the triple strike on Wednesday in Cherniguiv, in the north, which left 18 dead .
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky deplores the lack of aid from the West almost every day, after more than two years of high-intensity conflict.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed in this regard on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers of the G7 states in southern Italy that Ukraine had a “urgent and significant need for additional anti-aircraft defenses.” “We should have given them more sooner,” he added.
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In mid-March, the Ukrainian head of state deemed “critically important” a rapid decision by the American Congress on the release of aid to his country, which was simultaneously facing recruitment difficulties new soldiers.
“We needed this money yesterday, not tomorrow, not today,” said Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal in an interview with the BBC.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy Dmytro Kouleba met his American counterpart Antony Blinken, calling for Patriot surface-to-air missile systems “as quickly as possible” to “save lives and improve the situation on the battlefield.”
The aid package has already been passed by the Senate with a Democratic majority but remains blocked in Congress, with Republican representatives, supporting Donald Trump, turning a deaf ear six months before the presidential election amid disagreements on the migration issue.
President Joe Biden, who is pushing for the adoption of this text, for his part once again said on Wednesday that he was “very favorable” to this envelope, speaking in the columns of Wall Street Journal “a pivotal moment.”
The outcome of the vote nevertheless remains uncertain for the moment.
Electricity restrictions
On the ground, the dynamics are not to the advantage of Ukraine, almost 20% of whose territory is occupied by Russia.
Two people were killed Thursday in new Russian bombings, according to local authorities.
And Russian attacks on energy infrastructure remain frequent despite the Ukrainian army's attempts to protect these sites.
Faced with this situation, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry on Thursday called on the population and businesses to limit their electricity consumption in the evening “during peak hours” (from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ), relaying the request from the electricity supplier DTEK.
The ministry explained this decision in particular by “the increase in the load on the electricity network which results” from these repeated Russian bombings.
In retaliation, Ukraine regularly targets refineries and other facilities on Russian soil with the aim of disrupting the logistics chain supplying troops engaged on the front.
On Thursday, Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) claimed responsibility for a “successful” strike the day before on a Russian military airfield in annexed Crimea, “destroying or seriously damaging” S-400 launchers.< /p>
The Russian occupation authorities in the eastern region of Donetsk, for their part, accused the Ukrainian army of having fired on a hospital in Gorlivka, wounding at least eight people, including a child.