Photo: Genya Savilov Agence France-Presse Ukrainian soldiers near Chasiv Yar, where the Russian army is on the offensive
Emmanuel Peuchot – Agence France-Presse to kyiv
Published at 11:00 a.m. Updated at 11:19 a.m.
- Europe
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Syrsky, admitted on Sunday that the situation on the front had “deteriorated”, with Russian troops, superior in weapons and soldiers, having won victories “tactical successes” in several areas.
The Ukrainian army has been on the defensive since the failure of its major counter-offensive last summer and is facing a resumption of Russian initiative after the fall of the fortress town of Avdiïvka, in the east, in February.
Struggling to mobilize new soldiers and faced with the drying up of Western aid, Ukraine has had to retreat recently in several sectors, as illustrated by Moscow's demand on Sunday for the capture of a new village.
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Russia is “actively attacking all along the front line, achieving tactical successes in some sectors,” General Syrsky said on Facebook.
< p>According to him, the Russian army “concentrated its efforts in several sectors, thereby creating a significant advantage in terms of forces and means”, in order to “attempt to take the strategic initiative and break through the front line”.
“Heavy fighting”
He reported “violent fighting” during of the past week, evoking a “dynamic” situation with certain positions captured by one then the other camp several times during a single day.
According to him, the Ukrainian troops however manage to “improve their tactical position” in certain areas.
Among the areas where the fighting is the most intense is the Kupiansk sector, in the northeast of the country, where the Russians “enjoyed partial successes, but were stopped,” General Syrsky said.
In the Kramatorsk sector (east), Russian troops are on the offensive to take the town of Chassiv Yar, but the “most complicated situation” is concentrated in the area of Pokrovsk and Kurakhové, where “fierce fighting is taking place. continue,” he said.
He admitted that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the localities of Berdychi, Semenivka, and Novomykhailivka, and also mentioned a “tense situation” in the south of the country.
Russia claimed on Sunday the capture of a new village on the Eastern Front, that of Novobakhmoutivka, located in the north -west of the town of Avdiïvka.
This village is located near that of Otcheretyné, quickly invested this week by Russian forces who currently control most of it party according to observers, which sparked criticism.
Incessant bombings targeted the Otcheretyne area, a town located on the heights, and plumes of gray smoke rose into the sky, an AFP team noted in the morning.
In the village of Vozdvyjenka, 8 km northwest, three civilians were finishing loading a small truck with furniture and other belongings.
“We are going far from here. We took some of our belongings here and from another village,” one of the men told AFP, in a hurry to leave. “I don’t have time to talk because there are bombings,” he adds, before quickly leaving the village by truck.
“The Russians are advancing”
Ukrainian soldiers encountered along a wooded road in the area told AFP that they had come to dig defense lines not far from Otcheretyne.
“But the situation has changed. We were told not to take the shovels, to stay here and wait for orders. The Russians are attacking and advancing,” said one of them, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In mid-April, the Ukrainian commander-in-chief had already mentioned a situation which had “considerably deteriorated” with a “significant intensification” of the Russian offensive since March, leading to first “tactical successes”.
In this context , Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov predicted Monday that the situation will worsen around mid-May and early June, which will be a “difficult period” for Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities, however, hope to fill the arms and ammunition deficit with the aid package of some $61 billion approved by the US Congress after months of blockage due to political wrangling in Washington.
US President Joe Biden promised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky this week that aid would arrive “quickly”. The Kremlin, for its part, minimized the impact it would have.
To replenish the ranks of the army, Volodymyr Zelensky also promulgated in April a controversial law on military mobilization, intended to facilitate the enlistment of new recruits.