Ukraine yesterday hailed its advances around frontline Bakhmut and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in London to seek fresh aid as expectations built over a spring offensive.
Ahead of Zelenskiy’s talks with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the UK pledged “hundreds” of air-defense missiles and long-range attack drones to fend off Russia’s invasion.
“This is a crucial moment in Ukraine’s resistance to a terrible war of aggression they did not choose or provoke,” Sunak said yesterday before the talks and as China was to send an envoy to Kyiv for a two-day visit.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Simon Dawson / No. 10 Downing Street Handout
Ukraine has announced a series of territorial advances on the flanks of Russian positions near the flashpoint town of Bakhmut, prompting finger-pointing and concern among Moscow’s forces.
“The advance of our troops in the Bakhmut direction is the first success of the offensive in the course of the operation to defend Bakhmut,” commander of the Ukrainian ground forces Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
The timing and focus of an expected Ukrainian offensive are unclear, but Zelenskiy has made a fresh tour of European capitals in the past few days to bolster support.
Western heavy weapons and ammunition are key to preparations for Ukraine’s high-stakes fightback, which could mark a turning point in the war.
Sunak said that the talks were taking place in the buildup to a Council of Europe leaders’ meeting in Iceland — which Zelenskiy is to address by video — and a G7 summit in Japan.
“We must not let them down,” Sunak said in a statement.
“The front lines of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war of aggression may be in Ukraine, but the fault lines stretch all over the world,” he said.
At the talks, Sunak was to confirm “the further UK provision of hundreds of air-defence missiles and further unmanned aerial systems including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200km,” the UK statement said. “These will all be delivered over the coming months as Ukraine prepares to intensify its resistance to the ongoing Russian invasion.”
The latest shipment comes after Britain last week became the first Western country to offer the type of long-range cruise missiles long sought by Ukraine, with its Storm Shadow rockets.
Britain is the second-largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine after the US, and has added combat flight training to its program of help, but not fighter jets.
As the fighting appeared poised to increase in Ukraine, a Chinese special envoy is to arrive in Kyiv today for a two-day visit.
A Ukrainian government official said that high-ranking Chinese diplomat Li Hui (李輝) “will be in Kyiv May 16 and 17,” a stopover that comes as Beijing seeks to present itself as a mediator in the war.
Zelenskiy made a stop in Paris at the weekend following a visit to Rome where he met Italian leaders and Pope Francis and a stop in Germany, which announced a military aid package of 2.7 billion euros (US$2.93 billion).
Ukraine has been training troops and readying weapons that analysts say will be key to reclaiming territory in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south.
On the front line, Kyiv said Ukrainian forces had captured more than 10 Russian positions on the outskirts of Bakhmut.
Russia said two of its military commanders had been killed in combat near the town, where fighting has been raging for days.
The head of Russia’s private Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, again accused the Russian army of inaction around Bakhmut.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin yesterday a report in the Washington Post newspaper, which cited a US intelligence leak, as saying that Prigozhin had offered to reveal the position of Russian troops to Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the report, which was also rejected by Prigozhin, looked like a hoax.
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