The head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, ruled out the success of the Ukrainian forces in expelling all Russian forces from their lands this year, while British intelligence considered that the Russian winter offensive, which lasted 80 days, did not succeed in achieving its goals.
And the "Defense One" website today (Saturday) quoted Milley as saying: The removal of Russian forces from Ukraine is a large and very difficult military task, but it is not impossible. He added that the Ukrainians needed to be able to strike at the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that his country has increased the production of high-precision guided munitions, to support the Russian army in implementing what Moscow describes as a plan for the military operation in Ukraine.
Shoigu stressed during a meeting at the joint headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces (Saturday) that the Russian military-industrial complex has increased the amount of ammunition in general, and that Russia has enough to continue the war.
The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, accused (Friday) NATO of seeking to heat up the situation, transfer the crisis to a stage of no return, and fabricate a third world war. He warned that "any peacekeepers on the front lines in Ukraine without our consent must be eliminated."
On the ground, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hana Malyar said that Russian forces are attacking simultaneously in 4 directions in the east of the country, namely Liman, Bakhmut, Marinka and Avdiivka, without achieving mostly successes, as she put it.
She pointed out that the Russian forces have not yet been able to seize the strategic town of Bakhmut, while they are also trying to besiege Avdiivka, stressing that the situation in the areas of defensive operations is still very difficult.
The Ukrainian official indicated that the Russian forces focus their great efforts on controlling Bakhmut, trying to advance to the central part of the city and achieving small limited successes in some areas, without being able to establish full control, as fierce fighting continues everywhere and in the city itself.
On the other hand, the regional military administration in Kherson said that 3 civilians were killed and two others wounded in Russian bombing targeting the province in southern Ukraine.
It added that the Russian forces fired 27 shells that hit residential areas in the city, and that they bombed the province 54 times during the past day. The statement of the military administration confirmed that the Russian forces fired about 440 shells and carried out 5 attacks on separate fronts in Kherson.
Okaz (Washington, Moscow) @okaz_online