The situation is tightening again on the front in eastern Ukraine.
According to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, weapons supplied to Ukraine by western countries are not used on Russian territory.
Ukraine says it repelled Saturday’s Russian attack on the city of Bahmut in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s border guard said its soldiers stopped the Russian attack, which left four Russians dead and seven wounded.
Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliarin According to Russian forces, this week they have tried everything to break the Ukrainian defenses and surround Bahmut. According to Maliar, the Russian troops started a strong attack in the Lyman area.
– But thanks to the tenacity of our soldiers, they did not succeed, Maliar said.
On Saturday morning, Russia reportedly bombed several areas of Ukraine in the eastern part of the country. President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said in his daily speech that the situation has become more difficult and Russia has increased its forces as it invades the country.
– It is now very difficult in Bahmut, Vuhledar, Lyman and other areas, he said, referring to the eastern frontline cities of the country.
British Intelligence: Bahmut is increasingly isolated
The main routes of the Ukrainian troops to Bahmut are probably under threat, the British Ministry of Defense estimates in its recent intelligence report.
The British Ministry says that Russia also managed to make some progress in the area during the previous week, and now the Ministry estimates that there is a danger of direct fire on the two routes used by Ukraine.
In addition, according to the report, the mercenary company Wagner very likely took over the route connecting Bahmut to the city of Siversk earlier in the week.
According to the report, Ukraine can still use several alternative overland transport routes, but Bahmut is still increasingly isolated.
Scholz: Agreeing with Zelenskyi on Western weapons
Chancellor of Germany By Olaf Scholz According to the Ukrainian President Zelenskyi, there is an understanding that the weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western countries will not be used on Russian territory.
– There is a consensus on this issue, Scholz said in an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
The goal of the consensus is to “avoid escalation,” Scholz said.
Western countries have sent a lot of military aid to Ukraine, and more new aid packages are being sent to the country. In January, several Western countries promised to supply Ukraine with the battle tanks that the country wanted. Minister of Defense of Canada Anita Anand said on Saturday on Twitter that the first Leopard 2 tank has been sent from Canada to Ukraine.
Last Friday, Italy, France and the United States announced a new arms aid package.
– Together with our allies, we will supply battle tanks to Ukraine so that it can defend itself. We have carefully weighed each arms delivery in close cooperation with our allies, starting with America, Scholz said.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin has compared the intervention of Western countries to the Second World War. Putin said on Thursday that Russia must repeatedly repel the aggression of the collective West. Scholz dismissed the Putin comparison.
– His words are just part of the absurd historical comparisons he uses to justify his attack on Ukraine, Scholz said.
– Nothing can justify this war, Scholz added.
According to the Chancellor, Putin has not threatened him on the phone
In an interview with Bild am Sonntag, Scholz was asked if he had received threats from Putin, as the former British prime minister has said he had.
– No, Putin has not threatened me or Germany. In our phone conversations, our very different views on the war in Ukraine become very clear, Scholz replied to the newspaper.
– I make it very clear to Putin that only Russia is responsible for the war. Russia has attacked its neighboring country without reason to take parts of Ukraine or the whole country under its claws, the Chancellor continued.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC earlier this week that Putin had threatened him with a missile strike during a telephone conversation before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has denied Johnson’s claims. According to a representative of the Russian administration, Johnson either lied or did not understand what Putin told him.
Ex-Prime Minister of Israel Bennett: Putin promised not to kill Zelensky
Former Prime Minister of Israel Naphtali Bennett says he got a promise from Putin that he would not kill Ukrainian President Zelensky. Bennett talks about the encounter in an almost five-hour long interview video published on his own YouTube channel on Saturday, which has been covered by the AP news agency and the Times of Israel magazine, among others.
In the early stages of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, Bennett temporarily acted as a mediator in the negotiations and, among other things, made a quick visit to Moscow in March of last year.
Bennett said in the interview that he asked Putin if he was going to kill Zelenskyi. According to him, Putin had replied that he would not kill Zelensky.
– Then I told him: “I have to understand that you give me your word that you will not kill Zelensky”, Bennett said in the interview.
– He said, “I’m not going to kill Zelensky,” Bennett added, saying that after the meeting he called Zelensky to tell him about it.
Bennett also said in the interview that during the negotiations, Putin would have given up his intentions to try to disarm Ukraine and that Zelenskyi, in turn, would have promised not to join the military alliance NATO.
The negotiations that took place in the early stages of the war ultimately did not bear fruit. Since then, Zelenskyi has said, among other things, that Ukraine is applying for accelerated accession to NATO.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Bennett had only been prime minister for a little over six months. His term was short-lived, as his coalition government collapsed already in the summer due to internal disputes.
Source: STT