Russian forces, in a new offensive in Ukraine. Zelensky warns: “Putin will want a long war in Iran”
Russian forces have launched a spring offensive in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian military and analysts, and the offensive is beginning to gain momentum, CNN wrote. In this context, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy complained about the effects of the war in the Middle East on his country, which sees its diplomatic talks postponed.
In an interview with the BBC on Sunday, the Ukrainian leader said he had “a very bad feeling” about the fallout from the war in the East, where the United States and Israel launched an operation against Iran on February 28 and Tehran's forces and allied militias responded by striking Israel and countries in the region.
“You see that our diplomatic meetings, trilateral meetings are constantly postponed. There is only one reason: the war in Iran,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.
He claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will want a long war” in Iran.
“For Putin, a long war in Iran is a plus,” Zelenskiy added, as rising oil prices and the temporary lifting of some of the sanctions targeting the Russian oil sector benefit Russia's economy.
The head of the Ukrainian army: “The Russian aggressor intensified the pressure on several sections of the front”
In all this context, Moscow's forces are intensifying attacks in eastern Ukraine, where control of the entire Donbas, a region known for its coal mines and heavy industry, is seen by the Kremlin as a key military objective, as Reuters wrote recently.
“With the changing weather conditions, the Russian aggressor intensified the pressure on several sections of the front,” warned the head of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Sîrski, on Friday.
“For several days in a row, the number of combat engagements has exceeded 200,” he added, claiming that the Russians were losing more than 1,000 soldiers a day.
“Active troop movements, reinforced artillery, tactical aviation and the widespread use of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, no) are observed in all sectors, indicating that the Russian army is preparing for a new offensive,” Dmytro Zaporozhets, of the 11th Corps of the Ukrainian army, told Ukrainian TV station Suspilne on Saturday.
Multi-directional attacks
Attacks by Russian forces have also focused on the city of Liman in Donetsk, on the edge of the so-called Ukrainian urban “fortress belt” in the region. The area has a key role in the defense of Sloviansk, a larger city.
This week, Ukrainian authorities announced that they had begun the mandatory evacuation of children from the most-attacked areas of Sloviansk, one of the main cities still under Ukrainian control in the Donbas region, in what Reuters described as a sign that the security situation in the area is deteriorating.
The Institute for the Study of War noted signals that Russian forces plan to step up ground operations in other areas of the fortress belt as well, including in the directions of Kramatorsk and Kosteantînivka.
