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UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT HAS warned that Russian troops are regrouping in preparation for a renewed assault in the east of the country today, as he dismissed Kremlin promises to scale back attacks on the capital Kyiv.
With shelling of Kyiv and Chernigiv continuing despite a Russian vow to “reduce” military activity by “a large margin”, Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his war-torn nation to brace for a new Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas region.
“We don’t believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase,” Zelenskyy said in a late-night video message. “There is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for it.”
In five weeks of brutal fighting Russian forces have been humbled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, and forced to rethink any ambitions to take over the capital or overthrow the democratically elected government.
Western intelligence agencies have been keen to underscore Russia’s military failings, and to push suggestions that President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his own fearful advisors about battlefield reverses.
“We’ve seen Russian soldiers – short of weapons and morale – refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” Britain’s GCHQ spy agency chief Jeremy Fleming said, after similar claims from the White House.
Citing US intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Putin “felt misled by the Russian military”.
Military experts believe that with thousands of Russian troops killed and many thousands more injured, Moscow has no choice but to ditch efforts to advance simultaneously along multiple axes in the north, east and south.
There are growing indications that Russia’s focus is turning to the east, and capturing more towns and cities in Donbas including the besieged port city of Mariupol – even as the long-range assault on other cities continues.
Shift in strategy
Russia’s Ministry of Defence today claimed that was the plan all along.
“The first stage of the special military operation,” said major general Igor Konashenkov, was “to force the enemy to concentrate its forces, means, resources and military equipment to hold on to high populated areas”.
He said the aim was to degrade and tie up Ukrainian forces so they could not be used “in the main direction of our Armed Forces in Donbas”.
“All these goals have been met,” he said.
Some believe that Russia’s aim now will be to capture territory in the south to strengthen Moscow’s hand when it comes to negotiating peace.
“I think we are now seeing the Russian strategy changing,” said Marcus Hellyer of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a former Department of Defence and intelligence official.
“They are focusing more on the east so it may be that they have realised they can’t completely defeat Ukraine.”
The new strategy, he suggested was “to occupy all of Donbas, occupy as much of the Black Sea coast as they can and use that as the facts on the ground for their negotiating strategy”.
Ukraine’s general staff today reported that some Russian units had already left northwestern Ukraine for Moscow-allied Belarus, and there was a “regrouping” of units of the Eastern Military District.
They also claimed that Russia was preparing to create “another pseudo-republic in the Kherson region”.
Since 2014 Russia has backed two similar breakaway Donbas statelets in Luhansk and Donetsk and recently recognised their independence.
The fate of these two self-styled “people’s republics” is central to ongoing peace talks, with Kyiv insisting they are still part of Ukraine.
Russia has long sought a land link between the republics and also-occupied Crimea via Mariupol, which is now encircled by Russian forces.
Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in the city without ready access to food, water or medicines.
Russia’s offer of a Mariupol ceasefire from 10am (8am Irish time) today – allowing trapped civilians to leave – was dismissed by Ukrainian authorities as “another manipulation”.
Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova also accused Russian forces of striking a clearly marked Red Cross facility near the city with aircraft and artillery.
An International Committee of the Red Cross official told AFP the facility was a warehouse but aid stored there had been distributed.
Civilian toll
As generals and political leaders reassess their strategies for a new phase in the war, the toll on ordinary Ukrainians is still coming into harrowing focus.
In Irpin, a gateway to Kyiv, officials said they were recovering bodies in the streets and the area was still being shelled by Russia.
Irpin’s mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said at least 200 people had been killed there since the war began.
The United Nations estimates that four million Ukrainians – close to one in 10 inhabitants – have been forced to flee the country.
The head of the UN Human Rights Council has warned Moscow that “indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes”.
There are few signs of those attacks abating, despite recent talks in Istanbul and another round of video talks slated for April 1.
Both sides initially said the Istanbul meeting had made progress, but the Kremlin yesterday played down hopes of a breakthrough.
“We cannot state that there was anything too promising,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was similarly pessimistic, saying “the war continues”.
Against that backdrop, Ukraine’s Western allies appear ready to step up military aid for Kyiv and sanctions on Russia.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of British military aid “going up a gear” and the White House said that President Joe Biden discussed “additional capabilities” in an almost hour-long phone call with Zelenskyy.
The White House said that could include “anti-ship capability” to hit Russian vessels in the Black Sea.
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Nobody cares
@Aoife Kally Bolamba: Have you asked everybody?
@Aoife Kally Bolamba: well you cared enough to go through a comment section and read an article
@Colm Phillips: sounds like u care for her Colin :)
@Aoife Kally Bolamba: His name is clearly Colm
Londonders have suffered a lot from terrorist attacks over the last 15 years, people ran over by cars on bridges, people randomly butchered in the street, Bus Bombings, Tube Bombings…
Why does this filth think the good people there would want her back on their streets?
@David Lee: Imagine referring to anyone as ‘filth’ and thinking you’ve got the moral high ground. She was a child when she made a very bad choice. I’m not saying roll out the red carpet, but calling this person “filth” while everyone in London is “good people” reveals a lot about you.
@David Lee: How many people did the British kill when the illegally invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. Dropped bombs on Syria and Libia etc. How many of the terrorist attacks on Britain took place before they decided to destabilise the middle East? None. Perhaps if the British didn’t kill thousand of innocent civilians across the middle east there might not be attacks like there was in the UK.
@JusticeForJoe: Go & ask some random people in London if they want her back on their streets & see what they’ll tell you, you’ll hear a lot worse than filth.
Also, would you take her into your neighbourhood or home if she’s so deserving and feel safe around her
@David Lee: Did she have anything to do with any of the attacks on London. If was to go to London 99.9% of the population if London wouldn’t have a clue who she is or where she went.
@David Lee: Imagine thinking a random racist Londoner’s bigoted and hateful opinion means anything. You may accuse her of the same thing, but at least she had the excuse of being an actual child.
I don’t own my “neighbourhood” but I would never object to anyone moving into it and it’s not up to me (or my neighbours) to decide what she deserves. Rotten mob mentality doesn’t equate to righteousness in any way.
@Roy Dowling: very valid points
.
@JusticeForJoe: defending somebody who joined isis tells us a lot about you. Some people are bad people. The word is appropriate. That said I wouldn’t remove her passport because I don’t want governments to have that power.
@Roy Dowling: what’s that gotta do with this woman joining isis. When she joined isis in Syria she joined a rebel faction opposed to Assad, in other words she was on the side of British/US imperialism who also wanted him gone. As I recall so did most of the commentators on here at the time. It’s possible however to oppose both isis and US/U.K. involvement in the Middle East.
@David Lee: she was 15 when she did what she did. I don’t condone what she did but calling her “filth” says a lot more about you than her.
@john smith iv: Oh yeah? What does it tell you about me, John?
@JusticeForJoe: Why should we or the Brits allow people to come back and pretend nothing has happened. She may have only been 15, so what accountability do the parents have. Who is to say that her loyalties are not still with her mates. Because she says so?? They have committed atrocities beyond imagination and expect us to put their human rights before the rights and security of the masses.
@Barrycelona: Who said anything about “pretend nothing has happened”?? I think she should maybe serve some prison time in the UK. I realise there are lots of people who like to shout “you’re not welcome in my country” at other people. Personally, I’d like a lot of THOSE people removed from MY country, but I don’t go around shouting it at them.
Believe her or not, she is state less and needs to go home. Personally I dont believe a word out of her, but she needs a country to live in and the Brits need to take her back.
@Jonathan O’Riordan: brilliant
@Valentine Kane: legally speaking Bangladesh needs to take her in. Britain did not leave her state-less, so there’s no legal foundation for the re-instatement of British citizenship.
@PJ Beatty: why would Bangladeshis would take her in theire country she was apparently born in london and she was as British as any others so is up to British government to decide.
Commissions are needed to examine the teachings and behaviour of the various groups active in Europe to determine if they are indoctrinating people with divisive doctrines masquerading as religions.
@Tom Molloy: Ah leave the Legion of Mary alone, will ya.
@Francis Devenney: brilliant!
We were all indoctrinated at school.
@Francis Devenney: Being asked to say a few prayers and visit the sick is the least of worries for non sectarian people.
@Tom Molloy: Anyone who teaches children that they have the only true way and all others will burn in hell for all eternity are by definition ” indoctrinating people with divisive doctrines masquerading as religions”.
@Shedonny: I barely got a religious message at school. And that was 20 years ago.
@Francis Devenney: The colourful language used to describe invisible attributes good and bad are dated I admit. Painters depicting literature have been a disastrous influence.
@Tom Molloy: Not so much about the language or the images. It’s that the core belief of all monotheistic religions is “We have the one true God,” If that’s not divisive I don’t know what is. In fact the pharaoh Akenaton who invented monotheism caused such hardship with his new religion that when he died his name was struck from all the stele and pillars. “We are right and everybody else is (at best) wrong or (at worst) damned” is inherently divisive, It’s baked into fabric of it.
@Francis Devenney: I agree with you. If it could be kept to “There is a God”. it would be best.
Booooo whoooooo
She joined ISIS, awful. But she was raised and born in Britain. Her citizenship shouldn’t have been revoked. She should be in jail
@Аня Владимировна:
Shamima Begum is a citizen of Bangladesh
@Frank Jasper: no she isn’t. She wasn’t born or raised there.
@Аня Владимировна:
Only when she has been tried and found guilty.
Contrast with Ireland’s treatment if Lisa Smith. She will get a fair trial, her citizenship was not revoked and will not be even if she is found guilty.
Guess which is the civilised state.
@Shedonny: my understanding of international law is that its illegal to strip a person of citizenship unless they already hold dual citizenship. You cannot make a person stateless.
Good show on Netflix called Caliphate. Based in Denmark and shows how easy it was for ISIS to brainwash vulnerable teenagers to join them. Really quite shocking how easy it is.
A 15 year old is not mature enough to make a life changing decision such as her one.
@Over the top: The fact that she felt the need to say she does not hate Britain shows/demonstrates an awareness that hate is floating around in belief systems.
Generation Accept No Personal Responsibility
Britain need to take her back. The SDF and the NES administration can’t afford to keep IS members in Al Hol, Al Roj and other facilities. I’ve been to both these camps in the past few years and they’re pretty scary and are breeding grounds for extremists much like Abu Ghraib in Iraq was before them. Every few months there are attempted mass breakouts and should one be successful we’ve got a problem. SDF have even resorted to freeing militants if they pay 8-20 grand. History will definitely repeat itself if SDF don’t get international help with this situation
She’d say anything at this stage ..
have your say