A Ukrainian trench in Donbass – Ansa
There are seven days left until May 9th, the anniversary with which Moscow celebrates the 1945 victory over Nazi-fascism and which on Vladimir Putin’s agenda for three years means trying to present itself in Red Square with a Ukrainian “trophy”: Mariupol in 2022, Bakhmut in 2023, now the villages lost during Kiev’s counteroffensive and in the process of being reconquered on the front line of Donbass.
“In April alone, the Russians used more than 300 missiles of different types, almost 300 drones and more than 3,200 guided aerial bombs against Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. In the same hours, the United States accused the Russian army of using chemical weapons to exterminate Ukrainian soldiers hidden in trenches, while some videos confirm that the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is being used to launch killer drones on Ukrainian positions. The Kiev authorities showed the footage with «an FPV drone with the acronym UT4D.TT, supplied to the Russian Ministry of Defense», we read in a note according to which the occupation forces use the plant knowing that the Ukrainian battalions cannot respond to fire without running the risk of causing a nuclear disaster.
The fortifications on the front line are struggling to hold up, but Moscow is still unable to overwhelm the defenses, breaking through in some key points, such as the Avdiivka district. The Russian Defense Ministry ordered an increase in weapons production on Wednesday, insisting that deliveries be made faster. It is the response to the decision of American President Biden who signed a law that provides 61 billion dollars in additional aid to Ukraine, including artillery equipment, missile systems, anti-tank ammunition.
Russia is gradually advancing at key points along the 1,000-kilometer front line. As Chasiv Yar, in eastern Ukraine, bombed for months and which today appears completely charred. Thousands of lives were saved thanks to the help of the countries that supported our air shield. Unfortunately, many lives have been taken by these attacks. Anyone who works for defense against Russia is a real saver of lives,” Zelensky added.
And Washington accuses Russia of having violated the international ban on chemical weapons by using the suffocating agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. “The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is likely motivated by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and make tactical gains on the battlefield,” the State Department said. Moscow’s embassy in the US did not respond to requests for comment. But the Kremlin reacts by claiming that the American administration’s complaint “is baseless”. Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for President Putin, rejected the accusations, arguing that “Russia has been and remains committed to respecting its obligations under international law.” Before the US spoke out, several reporters had already reported the intensification of “anti-riot chemical agents” against the Ukrainian trenches. Among them were some Reuters journalists in Donbass. According to the Ukrainian army, at least 500 soldiers were treated for exposure to toxic substances and one died from suffocation from tear gas. Furthermore, at the moment of launch, the fighters hit by the gas are forced to jump out of the trenches, exposing themselves to enemy fire. According to the US Institute of Health, chloropicrin is used both as a weapon and as a pesticide.
The most exposed Ukrainian artillery battalions complain that they do not have the shells needed to repress Russian attacks. “If we compare it with the beginning of the invasion, when we fired up to 100 shells a day, now when we reach 30 shells it is a luxury,” the artillery commander, Oleksandr Kozachenko, told the Reuters agency. Russian forces boast far superior firepower as they gradually advance around the town of Avdiivka, captured in February, and also move west of Bakhmut, seized from Ukraine a year ago at the cost of thousands of lives. Diplomacy is not making any progress at the moment. However, Switzerland has invited more than 160 delegations to the peace conference on Ukraine organized for 15 and 16 June in Lucerne. This was announced by the Foreign Ministry, specifying that Russia is not among the invitees “at this stage”. Moscow, for its part, dismissed the Swiss meeting as a plot orchestrated by the United States and reiterated that it will not participate in any dialogue unless Kiev accepts Russia’s annexation of around 20% of its territory, currently occupied by Moscow forces. The summit will begin just after the closing of the G7 in Puglia. If the presence of Ukrainian leader Zelensky is taken for granted, the participation of American President Joe Biden has not yet been confirmed. Another great unknown is the presence of China, a key ally of Moscow, whose possible participation would mark a point in favor of the negotiation.
