British intelligence revealed that the Ukrainian forces are facing major supply problems, forcing them to withdraw from some areas of Bakhmut, although they still control the western areas of the city. The British Ministry of Defense said in its daily report: The Russian forces and fighters of the Wagner Group have reactivated the attack on Bakhmut after improving cooperation between them. And officials in Kiev announced that Russia continued to launch relentless attacks on the city of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hana Malyar stated that fierce fighting took place (Thursday), in all areas on the eastern front. She added that forces loyal to Kiev responded to the attacks in most of those areas.
She said: Most of the offensive efforts are taking place in the Bakhmut sector, and that Russian leaders have redirected soldiers there from other areas. She added that the Russians use the most professional units there, and resort to using a large amount of artillery and aviation pieces daily, and carry out 40 to 50 incursions and 500 bombing operations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials have been pressing allies to supply the country with more weapons, which Kiev hopes will enable it to launch a major counteroffensive later this year.
"We are preparing our soldiers … We are looking forward to the arrival of the weapons pledged by our partners," Zelensky said in a video speech late on Thursday. We bring victory as close to us as possible.”
For his part, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang announced today (Friday) that his country is ready to continue working for peace in Ukraine, and expressed the hope that all parties to the crisis would be objective, calm and work together.
He said during a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Annalina Baerbock, in Beijing: China's role in the issue of Ukraine, its proposal, is summed up in one point, which is persuasion and invitation for talks, and we will not do anything to add fuel to the fire.
The German Foreign Minister called on China to ask Russia to stop the war, and said that there is no country that has more influence on Russia than China and we want to use its influence to stop the war.
And the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, considered that "it would be useful for the Chinese president to talk to the Ukrainian president."
Yesterday, the Council of the European Union allocated one billion euros to compensate for the supply of ammunition to Ukraine until May 31, within the framework of the European Peace Fund. This measure allows the European Union to compensate its countries for ammunition donated to Ukraine from current stocks, or to re-prioritize current requests during the period between February 9 and May 31, 2023. This step raises the total EU contribution to Ukraine within the framework of the European Peace Fund to 4.6 billion euros.
Okaz (London, Moscow, Capitals) @okaz_online
