the new army commander considers the situation “extremely complex” on the front

News from the front. The new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armies, Oleksandr Syrsky, announced on Wednesday February 14 that he had visited the hottest areas of the Eastern Front with the Minister of Defense, Roustem Oumerov. It describes a situation on the ground “extremely complex and tense”.

“The Russian occupiers continue to increase their efforts and are outnumbering” Ukrainian forces, Oleksandr Syrsky said on Telegram, while Ukraine is struggling to replenish the ranks of its army and the American military aid the country needs to face the Russians remains blocked. “We are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing on our territory and to hold our positions”underlined Oleksandr Syrsky.

“Destruction” of a Russian warship

Nearly two years after the start of the war, Ukrainian units have had to face strong Russian defenses, and it is now Moscow’s forces that carry out constant attacks, especially at Avdiivka in the east. This workers’ town on the Eastern Front has become the new symbol of Ukrainian resistance, but the noose is slowly tightening and a retreat can no longer be ruled out.

The Ukrainian army also claimed on Wednesday to have “destroy” a Russian warship off the coast of southern Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula in the Black Sea annexed by Russia in 2014. The Ukrainian military intelligence department (GUR) claimed to have used Ukrainian naval drones, Magura V5, to strike the boat near the coastal town of Alupka and chat “critical holes” on its left side after which the boat “started to sink”.

According to the GUR, it is one of the Russian vessels “the most recent”, capable of accommodating 87 crew members and which had been used by Russia in its wars against Georgia in 2008 and in Syria more recently.