War in Ukraine, Day 346 | The situation “is getting complicated” on the ground, recognizes Zelensky

(Kyiv) The situation “is getting more complicated” on the ground facing Russian troops in Ukraine, which is once again the target of intense bombing, President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged on Saturday.

“During the 346 days of this war, I often said that the situation on the front lines was difficult. And that the situation was getting complicated, ”he said in his daily message.

“Now we are at such a moment again. A moment when the occupier increasingly mobilizes its forces to break through our defence. It is very difficult now in Bakhmout, Vougledar, Lyman (in the east, editor’s note) and in other regions, ”added the Ukrainian head of state.

“The enemy is regrouping in certain areas. It is concentrating its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the directions of Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmout, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry had warned shortly before.

In the Donetsk region, “massive” artillery fire targeted Saturday morning Avdiivka, on the eastern front line, after Kramatorsk, another city much coveted by the Russians, was hit overnight by rockets, reported the Ukrainian authorities.

In the past 24 hours, in the southern province of Zaporizhia alone, shells have fallen on “civilian infrastructure” located in the territories of 26 localities, according to the same sources.

Strikes also continued on Kherson, a major southern city taken and then abandoned by the Russians.

Increased pressure on Bakhmout

Ukrainian border guards for their part assured on Saturday that they had repelled an “assault of the invaders” and chased them from the suburbs of Bakhmout after an aerial reconnaissance revealed that “the enemy was preparing to attack” this city at the epicenter of the fighting in Ukraine.

They fired mortars “at the place of concentration of the occupants”, then “forced them to retreat”, can we read in their press release.

“This week, the Russian occupation forces made every effort to break through our defense and encircle Bakhmout and launched a powerful offensive in the Lyman sector. But thanks to the resilience of our soldiers, they failed,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar summed up on Saturday.

For its part, the port city of Odessa suffered major power cuts on Saturday following a technical incident in a power plant, which has constantly been the victim of Russian bombardments in recent times.

“The district and the city of Odessa were almost completely blacked out. Nearly 500,000 people have no electricity,” said Maksym Marchenko, the head of the regional administration.

“All essential infrastructure has been supplied (with power). Thus, the city will have water and heat. About a third of consumers have electricity,” Energy Minister German Galushchenko said later.

In this context, Volodymyr Zelensky was pleased that a new exchange of prisoners could take place on Saturday, allowing Kyiv to recover 116 soldiers, including two officers.

In total, since February 24, the date of the start of the Russian invasion, 1,762 Ukrainians held captive by the Russians have been released, he noted.

Training on British tanks

On Friday, when a summit with the European Union took place in Kyiv, Ukraine received assurances that it would obtain longer-range Western weapons.

The new US military aid, amounting to 2.2 billion dollars, includes in this regard rockets which could almost double the extent of the field of action of the Ukrainian strike force, according to the Pentagon.

These are in particular GLSDB (Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb), small-diameter devices fired from the ground that can reach a target located 150 km away and therefore threaten Russian positions behind the front lines.

At the same time, Paris announced that France and Italy would provide a MAMBA medium-range surface-to-air defense system in the spring to help Ukraine “defend against attacks by Russian drones, missiles and aircraft”. .

Freed Russian and Ukrainian POWs

Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home after a prisoner exchange, officials on both sides said on Saturday.

The chief of staff of the Ukrainian president, Andriy Yermak, indicated in a message on Telegram that 116 Ukrainians have been released.

He claims the released prisoners of war include troops who defended Mariupol during the siege of Moscow that reduced the southern port city to rubble. Among the freed prisoners of war there are also fighters from the Kherson region and snipers captured during the fierce fighting in Bakhmout.

Russian defense officials, meanwhile, said 63 Russian soldiers had returned from Ukraine after the exchange, including ‘special category’ prisoners whose release was secured after mediation by the Arab Emirates. United.

A statement released Saturday by the Russian Defense Ministry did not provide details of these “special category” captives.

The bodies of two repatriated Britons

The bodies of two Britons, Christopher Parry and Andrew Bagshaw, killed in Ukraine where they had gone as volunteers, were recovered as part of the prisoner exchange.

“We managed to recover the bodies of dead foreign volunteers,” said Andriï Yermak, the head of the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Christopher Parry, 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, 48, were killed while attempting a humanitarian evacuation from the town of Soledar, the scene of intense clashes in early January and largely destroyed in shelling, the family confirmed in late January from Mr. Parry, via the UK Foreign Office.

They had been missing for several weeks, and the leader of the Wagner group, Evguéni Prigojine, had indicated on January 11 that his fighters had found the body of one of them in Soledar.

Associated Press, Agence France-Presse

As for Portugal, it is willing to send German-made Leopard 2 heavy tanks to the Ukrainians.

Mr. Zelensky also spoke on Saturday, without specifying them, of the “very important things” he was preparing with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, following a conversation the two men had just had.

He took the opportunity to salute the fact that “now, in the United Kingdom, our guys have already started training on Challenger tanks”, of which London has promised to deliver 14 copies to his country.

A European embargo on petroleum products exported by sea must also come into force on Sunday, a “negative” measure which will “further unbalance” the markets, had deplored the Kremlin.