Russian forces are keeping Ukrainian troops pinned down by attacks in the eastern region of Donbass, as Moscow is assembling additional combat forces there for an offensive expected in the coming weeks, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.
Weeks of intense fighting continued to rage around the town of Bakhmut and the nearby towns of Soledar and Vougledar, Ukraine’s presidential office said.
They are located in the Donetsk region, which, together with the neighboring region of Luhansk, constitutes the Donbass region, an industrial zone bordering Russia.
“The battles for the region are intensifying,” Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko announced in televised comments, adding that “the Russians are throwing new units into the battle and eradicating our towns and villages.”
In Luhansk, Governor Sergey Gaidai said shelling had decreased because “the Russians saved ammunition for a full-scale offensive.”
Military analysts say Kremlin forces could be probing Ukrainian defenses for weak points or could be feint while preparing a main thrust through southern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is hungry for battlefield success, including securing illegally annexed territory in eastern Ukraine to mark the anniversary of his February 24 invasion.
Russian forces advanced during the first months of the war, but they failed to achieve key objectives and were then pushed back from large areas by a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Western military aid was essential to enable kyiv to cope with a much larger military force.
Major donation from Norway
The Norwegian government intends to donate US$7.3 billion to Ukraine as part of a multi-year support package, making the oil-rich Scandinavian country one of the world’s top donors.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said on Monday the money would be used for a military and civilian aid package over a five-year period, once parliament gives its approval.
Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand tweeted Sunday that the first Leopard tank Canada is donating to Ukraine has arrived in Poland. This donation is part of a broad commitment by Ukraine’s Western allies to help it defeat Russia.
Training of Ukrainian servicemen in the use of the tank was to begin “soon”, Ms Anand said, as allies work to prepare Ukrainian forces ahead of the impending offensive.
New bombings
Ukraine’s presidential office said on Monday that at least one civilian had been killed and 10 others injured by Russian shelling in the past 24 hours.
Five of those injured were injured during the shelling of the city of Kharkiv, where Russian shells hit residential buildings and a university, the presidential office said.
The Russians again fired at targets across the Dnieper near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, damaging residential buildings and power lines in Nikopol and Marhanets, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russian forces occupied Zaporizhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, early in the war, and regular bombing of the area raised serious security concerns.
The UN chief of nuclear operations is due to travel to Moscow this week to discuss security in Zaporizhia.
The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, intends “to continue his consultations with a view to agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the plant, said said IAEA spokesman Fredrik Dahl.