Biden says Ukraine is not getting F-16s because Russia claims it is making a profit |
KYIV, Ukraine/ WASHINGTON, 31 january (Reuters) – USA of Ukraine It will not provide the F-16 fighters it is looking for in the war against Russia, the president Cho Biden, Russia forces military he said at a time when he claimed to have achieved a number of increased achievements in operations. east of the country.
USAto the question of whether it will provide the planes Biden “No,” he told reporters at the White House on Monday.
Ukraine the adviser to the minister of defense said on Friday that Ukraine plans to push for the West’s fourth-generation fighter jets, such as the F-16, after securing the supply of its main battle tanks last week.
Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov “The next big obstacle now will be fighter jets,” his adviser, Yuri Sak, told Reuters.
Biden’s comment on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s merciless attacks in the east of Russia of Ukraine It came shortly after he said he was beginning to take revenge for his resistance to the invasion.
Zelensky has warned for weeks that Moscow intends to step up its offensive after nearly two months of virtual standstill along the frontline that stretches across the south and east.
Last week Germany and USAUkraine got a big boost when it announced plans to supply heavy tanks, ending weeks of diplomatic deadlock over the issue.
Although there are no signs of a new, larger-scale Russian offensive, of Ukraine Denis Pushilin, administrator of the Russian-controlled parts of eastern Donetsk region, said Russian troops were entrenched in the ruins of the Ukrainian stronghold of coal mining Vuhledar. since the beginning of the war.
‘FIGHT FOR EVERY METER’
Pushilin said Ukrainian forces continue to push reinforcements into the areas of Bakhmut, Maryinka and Vuhledar, three towns west of Donetsk city running from north to south. The state of Russia news the agency TASS writes with reference to him that the Russian troops are advancing there, but “it is not clear, that is, there is a battle here for every meter of the word”.
Ukrainian military According to analyst Oleh Zhdanov, Maryinka and Vuhledar Ukraine, where Russian attacks were less intense on Monday, are still under control.
Pushili’s adviser, Jan Gagin, said that fighters from Wagner’s Russian mercenary forces had for months partially controlled a supply route to Bakhmut in Donetsk region, a key focus of Moscow.
The day before, Wagner’s chief said that his fighters had secured the village of Blahodatne, north of Bakhmut.
Kyiv said Blahodatne and Vuhledara had repelled the attacks, and Reuters could not independently verify the situation there. But the locations of the reported battles showed clear Russian victories, albeit gradually.
Zelensky said that Russia despite the heavy losses of the side, Russia’s attacks in the east are relentless, and these attacks in Ukraine at the beginning of the conflict Russia was evaluated as a reward for his success in withdrawing his forces from the capital, the northeast and the south.
“I think that Russia really wants to take a big revenge. I think they have (already) started it,” – Zelensky he told reporters in the southern port city of Odessa.
Russian forces shelled dozens of settlements in the Bakhmut sector and shelled towns near Avdiivka in the south with tanks, mortars and artillery, the Ukrainian army headquarters said.
In the central Zaporizhzhya region and the southern Kherson region, Russian forces shelled more than 40 settlements. Kyiv said that in Kherson, the Russians fired at the cities on the left bank of the Dnieper River, which they left in November. Among the targets was the city of Kherson, where there were casualties.
Ukrainian military According to analyst Oleh Zhdanov, Ukrainian forces have repelled attempts by Russia to advance on a number of towns and villages in the Donetsk region, including Bakhmut and several nearby settlements.
Zhdanov said that the front line in the sector has not changed.
The military said the Russians also launched four rocket attacks on Ochakiv, south of Nikolaev, on the day Zelensky met with the Danish prime minister in the northeastern city of Nikolaev.
WESTERN DELAYS
Western countries are months away from delivering hundreds of modern tanks and armored vehicles promised in recent weeks for a counter-offensive to regain territory in Ukraine.
It forces Kiev to fight through a winter that both sides describe as a meat grinder of a brutal attrition war.
Moscow’s “Wagner” mercenary force sent thousands of convicts recruited from Russian prisons into battle around Bakhmut, buying time to restore hundreds of thousands of reserve units to the Russian regular army.
Zelensky urges the West to speed up the delivery of promised weapons so that Ukraine can attack.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Western countries’ supply of arms “NATO leads to more and more direct involvement of their countries in the conflict, but it does not and will not have the potential to change the course of events.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War believes that the main reason why Kiev’s advances have been halted since November was the “failure of the West to provide the necessary material” last year.
The researchers said in the report that Ukraine could still retake territory after the promised weapons arrive.
Moscow’s attack on Ukraine, which it considers necessary to protect itself from its neighbor’s relations with the West, has led to the death of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of millions of people from their homes.
Reuters bureaus report; Written by Doina Chiacu; Edited by Cynthia Osterman
Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
2023-01-31 05:55:13
Source – reuters
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