Russia launches new wave of attacks in Donetsk as Zelensky pleads with Western allies to boost weapons stockpiles ahead of brutal winter conflict
Volodymyr Zelensky today pleaded with his Western allies to deliver a weapons boost ahead of a brutal winter of conflict as Russia launches a new wave of attacks.
Ukraine’s president has warned the war-torn country to prepare for a winter attack from Vladimir Putin, with Russia stepping up its attacks around the cities of Donetsk, Kupyansk and Avdiivka.
It is thought that Ukraine’s energy infrastructure will face a repeat of attacks 12 months ago, having already been bombed 60 times in recent weeks.
The country was plunged into darkness last winter when thousands of Russian drones and missiles targeted Ukraine’s energy sector, causing major power outages.
Zelensky has called the recent attacks on the city of Kherson, which killed three people and injured a dozen – including a newborn baby – “revenge attacks” that took place “without any military necessity.”
Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington yesterday as part of a trip to the United States to press Ukraine’s need for Western weapons.
Volodymyr Zelensky today pleaded with his Western allies to provide a weapons boost ahead of a brutal winter of conflict as Russia launches a new wave of attacks.
A Ukrainian soldier from the artillery unit fires at Russian targets near the city of Bakhmut – about 90 km north of Donetsk
“As winter approaches, we expect Russian rocket terror to intensify,” Yermak wrote on Telegram after the meeting.
“That is why we urgently need air and missile defense systems that will protect Ukrainian cities, key critical infrastructure facilities and grain corridor routes,” he said.
Yermak later said he had also met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, as well as British and European security and foreign policy advisers to discuss the “battlefield situation.”
Yermak said Russia has increased the number of forces in Ukraine and that Kiev must “maintain international support.”
The plea for an arms effort comes as the European Union says it will miss its target of supplying Ukraine’s front line with a million artillery shells and rockets by March next year. Only 300,000 bullets have been delivered so far.
Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, said it must be “assumed” that the one million target will not be met.
However, EU Commissioner Thierry Breton remains hopeful that the target can be achieved ‘but it is now up to the Member States to place their orders’.
He said: “It is true that we have reduced our production capacity a little, even significantly, but the industrial base is still there to ramp up production.”
The conflict is quickly approaching its two-year anniversary, but there are fears within Ukraine that Western fatigue and global attention on the war between Israel and Hamas could weaken support for the military.
In a separate speech today in Washington, Yermak said Ukraine had “gained a foothold on the left bank of the Dnipro,” without giving further details.
The vast Dnipro River divides the frontline in southern Ukraine, with Russian troops entrenched on the eastern or left bank and Ukraine on the other side.
Ukrainian soldiers seek shelter on November 11 as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues in Donetsk Oblast
A woman holds her cat outside her heavily bombed residential building in Avdiivka, which is the target of Russian military airstrikes
Buildings in Avdiivka have been heavily bombed. Moscow’s armed forces have stepped up aerial bombardments and are trying to make progress along with ground forces
Officials said Russian forces around the city had suffered heavy losses. They also said Ukrainian forces had repelled Russian attacks in other parts of the 1,000-kilometer frontline
A police officer convinces a local resident to evacuate his dilapidated house. The area faces daily destruction from Russia as Putin turns his attention to eastern Ukraine after failing to capture Kiev
In recent weeks, Russian military bloggers close to the armed forces have reported that Ukrainian forces had made successful amphibious landings on the Russian side.
They reported that the Ukrainians had taken positions in the village of Krynky, about 35 kilometers upriver from Kherson.
Neither the Russian nor Ukrainian defense ministries have commented on the reports.
Fighting has gripped the area around the shattered eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian army said yesterday. Moscow’s forces intensified aerial bombardment and tried to make progress together with ground forces.
Officials said Russian forces around the city had suffered heavy losses. They also said Ukrainian forces had repelled Russian attacks in other parts of the 1,000-kilometer frontline.
Russia has focused on eastern Ukraine since failing to advance on Kiev in the early days of the war and launching an attempt to take Avdiivka in mid-October.
‘Fighting is still going on. “Over the past two days, the occupiers have increased the number of air strikes using guided bombs from Su-35 aircraft,” Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun told national television.
Ukrainian gunners of the 79th Separate Amphibious Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine conduct military activities in the direction of Donetsk on October 11
Soldiers of the 59th Motorized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army prepare to open fire on Russian positions with Grad rockets in Donetsk Oblast
Members of Ukraine’s Omega Special Purpose National Guard fire an SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launcher at Russian troops in the frontline city of Avdiivka
‘The enemy is also bringing in more and more infantry. But when they tried to use armored vehicles the day before yesterday, two tanks and fourteen other vehicles burned out.”
Ukrainian forces, he said, had repelled eight attacks on the city, known for its huge coking plant, in the past 24 hours.
Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka military government, said Russian forces told state news agency Ukrinform that Russian losses in the current attack on the city amounted to at least 3,000 to 4,000 dead and another 7,000 to 8,000 wounded.
He said “not a single building” was intact in the city, with just over 1,500 of the pre-war population of 32,000 remaining and evacuations were underway. The hospital was functioning under constant shelling and one shop was open.