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Ukraine: US says counteroffensive ‘advancing steadily’
Published 1 hour agoPublished 1 hour agolast updated 19 minutes agolast updated 19 minutes ago
“War on paper and real war are different,” said Mark Milley, the most senior US military officer. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top general has urged faster deliveries of promised weapons. Follow DW for more.
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A Ukrainian serviceman of 68th Oleksa Dovbush hunting brigade patrols a street in the recently retaken village of Blahodatne
Ukraine says it has so far recaptured a cluster of villages in the south, but this is a small percentage of the total territory held by RussiaImage: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo/picture alliance
Skip next section What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said he was unsurprised the pace of the counteroffensive was slow
Ukraine’s top general has complained about the slow deliveries of promised weaponry from the West, from modern fighter jets to artillery ammunition
IAEA says no mines sighted at Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant
Skip next section Ukraine warns Germany against standing in the way of NATO membership
19 minutes ago19 minutes ago
Ukraine warns Germany against standing in the way of NATO membership
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Friday that the German government shouldn’t oppose his country’s entry into the Western military alliance.
In an interview with Bild, Welt and Politico, he said there have been numerous discussions with the German government at all levels on the issue.
“Do not repeat the mistake that Chancellor Merkel made in Bucharest in 2008, when she fiercely opposed any progress being made on Ukraine’s NATO membership,” Kuleba stressed.
The decision at the time, he noted, “opened the door for Putin’s invasion of Georgia and, eventually, the illegal annexation of Crimea.”
Had Ukraine already been a NATO member in 2014, the annexation of Crimea, the war in the Donbas and now the invasion of entire Ukraine would not have taken place, Kuleba said.
Germany to station 4,000 troops in Lithuania
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Skip next section Belarus leader says nuclear arms will not be used
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Belarus leader says nuclear arms will not be used
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday he was certain Russian tactical nuclear weapons deployed in his country would never be used.
In an address marking his ex-Soviet state’s national day, he said the stationing of the weapons in Belarus was “my firmest initiative”.
“I am certain that we will never have to use them while they are here. And no enemy will ever set foot on our land.”
Lukashenko, like Russia, has repeatedly accused Western countries of trying to destroy his regime and says the nuclear deployment is necessary to deter potential aggressors.
Russia placing nuclear weapons in Belarus doesn’t make much difference: John Erath, Centre for Arms Control Non-Proliferation
01:30
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Skip next section US says Ukraine’s counteroffensive ‘advancing steadily’
1 hour ago1 hour ago
US says Ukraine’s counteroffensive ‘advancing steadily’
Mark Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was “advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields … 500 meters a day, 1,000 meters a day, 2,000 meters a day, that kind of thing.”
He said he was unsurprised progress was slower than some people and computers might have predicted.
“War on paper and real war are different. In real war, real people die. Real people are on those front lines and real people are in those vehicles. Real bodies are being shredded by high explosives.”
He added, “What I had said was this is going to take six, eight, 10 weeks, it’s going to be very difficult. It’s going to be very long, and it’s going to be very, very bloody. And no one should have any illusions about any of that.”
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the counteroffensive was “slower than desired,” without getting too specific.
Ukraine says it has recaptured a cluster of villages in operations that liberated 130 square kilometers (50 square miles) in the south, but this is a small percentage of the total territory held by Russia.
On Friday, Zelenskyy said his forces advanced “in all directions of our active operations,” while Hanna Maliar, the deputy defense minister, said the military assessed progress as “going according to plan,” and that the counteroffensive should be evaluated by “a lot of different military tasks.”
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Skip next section Ukraine’s top general urges more arms for offensive
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Ukraine’s top general urges more arms for offensive
Ukraine’s counteroffensive plans are hit by the lack of adequate firepower, the country’s military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny said.
Zaluzhny told The Washington Post he is frustrated by the slow deliveries of promised weaponry from the West, from modern fighter jets to artillery ammunition.
Zaluzhny said Ukraine is still awaiting F-16 fighters promised by its allies.
“I do not need 120 planes. I’m not going to threaten the whole world. A very limited number would be enough,” he told the newspaper.
“But they are needed. Because there is no other way. Because the enemy is using a different generation of aviation,” he said.
He also complained he has a fraction of the artillery shells that Russia is firing, The Washington Post reported.
In Washington, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said the US and its allies were working hard to supply Ukraine. “We are giving them as much help as humanly possible,” he said.
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Skip next section No mines sighted at Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, IAEA says
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No mines sighted at Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, IAEA says
International experts stationed at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant see no signs of mines recently being laid by the Russian occupiers, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said on Friday.
But he added that the IAEA expert team has not gained access to some areas of the facility.
Parts of the turbine halls and the cooling system still had to be inspected, he said.
Why is concern over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant mounting?
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The IAEA statement comes after Ukraine’s military intelligence service said last week that Russia had mined the plant.
Moscow rejected the accusations.
“We take all such reports very seriously and I have instructed our experts at the site to look into this matter and request the access they need for doing their job,” Grossi said in a statement.
“Until now they have not observed any mines or other explosives. Further access will still be needed.”
sri/lo (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)
