The Ukrainian battle for Bakhmut has not been going well for Kyiv, with reportedly high losses and dwindling munitions and other resources in the east, and despite numerous reports of a much anticipated Spring counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces, the talk has shifted from a planned counteroffensive to a need for compromise.
The NATO Summit in Brussels this week was turned into another opportunity to push the aggressive pro-War policies of the rulers of the United States and the European Union. Ignoring the basic principles of the Alliance, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was invited to the summit to discuss the war in Ukraine during a session of the NATO-Ukraine Commission.
In the early hours of Monday morning, Russia’s Wagner paramilitary group claimed at least partial victory over Bakhmut by raising both the Russian and Wagner group flags over government administration buildings in the city.
Austria has joined several Western countries that appear to be becoming weary of sacrificing their money, tax dollars, military equipment, and weapons stockpiles for Ukraine as its war against Russia enters its second year. Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged this week that “Ukraine fatigue” is setting in and noted that support for the war is waning.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been in Moscow meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and laying out Beijing’s 12-point peace plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine since Monday. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made it known that he is also willing to meet with Xi to discuss Kyiv’s peace formula for a possible end to the war that entered its second year last month.
Jan Emeryk Rościszewski, Poland’s Ambassador to France, made the startling declaration that Poland would declare war on Russia should Ukraine lose the war. “If Ukraine fails to defend its independence,” the ambassador told French television, “we will have no choice, we will be forced to enter the conflict.”
Top Zelensky officials are considering a potential ‘strategic pullback’ from the beleaguered eastern city of Bakhmut. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has admitted that he is not prepared to order the continued defense of the city at all costs. Both Ukraine and Russia are suffering tremendous casualties in the fight for the city, but Russia has superior artillery fire, which it has been using nonstop around the clock. The city is almost completely surrounded by Russian troops.
Over the weekend, President Joe Biden departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to visit Ramstein Air Base in Germany before going to Kyiv for an unannounced visit to the Ukrainian capital on Monday. The visit comes a few days ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
At her weekly press briefing on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blasted NATO for its role in escalating the war in Ukraine. Commenting on the NATO meetings in Brussels this week to increase military aid to Ukraine, she said “the main takeaway from this meeting was that Vladimir Zelensky’s regime was literally ordered to launch a counteroffensive this spring…. From a Euro-Atlantic perspective, the time has come to exterminate those who are still alive in this country.”
In an interview with the Russian publication Sputnik, Ukrainian whistleblower Andrii Telizhenko discussed the corrupt activities of the Biden family in Ukraine, as well as Washington’s hijacking of Ukrainian sovereignty.