WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Don't expect instant success, Ukraine's Zelenskiy warns as he rallies his troops

Ukraine's attacks on the Russian Navy in the Black Sea have crippled Moscow's war efforts, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday, seeking to rally his troops even as the outside world expects instant successes.

Despite Kyiv's gruelling months-long offensive, the vast frontline in Ukraine's east and south has moved little in the past year, spurring criticism and impatience among some of Ukraine's Western allies.

"We live in a world that gets used to success too quickly. When the full-scale invasion began, many people around the world did not believe that Ukraine would survive," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "Glory to all those who do not retreat, who do not burn out, who believe in Ukraine just as they did on February 24, and who has been fighting unwaveringly."

The war, which Russia launched on Feb. 24, 2022, is now in its 20th month and has no end in sight. Russian forces have geared up for fresh attacks in different sections of the front and are suffering heavy losses.

Zelenskiy said his troops have succeeded in diminishing Moscow's military strength in the Black Sea, which he said with greater support from Kyiv's allies could lead to Ukraine's ultimate victory over Russia.

The Black Sea has become a crucial theatre in the war. Ukraine's increased air and sea drone attacks on Russian military targets there have damaged ship and naval repair yards in the port of Sevastopol, and struck other targets.

Moscow uses its fleet in the Black Sea to launch long-range strikes on Ukraine. But for President Vladimir Putin, the waters - which connect to the Mediterranean Sea - are also an important springboard for projecting power into the Middle East, Europe and the West.

"When we ensure even more security to the Black Sea, Russia will lose any ability to dominate in this area and expand its malign influence to other countries," Zelenskiy said.

The full extent of the damage that Ukraine has done in recent months to the Russian Black Sea Fleet remains unclear. The Russian defence ministry's laconic statements mostly claim success in destroying the weapons, with little evidence.

"Ukraine's success in the battle for the Black Sea will go down in history books, although it's not being discussed much today," Zelenskiy said.

STRUGGLE AT THE FRONTLINE

At the frontline, however, there has been a struggle.

Zelenskiy said a meeting with senior commanders had considered sectors engulfed by the fiercest fighting in the east and northeast, including the key areas of Avdiivka and Kupiansk, where Russia has been on the offensive in recent weeks.

Vitaliy Barabash, head of the military administration in Avdiivka, said the shattered eastern city was bracing for a new wave of the attacks it had been withstanding since mid-October.

"The enemy is bringing in forces and equipment. Our boys are preparing for a new wave," Barabash told national television.

Avdiivka, with its vast coking plant, was briefly captured in 2014 when Russian-backed separatists seized chunks of land in the east, but Ukrainian forces have since put up fortifications.

Ukraine's ground forces said on Tuesday that Russian forces were also focused on Kupiansk - a city in the northeast overrun by Russia in the early days of the invasion, but recaptured by Ukrainian forces last year.

Russia' Tuesday accounts of the fighting said Moscow's forces had conducted successful attacks near the town of Bakhmut - a largely destroyed town captured by Russian forces in May.

Reuters could not verify accounts of fighting from either side.

** Russia will succeed in Ukraine unless US support continues-Pentagon chief

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday that Russia would be successful in Ukraine unless the United States kept up its support for Kyiv.

Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified to the Senate Appropriations Committee on President Joe Biden's request for $106 billion to fund ambitious plans for Ukraine, Israel and U.S. border security.

"I can guarantee that without our support (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will be successful," Austin said during the hearing.

"If we pull the rug out from under them now, Putin will only get stronger and he will be successful in doing what he wants to do."

Arguing that supporting U.S. partners is vital to national security, Biden requested $61.4 billion for Ukraine, about half of which would be spent in the United States to replenish weapons stocks drained by previous support.

Congress has already approved $113 billion for Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. The White House has said it has less than $5.5 billion in funds to continue transferring weapons from U.S. stockpiles to Ukrainian forces fighting Russia.

The path forward for Biden's latest funding plan looks uncertain. Democrats solidly back Biden's strategy of combining Ukraine aid with support for Israel, as do many Republicans in both the Senate and House of Representatives.

But Republicans who lead the House of Representatives object to combining the two issues, joined by some party members in the Senate.

Austin said the Biden administration wanted Ukraine to continue operations through the winter, but Kyiv could not do that if they were forced to pause because of a lack of U.S. support.

Kyiv military officials said on Monday that Russia has bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and has switched its troops from defence to offence, but Ukraine has been preparing to repel the attacks.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces wipe out Ukrainian UAV, naval drone production sites in past day

Russian forces destroyed Ukrainian army sites producing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and naval drones over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"Near the settlement of Malodolinskoye in the Odessa Region, the sites for the production of unmanned aerial vehicles and naval drones were destroyed," the ministry said in a statement.

Russian forces destroy two Leopard tanks, repel five Ukrainian attacks in Kupyansk area

Russian forces repulsed five Ukrainian army attacks and destroyed two Leopard tanks in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the western battlegroup supported by aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower fires repulsed in their active operations five attacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 54th mechanized brigade near the settlement of Sinkovka in the Kharkov Region," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army’s losses in the Kupyansk area over the past 24 hours totaled as many as 60 personnel, four tanks, including two German-made Leopard tanks, three armored combat vehicles, two motor vehicles and two Gvozdika motorized artillery systems, the ministry specified.

Reuters/Tass