German says it will send more US Patriot units…
The Ukraine President also asked for more anti-drone and missile units like Israel has….
Ukraine and Russia are beating up each others power infrastructure which could affect European and other oil prices…
Drone wars continue ….
Ukraine aid could get a vote in the American Congress in the next week, or so , in connection with aid assistence for Israel…., Zelensky acknowledges that Russia may try to make signifiacnt gains in the Donetsk area in the coming months….
And there is fighting around Bakhmut again…..
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Russian forces aim to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by 9 May, Ukraine’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, has said. It is the date Russia marks as the Soviet victory in the second world war. Syrskyi said Russia was focusing its efforts there before moving towards the city of Kramatorsk. Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region lies 5-10km (3-6 miles) from Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May 2023.
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Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a thinktank in Philadelphia, said on X that Chasiv Yar would likely prove an important battle. “Chasiv Yar is located on defensible high ground. If Russia takes the [town], they could potentially increase the rate of advance deeper into Donetsk [region] as part of an expected summer offensive. Russian forces will still have to cross the canal to take the [town], but they have now reached the canal south-east of the [town]. Immediate increased deliveries of ammunition could prove critical.”
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Fragments from a downed Russia missile fell on a settlement outside the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Sunday, injuring 12 people, said the regional governor. Serhiy Lysak said the debris fell on a settlement known as Liubymivska Community. A child was among those injured, and more than 30 private homes suffered damage.
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Lysak said Russian forces used artillery in 11 attacks on the town of Nikopol, a frequent target opposite the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He said four people had been injured.
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In Donetsk region, the focal point of Russia’s slow advance through eastern Ukraine, the governor, Vadym Filashkin, said an aerial bomb struck a five-storey apartment block in the town of Ocheretyne, killing one and injuring two.
Three people were reported killed in the region on Saturday. Reuters could not independently verify battlefield accounts. -
Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his nightly address on Sunday: “The situation at the front during such a hot war is always difficult. But these days – and especially on the Donetsk front – it’s getting harder.” Ukraine’s president has warned that Russia may be preparing to launch a big offensive in late spring or summer.
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Zelenskiy condemned Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel and said Ukraine needed help from its allies to fend off threats from the air, just as Israel did. Zelenskiy again called on the US Congress to approve further aid.
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European energy prices will rise dramatically if the Russian destruction of Ukrainian energy infrastructure continues unabated, Andriy Kobolyev, a former head of Ukraine’s Naftogaz, has told the Guardian. “Russia is trying to wage a global energy war and Ukraine is part of that war and if the markets perceive that Russia is winning that war … you will see a spike in prices all round the globe.”
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Last week a massive missile and drone attack destroyed one of Ukraine’s largest power plants and damaged others. Kobolyev told the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour: “The solutions are twofold. First, there should be immediate supply of air defence components and munitions to protect the system. Secondly, we need to develop a new distributed and protected generation system around the country, that should replace the destroyed balancing generation.”
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Germany will supply a US-made Patriot air defence system and air defence missiles to Ukraine at a “critical time”, as Kyiv struggles to defend its energy system from Russian bombardment, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday. Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app that he was grateful to Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, for the decision to supply an additional Patriot system, and missiles for existing air defence systems. Later in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy indicated talks were under way on expanding the transfer of another air defence system, though German officials did not reference this in their remarks. “We are also working with Germany on an additional Iris-T system, which is also a strong air defence system, and on missiles for our existing air defence systems,” Zelenskiy said in his video address.
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Olaf Scholz said on X in response to the announcement: “We stand steadfast on the side of Ukraine”, adding that Zelenskiy had informed him in a telephone call on Saturday about “massive Russian air attacks on civilian energy infrastructure”. Germany’s ambassador to Ukraine, Martin Jaeger, said on X: “Other international partners must follow quickly now.”
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Ukraine’s army chief said on Saturday the situation on the eastern front had worsened in recent days as Russia intensified its armoured assaults and battles rage for control of a village west of the devastated city of Bakhmut. “The situation on the eastern front has deteriorated significantly in recent days,” said Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, more than two years since Russia’s invasion reflected the grim mood in Kyiv as vital US military aid that Kyiv expected to receive months ago remains stuck in Congress. Zelenskiy said in his evening address that the “situation at the front, in some areas, is difficult”.
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The US House of Representatives will make a change in its schedule to consider legislation that supports Israel, House majority leader Steve Scalise said in a statement on Saturday. It’s yet unclear whether Scalise was referring to a stand-alone bill to aid Israel, or the $95bn supplemental spending bill that includes $14bn for Israel, in addition to $60bn for Ukraine, and other humanitarian assistance. That package passed the Senate with 70% support in February but has been blocked in the house, whose Republican leaders will not call it up for a vote, largely because of their objection to further funding for Ukraine…..
Israel’s success in defending against large-scale Iranian missile and drone strikes from Iranian territory on April 13 underscores the vulnerabilities that Ukrainian geography and the continued degradation of Ukraine’s air defense umbrella pose for Ukrainian efforts to defend against regular Russian missile and drone strikes.