Russia takes another city in Ukraine; US leads announcements of new weapons for Zelensky
▲ German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during bilateral talks at Frankfurt Airport, Germany.Afp Photo
AFP and Europa Press
The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, September 7, 2024, p. 21
kyiv. Russian authorities announced yesterday that they had captured the Ukrainian town of Prechistovka in Donetsk province.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported in a message posted on Telegram that Units of the Eastern Group of Forces liberated the village of Prechistovka in the Donetsk People’s Republicwhere also occupied more advantageous lines and positions.
They also stressed that Russian forces caused casualties in two Ukrainian motorized infantry brigades in the framework of the fighting in the area, where They repelled 10 counterattacks by assault groups from kyiv.
Donetsk, along with Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia, all partially occupied during the invasion (in the case of Donetsk and central Luhansk, in addition to a conflict with the Ukrainian army since 2014), were annexed in October 2022 by Russia, a measure not recognized by the international community that was added to the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Moscow in 2014.
Meanwhile, the city of Vovchansk, 5 kilometers from the border with Russia, scene of fierce clashes since May, was devastated and only some desperate live there, the Ukrainian army said after publishing aerial images the day before.
In one of these videos, transmitted to the AFP agency yesterday, a drone flies over a city avenue, where no building seems intact, while columns of smoke bear witness to the fighting. On one side of the street, tall buildings are seen where only cement rubble remains. On the other side, some buildings are shown completely devastated by the bombing.
Moscow troops launched an offensive in this region in May and were stopped in Vovchansk by Ukrainian soldiers.
Before the war, it was home to more than 17,000 Ukrainians, and now there are almost no Ukrainians left.the Ukrainian presidential brigade said on Facebook on Thursday. The city is almost completely destroyed, with entire streets set alight by artillery and drone bombardment.he added.
For Ukraine, it is a new ghost town, devastated and covered in corpses. by Russian attacks, the brigade said. The images from Vovchansk are reminiscent of those from Bakhmut and Avdivka, towns in eastern Ukraine conquered by the Russian army in May 2023 and February 2024 after long, bloody battles.
Both, like many towns in eastern Ukraine, were almost completely destroyed by the bombing. The presidential brigade said they were facing the Kremlin troops, who were trying to without success to seize Vovchansk.
At a meeting with top military officials from the United States and more than 50 allied nations in Germany, President Volodymyr Zelensky called for more arms support, while Washington announced it would provide another $250 million in security aid to kyiv. Brussels will allocate 40 million euros for energy facilities in Ukraine.
In addition, Germany offers to deliver 12 self-propelled howitzers and 77 tanks. Leopard 1A5 together with Denmark and the Netherlands; the United Kingdom will deliver 650 multi-function light missile systems for strengthen its air defense; The Netherlands will provide missiles and materials for maintenance and repair fighters F-16; and Canada will send 80 thousand rocket engines and warheads.