According to their own statements, Russian troops have once again gained territory west of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk. Russia’s ex-president Medvedev names the conquest of Kiev and Odessa as other possible war goals.
Two days before the second anniversary of the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Moscow reported gains in territory in the east of the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said that “units of the Southern Troop Group” had taken the small village of Pobeda five kilometers west of Donetsk.
Ukraine confirms fighting
Ukraine has not yet confirmed the information. The commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in charge of the region, Oleksandr Tarnawsky, spoke only of fighting in the region and stated that “enemy forces were being held off” in Pobeda. Ukrainian military bloggers, however, included the Russian advance on their maps.
The capture of the small town would mean a further advance by Russian forces towards the west. Just last week, Russian soldiers captured the strategically important industrial city of Avdiivka after months of fighting. This is considered the Russian army’s greatest success in the war since the capture of the nearby town of Bakhmut in May last year. At the end of December, the town of Mariinka had already fallen to the Russian army.
Kyiv reports attack on training area
Meanwhile, Ukrainian armed forces reported an attack on a Russian training area on the Moscow-held eastern bank of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine. According to a military spokeswoman, around 60 Russian soldiers were “killed or seriously injured” in the shelling near the town of Podo-Kalynivka on Wednesday.
On the Telegram online network, Ukraine’s southern armed forces published aerial photos showing explosions and soldiers lying on the ground. The attacked military training area was therefore used by soldiers who were supposed to attack a bridgehead.
Russia should North Korean used rockets
The Ukrainian secret service (SBU) accused Moscow of using North Korean missiles against civilian targets. These are ballistic missiles of the “Hwasong-11” type. “According to our investigation, Russian forces fired more than 20 of these North Korean weapons into Ukraine,” it said in a statement. At least 24 civilians were killed and more than 100 others were injured.
His country is in an “extremely difficult” situation on the front, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj said at the beginning of the week. The Ukrainian soldiers do not have enough ammunition – partly because of the delay in important aid from the USA.
Hatched: territories occupied by Russia
Medvedev: Kyiv and Odessa possible war targets
Following Moscow’s recent reported gains, former President Dmitry Medvedev has named the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the port city of Odessa as possible war targets. “Where should we stop? I don’t know,” the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council said in an interview with Russian media. “Will it be Kiev? Yes, probably it should be Kiev. If not now, then after some time, perhaps at another stage in the development of this conflict.”
The former prime minister also said they wanted to take the Black Sea port of Odessa. “Odessa, come home. We have been waiting for Odessa in the Russian Federation, because of the history of this city, because of the type of people who live there, because of the language they speak,” Medvedev said. “It’s our Russian, Russian city.”
Only recently, Medvedev once again threatened the West with a nuclear war if Russia were pushed back to its 1991 borders – i.e. the border lines before the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula and before the invasion of Ukraine.
Medvedev was considered a liberal, moderate politician during his term as Kremlin chief (2008-2012). Since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine almost two years ago, he has turned into an extremist and is now one of the West’s harshest critics.