Ukraina - Russland bygger veldig opp mot ny offensiv - Stars & Stripes

 

Russia sending tens of thousands of new troops into Ukraine after losses in the Donbas, Pentagon official says

By 

DOUG G. WARE

STARS AND STRIPES • January 23, 2023

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A Ukrainian army Grad multiple rocket launcher fires rockets at Russian positions in the frontline near Soledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023. (Libkos)

WASHINGTON — Russia’s military is moving to fortify its position in the Donbas region of Ukraine by sending tens of thousands of replacement troops into the fighting after months of losses in the eastern region of the country, a U.S. military official said Monday.

Russian forces took control of the city of Bakhmut almost a year ago after Moscow opened a phase of the war that focused on territories in the Donbas, the far eastern corner of Ukraine comprised of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.

Recent successes by Ukrainian fighters in the Bakhmut area have prompted Moscow to send in reinforcements, said the senior U.S. military official who spoke on condition of anonymity. U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said Ukrainian troops are presently in control of Bakhmut, though Moscow claimed this week that its forces have taken control of a nearby salt-mining town, Soledar.

“Ukraine forces continue to successfully hold and defend Bakhmut,” the U.S. military official said, adding the new Russian troops are being “rushed” to the battlefield “ill trained” and “ill equipped.”

The fighting in Bakhmut has been intense for months and has changed hands since Moscow announced last April that it was opening a new phase of the war to concentrate on key areas of the Donbas such as Mariupol, Severodonetsk and Kreminna.

The U.S. military official said most of the front lines remain “largely static,” except for Russian moves in Bakhmut and some “incremental gains” by Ukrainian forces in Russian-occupied Kreminna, which is about 115 miles southeast of Kharkiv.

The Russian replacement troops are being sent to Ukraine just days after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, traveled to Germany to attend a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — a collection of military officials from dozens of countries who meet to discuss Ukraine’s battlefield needs.