Russia maintains pressure on the front lines while Ukraine is strengthened by Western military aid

DONETSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Relentless Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions defending the strategically important eastern city of Chasiv Yar disrupt troop rotations and the delivery of some supplies, soldiers in the area say.

Russian forces are trying to exploit their advantage in manpower and weapons before Ukrainian forces are reinforced. new Western military aid promised This is already reaching the front, say analysts.

The Kremlin’s military is attacking civilian targets just as hard, with powerful glide bombs destroying buildings and leaving huge craters. His months-long campaign to paralyze Ukraine Power supply aims to undermine public morality and deny Ukraine energy flourishing arms industry.

Attacks on such civilian targets brought Arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court on Tuesday against former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov for alleged war crimes. The judges said there was evidence they “intentionally caused great suffering or serious physical harm or serious mental or physical impairment” to Ukrainian civilians.

For Ukrainian soldiers defending the East Donetsk Russian ground attacks and air strikes in the region leave little room for respite after more than two years of war.

“We work, one might say, without a break,” said a platoon commander who, in accordance with his brigade’s rules, introduced himself only by his first name, Oleksandr.

“No two days are the same. You always have to be ready to work day and night,” he told the Associated Press on Monday.

His platoon is part of Ukraine’s 43rd Artillery Brigade. He rushes to his positions and immediately fires a Soviet-era Pion self-propelled howitzer at Russian positions before they can be targeted themselves.

Control of Chasiv Yar is crucial. Highly coveted for its strategic location and elevated position but now largely in ruins, the city lies west of neighboring Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after 10 months of fighting.

Ukraine is trying to stabilize parts of the approximately 1,000-kilometer-long front line after the United States pledged much-needed military support in April. Six-month delay in US aid forced the Ukrainian military onto the defensive.

Members of the artillery brigade in Chasiv Yar reported that the first deliveries of American ammunition had arrived.

The The US is expected to make its announcement this week Another $150 million in urgently needed weapons to Ukraine, and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday that the first shipment of ammunition had been delivered to Ukraine under a Czech initiative.

In addition, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a telephone conversation with Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov on Tuesday.

Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Austin stressed the importance of maintaining communication channels during Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. The last time Austin, who initiated the call, spoke with his Russian counterpart was on March 15, 2023, with then-Minister Shoigu.

There was no immediate report of the call from Russian officials.

The Czechs want to procure at least 800,000 artillery shells from countries outside the European Union, which Ukraine urgently needs. The war has exhausted supplies in Europe, the USA and Russia.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said it would take some time for the effects of the new Western weapons to be felt on the front lines.

Meanwhile, it said: “The Russian armed forces are trying to achieve significant tactical and operational successes before their arrival.”

Elsewhere, Kremlin forces continued their shelling of civilian infrastructure with three airstrikes in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Tuesday, local officials said, although no one was injured.

Russia has been bombing Kharkiv in recent months, apparently to divert some of the Ukrainian forces from defending Donetsk while creating a buffer zone to prevent Ukrainian attacks across the border.

Russia fired 42 glide bombs at the Kharkiv region in the past 24 hours, authorities said on Tuesday.

In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Moscow had responded to the EU’s decision to suspend the broadcasting activities of “Russian Voice of Europe”, “RIA Novosti”, “Izvestia” and “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” by banning 81 European media outlets from broadcasting.

“The Russian side has repeatedly warned that politically motivated repression against Russian journalists and unfounded bans on Russian media in the EU will not go unanswered,” the ministry said in a statement.

Late Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that each side had handed over 90 prisoners of war to the other. The exchange was brokered by the United Arab Emirates, they said.

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