{"id":264708,"date":"2023-02-06T08:40:23","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T08:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=264708"},"modified":"2023-02-08T08:24:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T08:24:58","slug":"talk-of-resignation-and-retreat-swirls-in-ukraine-as-bakhmut-enters-endgame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=264708","title":{"rendered":"Talk of resignation and retreat swirls in Ukraine as Bakhmut enters endgame"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Sabbagh \u2013 The Guardian Feb 5, 2023<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\u201cNo one is in the chair for his whole life,\u201d Reznikov said on Sunday, before stressing that any decision about his appointment \u201cwas up to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine in accordance with the constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n

Such generalised comments are unlikely to kill off the speculation of the last 24 hours, suggesting that Reznikov might quit or be moved by Zelenskiy, and replaced by Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, an opposition MP, Oleskiy Honcharenko, said there was \u201ca high probability\u201d Rezniknov would be moved to work as the deputy to Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy\u2019s chief of staff. Similar speculation appeared in Ukrainian media on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Reznikov used the press conference to highlight the weapons that Ukraine has gradually obtained from the west over the past year, from 155mm artillery to tanks, and argued that \u201ctherefore we can say today we are a de facto a Nato country\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Ukrainian minister met the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, underlying his seniority in Kyiv\u2019s government. During his visit France announced it would supply 12 more Caesar howitzers to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

But Reznikov faced a string of questions about corruption in the ministry from Ukrainian journalists, at a time when Zelenskiy has instituted a fresh anti-corruption drive to show the country can be ready for EU membership. Efforts to tackle corruption in his ministry needed to be \u201cfully reloaded\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

The defence minister said he believed that Ukraine would eventually obtain F-16s or other western fighter jets, but warned against slow decision making. \u201cProcrastination with aircraft platforms,\u201d Reznikov said, \u201cwill cost us more lives and blood of Ukrainians\u201d and would eventually cost the west more in postwar reconstruction.<\/p>\n

A future Russian offensive, the minister predicted, would come from \u201ctwo directions of their priority, to try and break through our defence line in the east and south\u201d in attempt to capture all the eastern Donbas and maintain a large land bridge between prewar Russia<\/a> and Crimea, occupied since 2014.<\/p>\n

The major attack would probably be timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the war, said Reznikov, adding that while \u201cnot all of the western weaponry will arrive in time\u201d he believed Ukraine would be able to hold back a fresh assault.<\/p>\n

Russia has gradually stepped up its attacks on the eastern city of Bakhmut, where the offence is led by the private military Wagner group, although the Ukrainians argued that Moscow was continuing to take heavy losses, mostly of prisoners, allowed out of jails and forced into battle.<\/p>\n

Russia, Reznikov said, was losing \u201c500 killed and wounded every day in Bakhmut\u201d \u2013 a figure that it is not possible to verify \u2013 while Ukraine\u2019s losses were \u201cstrictly less\u201d in fierce winter fighting<\/a> that has gradually seen Moscow\u2019s forces come closer to enveloping the largely deserted city.<\/p>\n

The casualty figure is likely to be on the high side, but reflective of the nature of urban warfare and a contest for a city, which has dragged on for several months, but is increasingly entering its endgame.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Ministry of Defence said Bakhmut was \u201cincreasingly isolated\u201d, in a morning intelligence assessment, which noted that Russia now had the two main roads into the city under threat from direct artillery fire, making it harder to supply the defending forces into the town.<\/p>\n

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, said Ukrainian forces were continuing to contest the Russian advance, in a statement that described Bakhmut by its old name, which dates back to the Soviet era.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the northern quarters of Artemovsk, fierce battles are going on for every street, every house, every stairwell,\u201d Prigozhin said. \u201cThe Ukrainian armed forces are fighting to the last,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Overnight, Zelenskiy himself acknowledged that the situation \u201cis very difficult\u201d at key points in the frontline, in Bakhmut, and also near further south Vuhledar, south-west of Donestsk city, and further north-east of the city of Lyman.<\/p>\n

Any decision to stage a tactical retreat from Bakhmut, Reznikov said, would be made by Ukraine\u2019s military leaders, led by Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, arguing it was not a matter that could be determined by politicians.<\/p>\n

Five civilians were killed by Russian shelling, regional officials said, four of whom were in the eastern Donetsk province, including three in Bakhmut. Five were injured in Kharkiv, when missiles struck a residential building and a university block.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Western MSM is finally being forced to acknowledge that Russia’s slow inexorable advance has taken its toll on Ukrainian forces. As even President Zelensky admits that the situation \u201cis very difficult\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":264707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91,116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia","category-ukraine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264708"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264726,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264708\/revisions\/264726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/264707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=264708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=264708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}