Shortly before the first anniversary of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged more speed in delivering military aid to his invaded country.
"We see that the Kremlin is trying to squeeze out of Russia any potential for aggression," Zelensky said in his evening video message on Tuesday. "They are in a hurry because they know that the world is stronger in the end, but needs time to unleash its power." That is why, he said, rapid assistance is now essential.
Especially in the embattled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of his country, the situation continues to be "extremely difficult," Zelensky stressed. "These are literally battles for every metre of Ukrainian land."
At the same time, the Ukrainian head of state expressed his gratitude for the international military aid that had been promised a few hours earlier at a NATO meeting in Brussels.
Fewer than 5,000 civilians remain in the embattled eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmut amid bloody fighting against Russian attackers that a top US general described as "a grinding battle of attrition with very high casualties."
The brutal fighting in and around Bakhmut has driven out all but a fraction of the town's pre-invasion population of 70,000, according to a senior Ukrainian official.
Russian troops have for months been trying to capture the strategically important town.
"The number of people who are in Bakhmut must be reduced to a minimum," Donetsk's military governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, told Ukrainian television late Monday.
Kyrylenko said that supplies for the remaining people would nevertheless be secured.
Soldiers from the Russian private mercenary army Wagner have advanced to the north and south, threatening it with encirclement. All supply routes are under Russian fire.
Despite the repeated Russian assaults and heavy losses on both sides, however, top US General Mark Milley on Tuesday said the front lines in the Bakhmut region and all the way from Kharkiv to Kherson remain relatively stable.
"There's no fancy manoeuvrers here," Milley said of the battle around Bakhmut. "This is frontal attacks, wave attacks, lots of artillery, with extremely high levels of casualties in that particular area."
Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a press event in Brussels that losses have been particularly high on the Russian side.
The general said it's difficult to predict how long the fighting might continue. He said he expected Ukraine to keep holding the defensive line there.
When asked if Russia could try again to take the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, Milley declined to give a definitive answer. He noted that the Ukrainian capital remains vulnerable to Russian drone and missile strikes.
"I would never discount Russian capabilities to attack Kiev," said Milley. "But right now, we're not seeing any significant indicators and warnings."
Elsewhere in Donetsk, fighting continues around Vuhledar, Marinka and Avdiivka, according to Ukrainian officials. The Russian military is also making advances in the neighbouring Luhansk region near Kreminna, they said.
Meanwhile, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin praised Russian internet trolls and lashed out at Western leaders and journalists who have criticized the trolls for spreading disinformation and Russian propaganda
Prigozhin, in a set of written answers to a consortium of Western news outlets, claimed that he not only conceived, founded and financed Russia's infamous Internet Research Agency but also managed it himself for a long time.
The group has been accused of interfering in US elections, among other alleged misdeeds.
"It was established to protect the Russian information field from the West's brazen, aggressive propaganda of anti-Russian theses," claimed Prigozhin, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Prigozhin also attacked the United Nations, claiming it is now a puppet of the United States and accusing UN peacekeepers - as opposed to his notorious mercenary force - of brutal conduct.
