Ukraine braces for all-out Russian assault in the east as war enters sixth week
LVIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned his nation Thursday of a buildup of Russian troops in the east and of more bloodshed to come as he and Western officials continued to cast doubt on Moscow’s pronouncements of a partial military pullback around Kyiv, the capital.
In an overnight video address, Zelenskyy said there was an “accumulation” of Russian troops in Donbas, a region in eastern Ukraine claimed by pro-russian secessionists, and cautioned his people not to read too deeply into recent peace talks.
Leaders around the world were also scrambling to address a deepening global energy crisis triggered by steep international sanctions on Russia. On Thursday, as Europe grappled with low stockpiles of fuel, President Joe Biden announced that the United States will release a million barrels of oil a day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve for six months in a bid to control energy prices.
As the war entered its sixth week, Zelenskyy dismissed Russia’s claims that it was drawing down its forces in the north — where local officials near Kyiv and Chernihiv have reported days of intense shelling — as “verbal constructions.”
Russian troops are not conducting a withdrawal but facing “the consequences of exile” at the hands of Ukrainian fighters, he said. “Yes, there is an ongoing negotiation process. But these are still words.”
In the east, Ukrainian military leaders said they were
preparing for an all-out assault by Russian forces.
“We clearly feel that the transfer of [military] technology in our direction is beginning now,” Serhiy Haidai, the head of the regional military administration in Luhansk, said on Ukrainian television. “And as the equipment and personnel are being turned over, our enemies are simply firing more densely, powerfully.
“Everything is already involved here: aircraft, artillery, heavy-caliber weapons, mortars — all settlements are being shelled.”
The British Ministry of Defense on Thursday predicted “heavy fighting” in and outside the capital, saying that “Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units.”
At the same time, Jeremy Fleming, head of Britain’s signals intelligence agency, said morale was so low among Russian soldiers that they were committing self-sabotage.
“We’ve seen Russian soldiers — short of weapons and morale — refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging
their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” he said Thursday in a speech in Canberra, Australia.
During a news conference in Brussels, NATO Secretarygeneral Jens Stoltenberg said Kyiv was still in danger: “Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions,” he said. “So we can only judge Russia on its actions, not on its words.”
Still, Ukrainian forces appeared to make some progress.
Energoatom, which oversees the country’s nuclear power plants, said that some Russian forces had withdrawn from Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear power plant disaster in 1986. A senior defense official confirmed on Thursday that Russian troops had drawn down in the area, which they had taken over in the first few days of the war.
Ukrainian media reported that Russian soldiers had been exposed to radiation while digging trenches. The International Atomic Energy Agency, however, released a statement saying it has not been able to confirm those reports.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy addressed the Belgian parliament urging its leaders to help with “weapons, sanctions, membership of the European Union.”
“We need to know that Ukraine will be in the European Union, because if we are, they will lose,” Zelenskyy said referring to Russian forces. “But if we lose, if we lose Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities, there will no longer be a strong European Union because tyranny will come and take away from you that which you have and you are proud of. This is not a threat, this is reality.”
In the battered city of Mariupol, where government officials have described scenes of desperation as residents struggle to leave for safe zones and wait hours in line for food and water, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a temporary cease-fire to evacuate civilians, both sides said Thursday.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops, which have set up checkpoints on a main artery, would allow Ukrainians to transit inland to Zaporizhzhia via the Russian-controlled port city of Berdyansk. Russia said it would cooperate with the United Nations and Red Cross to allow for the evacuations.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 45 buses were ready to transport families. “We will do everything possible to ensure that buses arrive in Mariupol today and pick up people who have not yet been able to get out of the city,” Vereshchuk said in a Facebook video.