Threatened Ukraine reorganizes its army
Published: Saturday, Nov 30th 2024, 06:20
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With fresh troops and new commanders, Ukraine hopes to stabilize the threatening situation on the front in the east. President Volodymyr Zelenskyi dismissed army chief Olexander Pavlyuk after nine months and appointed Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi to his post. The land forces are the backbone of the army, Selensky explained in a video address. "Changes are needed - changes in personnel management that will ensure better results on the battlefield."
The new army commander Drapatyj had successfully brought the Russian offensive in the eastern region of Kharkiv to a halt, said the president. He also promoted Oleh Apostol, previously a colonel and commander of a brigade, to deputy commander-in-chief. The new appointments were intended to increase the army's combat capability, said Zelenskyi at a meeting with his military leadership in Kiev. He had appointed another brigade commander, Colonel Pavel Palissa, as deputy head of his presidential office so that he would be better informed about the situation at the front.
Fresh troops for the Donbass
Russian troops have been advancing slowly but steadily for months in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian defenders are short of weapons and soldiers. Commander-in-Chief Olexander Syrskyj has therefore ordered reserves to the particularly threatened front sections of Pokrovsk and Kurakhove in the Donbass in the east. The aim is to thwart enemy plans "that go far beyond these front sections", according to military sources.
According to the General Staff's situation report, the heaviest fighting again took place on Friday near Pokrovsk and Kurakhove. The towns are located on the western edge of the Donbass mining and industrial region. This is followed by an open steppe landscape as far as the Dnipro River. A breakthrough would open the way for the Russian army to the important cities of Dnipro and Zaporizhia.
There was another air alert in the eastern part of Ukraine on Saturday night because the air force located Russian combat drones in the sky. Power cuts were expected in several regions during the day in order to stabilize the energy system after damage caused by Russian missile attacks this week.
Zelensky brings up NATO protection for part of Ukraine
Ukraine could agree to a ceasefire with Russia if Nato extends its protection to the parts of the country controlled by Kiev, according to comments made by Zelenskyi. In the event of a ceasefire, his country needs guarantees "that Putin will not come back", he said in an interview with the British TV channel Sky News.
"If we want to end the hot phase of the war, we should take the territory that we have under our control under the protective umbrella," said Selenskyj, according to the English translation. "We need to do that quickly. And then Ukraine can regain the other territories through diplomatic channels."
Kiev had not yet considered this route because no one in NATO had officially proposed it, said Selensky. In addition, a NATO invitation would still have to be extended to the whole of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. His country does not have the right to recognize occupied territories as Russian.
The demand for an immediate NATO invitation is part of his so-called victory plan, which he presented in Washington, Berlin and other capitals in the fall. However, the key Nato states of the USA and Germany in particular are blocking a quick path for Ukraine to join the Western alliance. The plans that have so far emerged from Donald Trump's future US administration do not envisage Kiev joining either. Russia categorically rejects Nato membership for Ukraine anyway.
Ambassador Makeiev calls on German parties to take action
The Ukrainian ambassador Oleksii Makeiev would like to see the Russian war of aggression discussed in the German parliamentary election campaign. However, he warns against drawing red lines for supporting his country. "Action is needed today like never before. And that is what I expect from the democratic parties in this election campaign," he said in an interview with the German Press Agency. "I believe it is wrong to draw red lines around oneself and not in front of the enemy and in front of the aggressor."
Support for Ukraine is controversial among the parties represented in the Bundestag. While the SPD, CDU/CSU, Greens and FDP are in favor of large-scale arms deliveries, the AfD, BSW and Linke are against them. However, there are also differences between the supporters in one key area: Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is going into the election campaign as the SPD's lead candidate, rejects the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles with a range of 500 kilometers. The CDU/CSU, FDP and Greens see things differently.
Makeiev called for Ukraine to be supported without restrictions in its defensive struggle against Russia. "All the restrictions that have been in place for almost three years must be lifted," he said. "Russia will not be stopped only with talks or with diplomacy."
©Keystone/SDA
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